The age-herald., 1901-08-05
THE SNAKE BUSINESS
 IN THE UNITED STATES

you do.' said I. but so long as that snake belongs to me you'll let him alone She was hurting him and making him mad. We'll she said. T like him. but let me see his mouth. He looks to me as If he had canker.' Nearly all snakes have canker. or sore mouth. It comes from decayed teeth. I opened his mouth for her. and 1t was all right. I'll take him. she said, and she lifted him up, and he bit her in the arm. We'll. then we had to cut her sleeve off up to the elbow. and we had to cut the boa's teeth out of her arm They had broken off in 1t. As SOON as the operation was over she started to go. Here I said, you'll buy that snake now. for sure. He'll die. now, without his teeth, and won't stand the loss. She bought him.
 How to Handle Big Snake.
 Tn handling a big snake you must al- ways touch him with a soft, smooth. gliding motion of the hand. making it feel to him as much as possible like the touch of another snake; and, besides, you must be careful to keep tail out straight. Keep the tall straight and he can't coil on you. His bite is nothing, for he has no poison, but his coll around your legs or arm or body will crush the bones.
 The poisonous snakes-the water moe casins rattlesnakes and copperheads- are bought for zoos. Now and then a doctor buys them heavily for while. He wants to experiment with their pol son. After he has been bitten two or three times he stops buyinR
 There are a number of people who buy snakes for pets These people always. without an exception. make pets also of rats, mice and turtles. Any one fond of snakes is sure to be fond of those other things too. They keep their snakes and turtles and rats as near as possible to them Often they keep them in their bed rooms There was young man used to come here last year after pine snakes, a university student. That young man would sit with his hand in among the coils of a cageful of snakes for hours He would take ones head in his hands and lift it's face up close to his own and gaze long time in It's eyes. Then he would hold 1t off and stroke 1t. and study its changing colors in a kind Of trance I don't know what pleasure or satisfaction he got out of snakes. He bought over dozen from me during the year and kept them in his bedroom in boarding house. They all escaped one night through rat hole, and got among the neighbors and raised general bally- hoo.
 A Seventeen Foot Boa.
 Snakes can be told by their odor a half mile of. There Is no smell more sickening, more disgusting. If 1t touches your nostrils once you will never forget It. It Is sweet and sour and faint. There are some people whom 1t will overcome
 "The biggest snake ever handled was a 17-foot boa that I sold for s120. The next biggest was a 10-foot anaconda that I got $l00 for. Show people have to buy new snakes every season. for last sea- sons stock dies off as soon as the first cold weather sets in. Snakes are hard to keep in captivity in the winter time. Even out at the Zoo, with the fne ar rangement for artificial heat they have there, there's host of dead snakes every cold morning in the reptile house
 Bankers for circus side shows buy the snakes that are big and harmless. When there Is a crowd of 'rubbernecks' listen ing to a barker, not coming In to the show themselves and blocking the way so that nobody else can get in, the man will take fine snake by the back of the neck and start through the crowd with it. Perfectly harmless, ladies and gents! Perfectly harmless!' he will say, and the crowd will melt away at once, for nearly everybody. especially among Africans, is afraid of snake.''
 again, the double-column head and the police court will probably know her no more. This curious episode in American history, 1t Is hoped, is over