Omaha daily bee., 1884-06-20
WHAT SNAKES EAT.
4 Story Which was Told To n Re-
porter About Them.

. Boston American.
''Suake food carefully prepared" S,
D reads q sigh in an obscure street in thi
, city. So odd was the sign and it was il
= such an out-of-the-way place that it at
tracted tho attention of an American re
preventative, and opening the ancien
looking door under the sign he entered
. musty, close little shop filled will
cages and pens. No one seemed to be q
/ home except a few young chickens in tn,
pens and a few rabbits and guinea pig
: in the cages. Suddenly an old maj
popped through a door leading faom I'll,
r back part of the heuse. He looked curl
ously at his visitor, and, nodding hi,
, head, asked him to sit down. The news
paper man seated himself on the top Of
an empty cage and made known the OBJ
ject of his visit.
DON'T FRED OFTEN.
"Well" began the old man, I've don't
have much call for that article now, for
people don't keep snakes much a pets,
but | use it as a sort of advertisement,
for it brings people in here, just as it did
you. Snake food, you know, only in.
cludes chickens, rabbits, and rats and
such, and so l keep theae things here,
and If l have any call for the food | have
it handy. Now and then the museum
people come for RABBIT or q guinea pig, and
| sell them, but snakes don't feed often.
There are a number of large snakes OH
exhibition in this city and they only
feed about once a month or 30. When
they are shedding their shins they won't
eat ut all, but they 60 blind and don't eat
anything they can't sec. When they are
about to shed their skins they give a
great blow at their mouths aud this loos.
ems the skin, and it comes off from the
head and they crawl out. Then they
are very hungry and will eat anything.
Some snakes won't eat in the day time;
Others won't eat when there is q crowd
looking on, but these snakes in Balti.
more will eat ut any time"
SQUEEZED TO DEATH.
"Have you ever seen q snake eat2 MOI
Well, you put a chicken in one of the
python's dens, no matter If It is an old
hen or rooster, or even a rabbito or guinea
pig; but suppose we say q hen. Well,
the snake begins to charm her, and
having succeeded In placing her under
his control, he is ready. AS quick as
lightning he springs at her; catching her
beak in his mouth, he wraps one coil of
his body around her body and aqueezes
it; then equally as quick he throws an
other coil, and so on until the poor hen
is squeezed to death. Then he unwrsps
the last coil and 30 on. The snake then
retreats and advances and grabs the hen
by the head and deliberately begins to
swallow her."
%"Suppose the animal istoo large for the
mouth of the snake" asked the Ameri-
can man.
"That's the funny part" answered
the the old snake.food man. eff the ami.
mails body is too large, the snake will
throw a coil of its body around its victim
and draw it through this, just as if you
were pulling wire. Thus the animal be-
comes heightened sweetness long drawn
out, and is made of sufficiept size for the
snakes throat" y n''ea
FEATHERS AND ALL.
"Does he eat feathers and all2"
Feathers and all! no matter what is
in the chicken. AS the poker-player
would say, all goes You remember, a
year or 80 ago, a number of baby snakes
were born in this city. Well, you
should have seen those little reptiles eat
mice. They went for them exactly as
the big mes eat rabbits or full grown
chickens. There is a large snake on ex-
hibition here now, the largest in captivi-
ty. Helle at a pig weighing twenty-five
or thirty pounds and ask for more.
They tell mo he has not eaten anything
for some months now and is getting thin.
So | suggested to the owner the other
day that he force the animal to eat or he
would die. You know, they wont eat
anything that is dead. They must kill
it themselves A few days ago the own
er followed my instructions. Two men
held open the snakes mouth, and the
owner cut of q chickens head and held
the body down the boa's throat, and you
should have seen him suck the blood.
He is looking better now.
TAKES THE CAKE.
"Talking about snakes food, / once
heard a story told me by a Spanish
teacher diving in this city which takes the
cake. His said that while hunting in
Brazil his guide came rushing back and
told the party to be careful, for in front
of them was a snake SIXTY feet in length.
The snake hau just finished eating a deer
but had not been able to swallow the
horns, and they were stTl sticking out If
the snakes mouth. The gentleman said
it wac a common thing for snakes in
South America to eat deer, and when the
antlers refused to 60 down into the
stomach the snakes would 60 and lie in
the sun and let the acids from their
stomach work on the horns and dissolve
them. This monster snake was very
likely performing this act when tho hunt
ing party came on him, They advanced
cautiously and were about to fire when
the snake sprang forward and struck tie
guide in the breast with the stag's horns
and crushed him into q jelly. Before
the anake could repeat this playful little
p~astir,e a bullet from one of the guns OF
the party killed him. He was coiled up.
and carried by the party TO the nearest
town and shipped to Rio, where he is
still on exhibition. The Lntlers are yet.
in his mouth, 80 the Spanish teacher told
me. This story weaken you, does III.
Goings Won't you take some snake food
with you2 MOI Well, good-day. Call
again, and / will try and sell you q
snake"