The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1885-10-02

} sueiF munger ID regularly SppedSeO. III
. . state in nature they are sometimes
obliged to 60 ten days without food. and
, when they get it they gorge themselves.
. ''All our animals of the Cat kind eat
just as cat does, lying on their breast
and holding the meat between their
paws. The young male lion eats very
slowly, but the female finishes her meal
in about fifteen minutes, of which time
about five minutes are spent on the bone.
The lions leave the bones almost as clean
! as if the meat had been boiled and peeled
of. do not believe that if one of these
lions got into the streets he would think
of attacking anybody unless struck or
run against. / think he would be fright
ened. If they were not well cared for
and fed the case would be different.
1.-The puma Johnnie in the northern
cage is an expert rat-catcher. If . rat
ventures into that cage he is gone.
Johnnie. apparently DOING and utter
" Indifferent to everything around him,
will lie waiting until the rat gets beyond
the line of safety. and then he pOunces
upon il with unerring aim. have seen
him 90 for dozens of rats and never saw
him miss one.
''Rats are very numerous under the
vulcanite pavement of the carnivOra
building. Sometimes half y dozen or
more are seen running about the floor
while visitors are in the building. The
pavement rests upon foundation of
broken stones and gravel, which were
tightly rammed, but the rats have hon
eycOmbed the place. We tried ferrets,
l I'D t,.,A Sea- 7 mat
in q hole he would push ahead until he
came out at another point, but, mean
while, a rat that was ahead of him might
have escaped BY one of the many
branches of that passage. Traps can
not do their work fast enough to exter-
inmate the rats. We can mott use poison,
because the rats would 60 into the holes
and die there"
No animals are watched with more
interest during meal-time at the Zoo
than the snakes. Meal-time in the snake-s
house is nearly all the time. The water
mOccasin. a venomous snake, lies on a
rocky formation in his glass tank, with
his head lowered near the water, in
which are swimming frogs and small
fishes. When he wants lunch the
mOccasin crects his poisonous fangs and
with them strikes his victim. The snake
holds fast to these latter during the few
minutes required for the poison to kill
it, and then the moccasin swallows it
whole. This snake, being a large one,
eats about dozen medium-sized frogs
or fishes in week. In its natural state
the mOccasin catches its lN'ey either
while lying on bank or beneath the
water.
The celia MONSTERS" among the in
mates of the snake-house, and which
are not snakes, but ugly-looking lizards.
are fed with worms and insects. and are
particularly fond of eggs, which they
eat by tapping with their tongues.
These reptiles weigh about one and a
half pounds each. They are 70 nd in
the extreme southwestern part of the
United States. The natives general
have a great horror of them. and, after
killing thSm, some of the people having |
a superstition about the dead reptiles |
returning to life, hang them to a tree.
The common water snake, which is
not poisonous, kills and eats its prey
just as the water moccasin does. Its |
food consists chiefly of frogs. fishes, etc.
Mr.. Thompson, who has charge of the
snakes, says that a water snake caught |
by him in the Schuylkill gave birth to
thirty-five young, each about eight |
inches long, shortly after it had been
placed in the Zoo collection. He
says that he has dressed" many water
snakes, and found their flesh white and
tender. He does not believe their flesh
is any more Objectionable as an article of
food than that of an eel, but he does not |
remember any instance of its being
eaten by human being. He says that
even the flesh of the rattlesnake is not
poisonous. and it is known to have been
eaten frequently by Indians. 1t is also
eaten by the liking" snake, one of the
few serpents that eat other snakes.
While Mr.. Thompson was showing a
specimen of the king snake 10 the writer
a child came and told him that one of |
the white mice was dead. MIR. Thomp-
son went to the white mouse, and,
taking the little dead body by the tail
held it over the king snake, after OPEN
ing the latter's cage. The snake, in its
eager dart to get the mouse. would have |
got out upon the floor if Mr.. Thompson
had not pushed it back. Finally the
make seized the mouse by the head.
The diameter of the snakes neck was
smaller than that of the body of the
mouse, but the elasticity of the SER
pent' 8 head and neck was shown when
the mouse began to slip down its throat.
the operation being effected by writh-
ing performance on the part Of the
snake.
The king snake is given a bed of
stones and gravel in his cage. Dead
garter-snakes, mice and birds are put in
the cage for him. 1t is seldom neces-
sary to put live food in the snake cages
or tanks, except in the case of newly
arrived rattlesnake or other venomous
serpent. Mr.. Thompson saws it is diff
cult to train venOmOus snakes to eat in
captivity. He has one large diamond
rattlesnake which, he says. has eaten
nothing for seven months. 1t was very
fat when it stopped eating. and has lived
upon its own flesh. Its physical condi-
ton is not vet SO much reduced as to
oblige Mr.. Thompson to resort to the
rather dangerous means of forcing
chOpped-up meat down the snakes throat
by blowing the food through q glass
tube.
Mr.. Thompson says that the large
rattlesnake referred to is about eighteen
years old. though it has only six rattles.
The number of rattles is not always an
indication of the age of the snake, be-
cause the rattles are often lost by acct
dent or disease There is three smaller