The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-11-09
C0BRAS AND RATTLERS
How POisons of Different Snakes At.
feet Victims.

feet Victims.
New York Mail and Express
. Among the big glass cages and the forest
of palms in the geological park reptile
house visitors were listening to a snake
mans impromptu lecture on the deadliness
of the various snake poisons. In front of
the huge cage of the cobra the party halt
ed. Within, tan knotted around the tip of
the cage tree body resting partly coiled on
the palm-leaf bungalow and head resting
on the floor, lay Magma, brownish gray,
the splendid fourteen-foot specimen, said
to be the finest of her kind in captivity.
Doesn't look so wicked" suggested one
of the men. Take the rattlers over in the
corner, and whether you knew they were
rattlers or not you could see the poison in
their eyes. But this chap"
That's one of the characteristics of the
| species" interrupted the snake man.
Harmless as far as pain goes, even in
death, but there never was a surer death
than that following the bite of the cobra
1t is the quantity of poison emitted from so
large snake which makes the attack so
fatal. Likewise the method of injecting
the venom. The fangs of the cobra are
| short. In the case of the RATHER and the
4 Z.
slash buries the poison at depth where it
is sure to enter the blood. But all the
cobras have short fangs, and to inject the
venom properly they hold on tight. like the
| grip of a bulldog, giving the poison time
to be absorbed into the blood.
There is no easier death than that due
| TO cobra bite. The poison contains 95 per
cent. of nerve-attacking and per cent of
| Notwithstanding venom The victim there
lnSfa r,Cf
| bility and thinking that he is on the road
| TO recovery until the last As the end
comes he he sinks into sleep SO gently and
passes off so painlessly that frequently,
| with physicians sitting by the bedside. il
/ is impossible to say just when life quit the
body. Unlike most poisonous snakes, the
COBRA lays eggs, which are Matched into it's
young. AS rule it is only the harmless
snake that lays eggs-from sixty to eighty
at time-while, according to wise pro-
| VISION or nature, the young Of the venom
Gus reptiles are born as in the case of
warm blooded animals. in broods number
ing only six or eight at a time.
| The d1amond-back rattlesnake, for in
| stance, brings its young to earth alive The
| American RATHER, in a scale of poisonsI
numbers only about third, the fer-de-lance
| of the West Inches, as well as the cobra
ranking before him. The fangs of the rat,
| tier are long and sharp, as the bones of a
shad- Deep and nuick, they penetrate the
as the prick of a needle until the poison
begins to take effect, which is within five
| minutes.
Contrary to the cobra's bite. the sting of
RATHER entails tremendous suffering An
/ alyzed, the venom contains % per cent of
| Notwithstanding and per cent. of nerve
destroying poison-directly opposite TO that
OF a cobra. The consequence is that the
victim dies with all the anguish and pain
or full case OF blood poisoning all the
suffering of a protracted illness being
| crowded into space of a few hours
"Of all snakes none is at bottom a more
noble reptile than that peculiar to our own
country. Never yet has a RATHER struck
| before giving warning. The signal. as is
| we'll known, is emitted from the rattles at
| the tail of the snake. In sound ii resembles
| the far-away rattle, of a moving machine
| In country meadow, or the kissing emit
| ted oy the escape of steam from an orCi-
| nary radiator. Among the dangerous
snakes OF our own South perhaps not an
other can come up TO the cotton-mouth
| moocaSin. He is of the few poisonous
water snakes in existence, but his bite is
| almost as fatal as that of the RATHER him
| self In the swamps and canebrakes of
| North and South Carolina the moccasin is
| at home. Here he lies awaiting ANYTHING
that comes along in the fish line, from
frogs to minnows.
In the reptile house, when we have a
brood of young rattlers or baby moccasins.
every possible care is taken in their ham
| ding. The youngsters require more care
| than their older kind. 1t Is necessary to
| change their water oftener and feed them
| at shorter intervals In large glass box
showing plainly from all sides where the
little ones are located the babies are kept
The snake man detailed to handle them is
| provided with long forceps. After opening
the door with care, IL Is necessary to re-
| move some of the brood near the water or
| the food trough 10 be cleaned. One or two
| OF the reptiles are picked up between the
/ thin forelegs OF the instrument and thrown
| into a heap in the farther corner Of the
caga. There 1t Is amusing to watch their