Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1912-05-30
A Visit to the Snake Farm.

one interested in the habits of rep
tiles and wild animals a spend
several most interesting hours. The
farm covers a little over an acre and
in this enclosure are 1900 pounds
of different varieties of snakes, COM
tprising rattlers, yellow bulls, indi-
gos, gopher or blue bills, coach whip,
racers. tree snakes, coral adders and
other species.
Each different variety has its pen.
These pens are about IL feet square
and six feet deep. The snakes seem
to prefer to lie in the corner Of their
pens, instead Of scattering around
over the floor. Some times they are
piled up in one of the a foot
deep, coiled around each other and
twisted up in such shape that it
them than it would to solve a solid
geometry problem. The rattlers
when disturbed shake their rattles
and dart out their tongues as a warn
ling to keep away.
Jas. ID. Ribas, the manager of
this strange industry, and the book
keeper and correspondent, Mrs. E. l..
Hall, claim that the rattlers are not
a dangerous snake; that they rarely
bite anyone and never without warn-
ing first. Mr.. Ribas picks them up
and handles them as though they
were kittens. Mr.. Ribas stated that
there are only II poisonous varieties
Of snakes in the United .tSates, and
that the only poisonous snakes in
his large collection is the RATHER. He
explained his methods of treating
the bite of a poisonous snake-The
victim, he says, should stand perfect
ly still, so as to keep the blood as
quiet as possible, then take a knife
and cut the wound crosswise and
pinch it until ii has bled freely.
Mr.. Ribas is a very hospitable
manager and does everything in his
power to make a visit to the farm
interesting and educational.
He is glad to explain the feeding
and care Of the snakes and animals
in which he has become very eff
ficient during his years of exper-
fence.
Besides snakes, he has a large and
rare collection of Wild animals,
among which are a number Of lynx,
leopard cats, Mexican wild hogs,
~raccoons, armadillos and coyotes.
He now has at the farm two cats,
caught near here, which more re-
semble minKs than cats. They are
called Yaguarandi and Eyre cats.
The Eyre cat is a little smaller than
the wild cat and is a brown or snuff
color. The Yarguarandi a resem-
bles the Eyre cat, except that it is
a trifle smaller and is of a dark grey
color. These cats are found in
South America and rarely anywhere
else.
Some Of these animals are raised
on the farm but most of them are
caught in the surrounding country
by Mexican trapEers and hunters,
who go into the brakes to make
their capture. The most interesting
of all is the method used in captur-
ing the snakes. The Mexican snake
hunter has a pronged stick which he
attempts to place just back of the
snakes head, pinning the snake to
the ground, until he can grasp it
with his hand back of the neck.
When held thus, the snake can not
bite. He then puts it in a bag hung
on his shoulder. The strange thing,
to those not acquainted with the
habits Of the reptiles, is that the
snake does not bite the Mexican
while in the bag. This was ex-
planned by Mr.. Ribas, who stated
that a snake would lot strike with
out seeing the object or without coil
ing first.
The hides of the snakes are tanned
and are used for ornaments as we'll
as manufacturing purposes. The oil
is used for many different house
hold purposes. The poison Of the
RATHER is very valuable. When it
is dry, it c~rystalizes and is of a
bright yellow color. This poison, so
deadly when injected into the veins
by the fangs of the reptile, is used
sometimes by physicians in medical
practice, and for experimental pur-
poses.
From this farm, snakes and wild
animals are shipped all over the