Editor’s note: Bill Kearney of the South Florida Sun Sentinel recently headed out to the Everglades, where the state’s annual Python Challenge is underway. I pull up at dusk to a half-dozen kids ...

As the 5-foot-long ball python coiled itself around my neck, its muscles rippling as it tightened its grip on my jugular, I considered whether I had made a grave mistake diving into the experience of ...