The Opelousas courier., 1891-02-14
sERPENTs FOR THE zoo.
HOW THEY ARE OBTAINED FOR
CINCINNATI's MENAGERIE.
IA Wonderful Collection of Poisonous
Lizards and Things That Crawl
Reptiles From Many Chimes. y

GAS
Lizards and Things That Crawl
-Reptiles From Many Chimes.
Superintendent Stephan, of the Gin
cinnati Geological Garden, told a Times
Star reporter that he had an order placed
for about three dozen snakes, to get there
by next spring. "You see,n said MIR.
stephan, tive have to order that sort Of
thing about six months ahead of the time
we want them. The usual way they are
gotten is through the captains of the
steamers plying between the countries
from which we want them and Hamburg
or New York. These captains get them,
for a mere song and sell them either to
Che animal dealers or direct to the shows
and gardens. Yes, these shows use a
good number of them. They generally
handle them a good deal, and handling is
bad for snakes. especially just after
they've been fed; it makes them sick.
Snakes have to have plenty of time to
digest. Ashow considers itself lucky If
it keeps a snake through one season,
while we keep them here ten or eleven
years. But come and take a look at the
snakes we have" And he led the way to
accrner of the carnivora building, where,
in five or six glass cases, their snakeships
were confined.
"Here are some young tree boas from
Cuba. They are 30 called because they
usually are found on trees. These are
little fellows, being only FIVE or six feet
long and about four inches In circumfer-
ence. Like the Demonstration, they
kill everything they eat by crushing it.
No, they don't do any charming. The
charming business Is a-what do YOU
newspaper men call it-sa fake.' You
would be surprised at the wonderful
power these snakes have In their folds.
Why, when we used that large case for
the snakes we had 3 tree In there. One
day / wanted to get a python that was
coiled around a tree, 80 / unwrapped It
. little and then tried TO pull 1t off. I
hung my full weight-about IT'S pounds
On 1t, and still / couldn't get it off.
Finally ! had to get one Of the men to
come and help me, and the two of US suc-
ceeded in getting it off.
.tThese boas here are young fellows
but they can swallow a good sized rab-'
bit without Inconvenience. We feed
them atirregular times; whenever they'll
eat. I've known snakes to 90 FIVE months
without eating. A snake in good con-
dition should eat once a week. That Is
the hardest thing about ecclimating a
snake. If you get four or five snakes out
of a lot of ten or twelve to eat you are
pretty lucky. Often they won't feed at
all and Just starve themselves to death.
We feed these boas on rats, rabbits,
guinea pigs and pigeons. When they
get tired of one we feed them the other
for awhile.
ssTo return to our tree boas. They get
to be sixteen or seventeen feet long when
they are full grown. There's an old fell
low in that cage at the end. He is about
eleven feet long. The young boas are
worth from $40 to $50 each; for that old
fellow we wouldn't take $75. He's ac-
climated, and we've had him about eleven
years, SO we've grown to like him. That
big fellow in black and gray that shares
his cage is a python from Africa. He's
worth about 300. Yes, they seem rather
sleepy, as you say. Snakes always lie
torpid that way unless they are hungry.
Then they uneoil and begin to move
about. That's the way we tell when to
feed them. No, they don't hibernate in
winter here. You see the temperature
always remains the same in those glass
cases, and they don't feel the changes OF
the seasons.
tsIhat cage there contains blacKsnakes
and house snakes. They are found around
houses and barns, and are good things to
keep mice away. Wefeed them on toads,
mice and sparrows. They are about five
or six Feet long. They like to fight, es-
p~eeially when we put q new snake in.
Sometimes they get sc mixed up they are
just like a tangled lot of string, and we
have to take them and untwist them. Oh,
yes, we take them In our hands, there's
no danger when you know how to handle
them.
ttThat yellow and black fellow Is .
Western irattler.' Those little green
ones with him are common garter
snakes. No, they're not dangerous. we
put them IN with the RATHER because he
won't bother them. The blacksnakes
would eat them up. The pink and black
lizard-like animal is d ella monster. He
is really a poisonous lizard. He Is found
only Id Arizona, at the bottom OF the
canons there, where the sun seldom gets
at him. They say that sunlight kills the
monster. I know we had n In q cage
with a lot Of green lizards, which needed
sun, and I told q boy to set the cage out
lid the sun. When we came to look Of
our monster we found him dead. ] don't
know whether 1t was the sunlight that
did it or not, but he ,seemed in perfect
health before that. In its native element
1t lives on insects, aud we try to supply
that Class of food by the use Of raw eggs.
He eats about three q week. We just
crack the end of the she'll and ne sucks
the egg out. There are but few Of them
III captivity, and In the European gar.
dena they are looked upon as very rare