The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1910-06-22
,ExICANS WHO CATCH THEM
ALIVE MORE THAN DOUBLE
THEIR PRICES.
THE SUPPLY IS DECREASING

ron.Acre Snake Farm in Texas Is
Making Money. Side Show Charm
ers Demand Harmless Reptiles.
Chemists Take Poison.
BROWNSVILLE, Textile snake
season has opened with promising
prospects for a good summers bust
moss at the snake farm of F. B. Arm
s+rong, situated on the outskirts of
brownsville Mr.. Armstrong has
heen handling rattlesnakes and other
REPTILES for % years, and is we'll
known among museum and circus
neople and chemists all over the
world
He is an ordinary type of business
man, and looks after his big pens
Of venomous snakes in much the same
manner as a farmer tends to his hogs.
The fatter the snake the bigger the
nrice it will bring, and Mr.. Armstrong
devotes no little attention to provid-
ing plenty of rats and mice
The high price of living has af-
fected the snake market Formerly
rattlesnakes sold for from % cents
to so cents a pound. The price for
the better class of snakes for circus
and museum purposes now ranges
from SO cents to 81 a pound, and
there are snakes that bring much
more.
Mr.. Armstrong has many Mexicans
employed in catching rattlesnakes
and other varieties of reptiles COM
mon to southern Texas and northern
Mexico. These men used to be salts
fed with from 10 to Is cents
pound for live snakes, but now they
have to be paid 25 cents to so cents
a pound. They assert that it costs
them more to live, and that the
snakes are becoming scarcer.
Ten Acres in the Snake Farm.
Mr.. Armstrong; farm consists of
about ten acres of land, surrounded
by high board fence. Each snake
pen is about fifty feet square and
the solid board walls reach to
height of about twelve feet. Brush,
covered with loose hay, covers the
ground in the pens and affords
shady shelter. AS many as one thou
sand snakes are at times kept in each
of these pens. The rattlesnakes are
isolated.
Sometimes rattlesnakes do not
like to associate with other species
of reptiles, and to avoid trouble we
keep them to themselves, Mr.. Arm
strong said.
The top OF the pens is reached by
ladders. If the day is bright and
warm scores of the glistening rep
tiles may be seen lying upon the hay
summing themselves. When stirred to
activity with long pole they show
their temper by sounding their rat
ties in continuous chorus that is
terrifying to the visitor.
There are number Of different
kinds Of rattlesnakes found in Texas
and Mexico, and they all have a good
market value, according to Mr.. Arm
strong. The different species are:
The ground, diamond, Texas, green,
prairie, dog faced and banded rattle
snakes.
All of these are poisonous. Other
Venomous snakes in the collection
now are the harlequin, the copper
head, the gulf coast massasauga, Ed
wards massasuaga and the cotton
mouth.
There is always a big demand for
IAe larger rattlesnakes among the
museums of the United States and
Europe" said Mr.. Armstrong. 81
also sell many Of them to so-called
snake charmers in side shows and
circuses. All the snakes l ship or
sell are first made harmless.
Extracts Poison From RattIers.
4 never take any chances with
them, and, by exercising the great
est care, l have never been bitten
one of the chief features of my
business is the extraction and sale of
snake poison. 1t is sold to chemists
ana physicians all over the country,
and is used principally, I understand,
LOT experimental purposes
MT. Armstrong is an expert in ex-
tracting the poison. He is assisted
by a Mexican. BY means of a long
poIe' to which is attached a wire
laSso, the Mexican captures one of
the reptiles, the wire loop fitting just
oeloW the snakes head. The captive
IS placed in an operating box, which
naS sliding lid, which is pressed