The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1900-03-15
AMONG THE SNAKES.
Experiences of n Keeper of the Rep
tiles in a Geological
Garden.

Queer and thrilling are the methods
employed at the reptile house in Bronx
geological park in satisfying the &C.
centric appetites of the snakes, as re-
counted by Keeper Charles Snyder,
who has charge of the north cases in
the reptile house. These cages con-
tain most of the big snakes, and the
poisonous species. Snyder has only
been in the geological park since Au-
gust, but he has acquired plenty of ex-
perience.
A few days ago he emerged from the
cobra's cage, where he had been non
cAalantly seated upon the edge of the
bathing tank, feeding the formidable
inmates with fishes, which he pre-
sented to them upon pair of forceps.
He was asked how he felt during the
performance.
'Oh, these fellows are easy" he re-
piled. They wouldn't bite. It's the
diamond rattlers and the cotton
mouths that keep a bead on you all the
time. and wait for chance to do
business When L go into the cage
with those fellows to clean up, or to
repair the damage when ten-pound
snake has tried to roost on one of the
Chief Forester's pet rubber plants, l
cover the beasts over with soap boxes.
eve have some pretty lively times
in the cages once in awhile. Day be-
fore yesterday | had orders to go
into the boas' cage to rub some vase
line on The Ghosts nose. The Ghost
is our white boa constructor. She had
been trying to bore her way out of
the ventilator, and had skinned the
front of her face. | threw blanket
ever her mate, and caught her by the
heck. She put up pretty stiff fight,
but was getting along all right when
l felt something on my shoulder. l
was kneeling down at the time, and
when l looked around l saw that4the
male, the tan-colored boa, had lit out
and was going to crawl over me. He's
q regular tiend when he gets mad, and l
didn't dare move. | stuck in that posi-
ton for about ten minutes, holding The
Ghost by the neck, while the big fellow
crawled over my shoulder and over
into a corner, where he cooled up. He
stopped a couple of times, and it was
hardly pleasant thing to think of what
he might do. L was pretty stiff when
got up, and that's the only thing you
can do in such a case.
We've been having lots of fun lately
in feeding our yellow tree snake. She's
about the most stubborn beast in the
collection. She came in last October
from Trinidad, and refused to take any
food, so we stuffed her-that is, we
forced some fish down her throat. Then
we tried some other tactics. She is an
awful bitter, and she has such long
teeth that when she grabs hold of any
thing she can't let go for minute. A
few days ago we stirred her up bit,
and then let her snap at fish on a
stick. 1t caught in her teeth, and she
held on. Then, finding all of a sudden
that she had something to eat in her
mouth, she swallowed it. We followed
this with about a dozen more. 1t
worked like a charm. All we have to do
when we want to feed her now is to
pinch her tail, and at the same time
poke a fish at her. The fish 90 every
time when we do this, but if she isn't
in a temper she won't even look at the
fish,
do you have any trouble in procur-
ing food for your snakes?" Snyder was
asked.
Eyes, for some of the new ones. but
after they've been in our care for a
time we don't have any trouble. Some
of the rat-eating snakes want live rats,
but they don't get them except at pretty
long intervals. We keep a few rats on
hand, and when we want to feed a rat
tier we take long strip of beef, clip a
little hair from a live rat, and sprinkle
it over the meat. The snake smells the
rats fur and dives in without loss of
time. As for the rat, he doesn't mind
being sheared at all, but seems to like
it after awhile. We often work the
same racket on birdeating snakes. In
this case we have some of the smaller
feathers from a chicken on hand. which
we sprinkle over the meat. IN. Y.
Times.