The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1875-11-04
MENAGERIE MERCHANT.


ALLIGAToRs SOLD BY THE FOOT, SNAKES BY
THE YARD-MARKET PRICES OF sHowMEN's
ABOMIr ATOMS.
The Cincinnati Commercial has inter-
viewed the monster market and reports as
follows: The keeper of the store is a neatly
built little man, quite young, with heavy
eyebrows and a remarkably clear, steady
eye-just the eye to control unruly animals.
He said he was native OF New Orleans, and
we asked what he kept alligators and snakes
for.
"Whv, to sell, of course" he replied.
''To self Now, who on earth wants to buy
an alligator"
ooh, showmen. geological societies and
other people,"
"And, pray, what is the market price OF
alligstors?"
"Well, alligators are sold by the foot.
They are worth three dollars a foot in New
Orleans, and five dol lars a foot here in Gin
cinnati. Sometimes they grow Is feet long
and even more. they will live SIX months
without food or water; so that it is not ex-
pensive to keep them. / feed them two or
three times year on raw meat. Alligstors
less than six 'eet in length come cheaper
one dollar and fifty cents at New Orleans,
and three dollars per loot here"
Large serpeDts, he informed US, also sold
by length; that in the window was young
X,
and worth SIS. A young serpent from four
to eight feet in length was worth from $40
to SIS; from eight 10 fifteen, SIS to $50; ser
penis of greater length sold much higher.
A boa or anaconda upward of twenty five
feet in length would fetch $3.50 and $500.
Serpents still larger were worth immense
prices.
We asked him what he might mean by
serpents "still larger"
"Why. | mean serpents nom thirty five
to forty five feet in length. There are ser
pents of that length. l have owned one
myself over twenty five feet long; and my
father bad one on exhibition in New Or
leans fully forty feet in length. have been
professional snske-huDter for years, and
ought to know" he added, observing q
hslf-incredulous smile on the visitors part
But we soon remembered that ReguluS
fought with his whole army against
serpent one hundred and fifty feet long.
and finally slew it with battering ram!
Then he told US that he could handle any
noE-veDOmous snake which was not too
powerful for bin, and most venomOus
species common to America. Rattlesnakes
were the easiest OF all to handle, partly be-
cause less active than some other varieties
but chiefly because their skin was rougher,
enabling the hunter to obtain firmer grasp
Of the reptiles neck. But it did not pay to
deal in veDomous snakes, except a few va
rieties, whose market price he gave us by
request, as IOllOWS:
SNAKE PRICES.
Ground rattlesnskes, three or four feet
long, are worth s. a pair, but this species
grows occasionally to prodigious length, and
fetches large prices.
Velvet hesds-pretty little rsttlers, with
dark notifies on their skin, and queer Ca
balistic marks about the neck and jaws-sre
worth about S. pair.
Swamr-rattlesnakes- shiny, ebony col
ored monsters, whose mouths are lined with
a leprously white mucous membraDe-some-
times grow TO ten and twelve feet in length.
and their value varies accordingly. They
will fetch S. anil upward. Copperbeads and
congos, from two and half to
three feet long, are worth from 81 to 81 80. |
Moccasins vary in value, according to spe-
cies. Dry land moccasins will fetch about
So pair; water observation-disclosures, blind
monsters-from So upward. These, the
young man informed US, were about the
only species o: snakes bought and sold by
American dealers. They we're generally
sold to showmen; but large snakes alone
were really profitable stock, aud that only
in the spring of the year. In this region
serpent stock was very perishsbls, the rep
tiles being sblo to sustain the ngOrs Of
winter only by the greatest care and
attention on tie part of the prOprietors.
Shown men seldom cared to purchase small
snakes, as the size of the reptiles formed
their chief attraction. The geological So
ciety, of Cincinnati, had bought an aliga- |
tor from him-which alligator, we believe, |
Mr.. Nc AvOy, OF monster-slaying lame, shot |
in the eve, and grievously wounded or
killed outright; but, general thing, |
such societies preferred TO purchase reptiles |
and animals from larger dealers in New Or |
leans or the East. Foreign snakes were
usually exported by European houses, es
Decislly eobrss and Indian serpents. Any
collection bad never, be believed, been made, |
which is quite likely, inasmuch as over one I
thousand species are known, not to speak |
of many as yet unclssslfed. A snake anals- |
gous in most respects to the Australian |
whip-snake, he said, exists In parts of
am m hfaiu of ha