The Washington times., 1919-04-20
Arsenic
Dust Baths

STRANGE disease attacked the great
IA collection of snakes in the New
\ York Geological Garden in the
Bronx
Five hundred Of them died miserable
sand untimely death, and their keepers were
s-at first unable to do anything for them.
Ssme people may think the death Of a
sSsnake is not matter to worry about. But
Elfhese snakes cost the garden thousands of
dollars and were probably the most valu-
able collection in the world. They were
housed and nursed with the same care as
1.-THE babies of millionaires.
They cost not only much money but
= much labor and work. They were shared
in fever-haunted swamps by experts who
sstook their lives in their hands They were
scarried long distances through many eli
eamates. It was even harder to keep them
aliVe than to catch them without getting
%killed.
. ~ 1t was necessary to keep them in glass
sShouses the atmosphere Of which would re-
eproduce the climate, usually tropical, from
(which they came.
And then they have to be nursed They
have to be stuffed with food when they
1gFefuse to eat When they are slow in
Iu6T ShluS Ile process must De
hastened. So you VIII understand that the
Eeoutbreak of a new disease in the snakes
was a serious matter.
All the resources of science we're sum-
moned to help. Then it was discovered
that the poor reptiles were suffering from
a tick fever-a disease having the same
origin as Texas fever, horse fever and
segroUh of diseases that have caused enor-
.4EnoUs loss of life among cattle and occa-
Esionally affects man. With this knowledge
@it was possible to find a cure for the dis
ease that was decimating the snakes and
@sOme of the most valuable reptiles we're
snSTched from the jaws of death just at
The last moment.
- The treatment of the snakes was carried
out by DR.. Raymond L. Ditmars, the cura-
tOr of reptiles, with the assistance of
star Of experts. When they found that
the ticks were the cause Of the
trouble they busted every ailing
snake with a fine arsenical powder
which got down between the scales
and poisoned the insects and their
parasites without hurting the
snakes.
The disease spread by the tick
ito the snakes is known as "piro-
e plasmosis," and is essentially 8
the same as that which de- IL 4;
sstroys millions of dollars worth Zt|SI
of cattle, poultry and other do
zmestic animals in this and other
countries. 1t is hoped that the =
experience with the reptiles may ~
be of some value in saving the ~
food animals.
The outbreak in the Zoo was
primarily due to the meeting
of immune tick-carrying reptiles
with non-immune snakes from a
different part Of the world. The iguanas,
an interesting species of South American
lizard with frills down their backs, who are
housed with the snakes, started the infec-
tion.
They carried ticks of the parasitic dis
ease. from which they were immune for
various reasons one being that their an
cestors had long suffered from it in South
America.
The iguanas were placed in the snake
house and the ticks hastened to leave
them in search Of more susceptible and de-
fenseless victims Now here a curious
fact is TO be noted. Snakes are divided
into the keel-scaled and the smOOth-scaled
varieties. The keel-scaled snakes we're the
ones that always succumbed to the disease.
There was a large group Of Australian
snakes in the Zoo, all Of them kesl-scaled
Tho ticks attacked them and killed OF
every cne They also attacked other snakes
and killed many Of them. The only snakes
that escaped entirely were the ones from
SOuGl AWeTlCdy lu6 DldSS "LSAO inc AbualeS
come FROM and where the other native
REPTILES had evidently developed immunity.
An expert on snakes describes the keel
scale as rough, with a ridge across it. Il
= offers an opening into which the female
tick can thrust down it's head and lay its
eggs in the reptiles blood. Here the young
ticks hatch out and live under the skin
until they are ready for the outside life.
parasitic Is released from the young
tick and finds its way into the blood Of the
snake, where 1t multiplies with enormous
rapidity and passes through several life,
stages. The parasites accumulate in
wounds and disease centres in the body Of
the snake and produce death by blood
poisoning.
Among the snakes not affected by the
disease were the Indian cobras, the most
Ideally Of reptiles The American gopher
'~snakes are only attacked in the region Of
the eyes and in many cases go completely
blind from the disease.