Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1889-01-04
Snakes Swallowing Young

I have, on at least four occasions,
stood by and witnessed a family of
young snakes disappear down the
throat of the mother. She did not swal-
low them; she just lay straight, with
open mouth, and allowed the young
sters to go down her gullet with Won
derful rapidity.
On such occasions the mother snake
eyinces the fearlessness and tenacity of
most wild things when trying to save
their young. She will remain quiet at
the risk of her life until the last little
wriggler has been taken in, and then
do her best to escape. And it always
seems to be the case that at such times
she happens to be mighty handy to a
good hiding place, such as ledge of
rocks, hole among roots, or, if a
watersnake, where she can flop into the
water in an instant. Promising that [
was taught from my earliest recollec-
ton to regard serpents as not only
harmless and useful but beautiful as
we'll (all save the rattler). [ will
briefly narrate the incidents above al
luded to,
In the first case 1 was called by a
sensible mother, who admired rather
than feared serpents, "to come and see
the little snakes hide" I hurried to
the spot, and this is what I saw: A
large gartersnake stretched to its full
length and lot OF tiny snakes rapidly
disappearing down her throat. My
mother meantime had united her apron.
and, as the last little snake disap.
peared, she quickly grabbed the old
snake and enveloped it in the apron.
1t was taken to the house and placed
in an old lumber chest, where it was
found the next day with twenty odd
little ones around it, and again they
took refuge in the mothers stomach.
AS our curiosity was satisfied, the old
snake was turned out in the garden to
catch bugs. Take note that the garter
snake is oviparous.
Although snakes were very numer-
GUS in the region where my boyhood
was spent, and though most Of my
leisure time was passed in outing by
flood and field, it was long before Isaw
a second incident of this kind, and this
time the actors were watersnakes, sup.
posed to be viviparious. say sup.
posed, for 1 am by no means certain Of
it. The mother snake was about the
largestI ever saw, and L came upon hel
suddenly as was fishing down trout
stream, very cautiously of course. II
was evidently surprise, but she
Strengthened herself, gave a short, low
hiss, and lay still with open mouth. In
much less time than it takes to tell it q
lot of little snakelings We're rushing
into her mouth and disappearing with
marvellous quickness. At that time ]
was accustomed to handling serpents,
even rattlers, without fear, and, with
some vague idea that she would be a
prize, 1 made dash to capture hel
alive. It was rather failure. Instead
of attempting to dart overheard, as
expected, she faced me savagely, and,
as grabbed her with one hand around
the body, she whisked her tail about
my arm, turned, and gave me vicious
bite on the back of the hand. Although
knew the bite was perfectly harmless
it somehow looked so wicked and dan
gerous that lost my grip and allowed
her to escape. 1t may be worthy o.
mention that the slight wound did not
swell or become inhamed, and healed
uuicklv.-EOrest and Stream.