The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-05-08

in the streets. There is not a snake there
less than four feet long, and there are some
big fellows of twelve and fourteen, which
weigh from forty to fifty pounds each.
Most of them are boas and %pythons. None
are poisonous, but the big ones can bite
viciously when they feel like it. Mr.. Burns
and his assistant handle them with i'm
punity, being always careful to grasp them
With one hand firmly just below the head.
These snakes, in their native wilds, live
sn trees from which they leap down upon
their prey. Consequently most of them
climb up upon the perches or roosts i'll the
cage, where they twist themselves all
around the wooden bars and around each
other. Those crowded off the roosts
stretch themselves lazily on the floor. There
are also half a dozen in the tub of water,
for snakes are very clearly in their habits
and battle every day. You will notice that
some of the snakes appear stout, almost
distended. while others are very slim. The
stout ones are still and somnolent, while
the slim ones are nervous and move about.
The stout snakes have fed recently. That
big one in the corner has four rabbits and
a hen tucked away inside of him, which he
only devoured a few days ago.
If you look sharply you will discover sew
e.al forlorn white mice i'll the cage which
have 80 far escaped the appetite of the
snakes. They are all that are left of a good
many mice put there several days ago.
These little fellows are 'huddled together IN
q corner In an awful state of fright. Moth
ing will induce them to advance an inch
nearer the snakes. II you try to push them
away from the wire netting they will seize
it with their legs and hang fast like grim
death. Some Of them have climbed up the
netting to the top of the cage, where they
cling fast in abject terror.
1.-THE little mice only knew it, they, are
safe from those larger beas proving around
notice such small game. Nothing less than
a rabbit, or at the least a large rat, is
worthy of their appetites. Before long,
however, some Of those four or five foot
snakes will feel hungry and'relieve the
trembling mice of their misery and their
lives at the same time.
Snakes will not touch dead food. They
must find their game alive, and kill it them
selves. A boa strikes it's prey viciously.
Holding fast by its great jaws, it wraps its
powerful coils about the body and squeezes
out its life. Then it breaks all the bones in
the same terrible wise, and having reduced
the body to a rag, it gerges it. Ihe snakes
throat and body are capable of enormous
distention. When gorged, the boa crawls
to some quiet spot and lies down for a week
or 80 to digest the meal.
From 1,2G0 to 1,50O snakes are sold lnNew
York city every year. Very few are poison
Gus. A few ~rattlers and copperheads are
sent here from the mountains and find a
market in city ZOOS. But, fortunately for
the show business, the snake charmers, and
the snake trade, the largest and most snowy
snakes in the world are non-poisoDous.
The snakes found in the market are chiefly
boa constructors, pythons, whlpsnakes and
blacksnakes. all OF which are n~on-poison-
GUS. We see very few big snakes except
boas and pythons. These are the chief
c+nck- ir-t rada of the ana ia charoer of the
circus and dime museum. Hence 1T Is
that this betinseled young woman, who is
popularity supposed to restrain the great
snakes she handles SO carelessiy from sting
ing her to death by the exercise OF some
mysterious power over their passions, in
reality runs no risk whatever. Her snakes
couldn't poison her il they wanted to, and
SO long as she keeps them fed to repletion
all the while they are too sluggish by nature
to offer any resistance to her careful hand
ling. Anybody who is able to overcome
mans natural ~epugnan to snakes sutfi-
GENTLY to hang them around his neck and
arlns can be from that moment a successful
snake ehar1ner.
Three kinds of boa constructors are com
mon in thelNew York market. The most
common is the tree boa of Brazil. 1t is
lighter in color than the great Indian boa,
but otherwise much the same IN appearance.
These snakes are found in large number in
the great forests bordering upon the Anna
ION anu buo IlattS IlF5Is. INtS are some
times taken twenty feet in length. Tree
boas of twelve and fourteen feet are otter
brought here, but most OF them art
seven or eight feet long. The Bra
lillian Indians capture them while
gathering rubber. They load them anc
the rubber into canoes and take them tt
Manaos, 4,COO miles up the Amazon, ant
sell them TIC the traders. The snakes com
down the river to Para in the American
built steamers in which New York com
panies send raw rubber to the coast. Their
il an old fellow in Para who has grown 1ic
in tho snake and animal trade. He is uni
versally known in the trade as "Monke
Joe." He buys up all the monkeys, parrot
and snakes that the %steameys bring dow
the river, and sells them at u profit to spec
ulatiye sailors and SEA captains who brlp
them to New York. The smallest tree DO;
brought here measure from four to five fee
and are worth about SIS. The big on'
bring $3.50, unless of unusual size, whe
they sometimes command as high as $3.50
$500. 1t increases the value of any snake
the dealer can guarantee him "a good feet
err" Most snakes feed spsringly in ca.
tivity, and are not SO long lived. Son
won't feed at all, and do not live mu'
over a year. A good feeder will keep stor
and shiny, and will live ten OF "a dozen yeal
The African boa and the African pytho
which are next common In our market, dl
fer very slightly from the tree boa of Bra
in size, desirability and price. Afrlci
snakes are bought at the African tfaal
ports by sea captains, and brought here.
considerable number come yearly f.o
Liberia.
The great Indian boa constructor is nc
snowy than his African and Brazilian cou
ms. He is lighter coiored, with a lars
fiat head. He is larger, too, being oceasio
ally found twenty-five and thirty feet lor
He brings a better price right through,
ten-foot snake in good condition bel
worth from S75 to Sl00.
Another Brazilian snake which is mu
priced in the New York market is the al
conda. Sometimes large specimens {
here, but i'll the long run anacondasav era
smaller than the bons. They are haI
somely marked, and much in request