The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1904-06-11

| 1OOu DC Supplleu, Dut NdilOuS utNlceH
must be employed in order to make them
eat at all; even to the Use of force in in
| Producing food into their throats.
All snakes are likely to be nervous and
! shy when first brought into captivity,
and many of them win not then eat for
| weeks. The harmless, or non poisonous,
Snakes or many of them become more OF
| less dOciioslfte u time, and some OF
them become very tame, and Wiz. come to
the door of their cage when it is opened
and take food from the hnmd. The ma
! joltty of thvin COME in time to eat regu-
LARRY when properly fed.
| THE T.oaSElusis snakes, on the other
hard. besides beimg nervous when first
confined, are also fierce and combative,
| and they are never tanned. They keep
| to themselves and never soften, but are
ready to strike and are dangerous I'D
ways And to their nervousness at first
the poisonous Snakes add Il sort of free
constituencies THAT makes them reject any
food that docs not have about it the wild
odor of nature; and they never come to
feed so we'll us the non poisonous snakes.
A IelttlcSnake, when first brought in,
will not touch rat THAT has been kept
indoors. The od0r of such a nat is Of
fensive to this deadly snake. SO n rat
designed for this rattlesnake's food is
kept olrt of doors for time, on the
ground, to give it IL natural scent.
Then the rat is brought to the cage
and killed quickly and thrust in. The
rattler, facing the other way perhaps,
is touched. 1t turns to strike, sees the
rat, ard sensing it, strikes and swallows
it.
But rarely can food be simply thrown
into the glass fronted catses in which the
snakes are confined and left for them TO
eat. The fOul must be fed to the SNAKE
with care. and often must be enticed to
cat by placing the food before them
tcmptngiy.
Something that they like is advanced
to them on Il stick to where they can
smell ii, ar as in the case OF the veno-
NOUS snakes they are encouraged to
strike at it. ulDd otherwise prompted to
take or seize upon it. And THIS all takes
time and caro- and patiercc. and, as Mr..
Ditmals win tell you, to get the snakes
, to feed requires II friendly Hml sympa-
trctic feeling toward them on the part
of the man feeding them.
Not every man can make Snakes eat.
and il uray tsllic men accustomed to the
| work and Interested in it, hours to feed
the S,rptslgts in two or three cages. The
feeding is d,r!.p after the park has been
Closed for tue dely. The SerppltS are fed
Ul an average three times Il month. On
on" day tllnSp in two or three cages are
frl. ;I;.d on tic next day THOSE in two or
thryr other c,lgCS, ani so the round nf
the cages is nwlde. returning to- begin
a"ln with the first every ten days.
Nlsd after 5ttl. some mp<1t be forced to
cat. They hive here a twrlty -two.foot
pHthon t4iat ln,d taken no food for mime
montIiS. and tinsllly II number of rabbits,
were attached tlWl to end ITO ii twelve
foot bamhN po.n: alRl then wllile many
| nrrn held this tremendously powerful
serpent Tic POKE with the rabbits attach
cd Was thrust GGwm its throat.
And some. after all, may stmrve. gs did
Cacr an Interesting python about eight
feet in fells-th. prue of the species that
Slknke clniruer9 handle and twist around
their nccks. This WAS Il very tame anu
friendly python, !riTmlpsss except for it's
power Of construction. 1t would take
food FROM the hand and enjoyed being
hsfnIicd. and VIXEN taken up it would coil
awHIHd tll" hHdy of tho man holding it
:unI rvStr its L"std against him. 1t hlA
been owned ly Il Snake chlrmcr.
Iftis pythUl. after the coNip. of the
rC tile iuus'' 1T tive rIat Of the day, WAS
permitted To- have thS. freedom of the
sHi7rtt sectiou of the building. arm it
would coErlc curwlillE into tho, clllutyr's
offire, then coil itself up comfortably in
a C&TlEr of The NOON, SCr'" timcS it
WaVi' cone over u.lI crawl up uA thu
curttor's cIUtir aS he SIT at his desk,
anH twist itself ;iOimtd arl umn of the.
Chair, and it might coil Itself around the
culNt0r's boIy Hld rest its E<rHl against
him 0ss liz sat tIls|rc writing This WIS 4;
friendly HlI most Interesting pyt'yHl.
but ii would take food from 'no ONE save
the curator aud the ,SIBa keeper who reg
uENrsy fed it. And therr cmlQc Il time
wien che curItnr and tire keeper were
beth i'll ut once, end when nohG ny could
bring this I,y7llra TO feed: ami then il
simply starved to dcath-N. Y. Sun.