Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1894-08-20
SNAKES iN CAPTIVITY.
low the Reptiles are Caught, Tanned and
 Cared For.

How the Reptiles are Caught, Famed and
 Cared For.
 Nearly all the snakes you see in mu- seums and circus exhibitions were sent to this country from Africa or South America. The boa constructor comes from Africa and some very large speci- mems from Brazil. It is very seldom that we can secure an anaconda.
 In both Africa and South America the snakes are captured by the natives, who very often, however, are afraid of them, and do not undertake to secure them unless they are accompanied by an American or European who will take the lead in the expedition.
 In Brazil the large snakes are some times captured with nets, which are thrown over them. The smaller ones are caught with big stick, shaped at one end like two-pronged pitchfork. The man approaches the snake soon after the animal has partaken of good meal and when he feels heavy and sleepy. The fork is placed over the snakes head, and he is thus pinned to the ground Then he coils himself around the stick, and in that manner is carried away and put in d strong box, ready to be shipped to some foreign country. Even large snakes are often captured in this way.
 Boa constructors are obtained in the forests near the Amazon and Platte rivers They are sometimes 20 feet in length and weigh from 50 to 100 pounds. The boas are captured from 12 to IA feet long, but the majority of them are to feet long The Indians of Brazil capture this variety of snake while they are engaged in their regu- lar vocation of gathering rubber They put the rubber and lot of snakes in canoes, take them 4,000 miles up the Amazon river where they sell them to the traders, who, in turn, ship them in steamers which take the raw rubber to the coast.
 Anaeondas also come from Brazil. They are highly prized because they are so handsomely marked, but the specimens we are able to get here are smaller than the boas.
 Snakes will not eat dead food. We feed them on birds. chickens, pigeons and rabbits and white mice. But the large snakes will not be content with a meal of mice; the bait is entirely too small for them, and the little creatures could run around their cage without being harmed. Large snakes demand a chicken, rabbit, or 8 large rat, and they take particular delight in killing the food they are to eat They do not eat so much in captivity, and eonse- quently are not so long-lived. Some of them will not live over 8 year while snake who is a good feeder will live for ten or twelve years.
 This question of food would be a very expensive item in keeping snake if it were not for the fact that he only eats once month, and sometimes not that often It is rare to find one that will eat oftener than once week. Snakes are very quiet and docile after they have been fed. The fat in snake is in layers. and is found in greater quantities than in any other animal l know of One reason, I suppose, why they can go without eating for such long periods is because they can live off their own fat. Some say that snake oil, or fat, is a cure for rheumatism. I know many people who have faith in this remedy, but do not believe in it's efficacy myself, and I cannot say that l have ever heard of cure by it's use Washington News.