282 THE SNAKES OF SOUTH AFRICA. 
Others develop abscesses in the mouth, from which they usually 
die. However, snakes kept for public exhibition in Zoological 
Gardens and elsewhere, should on no account ever be fed when 
the public are present, especially children, for such sights only 
generate an unwholesome morbid curiosity, and besides, there 
is the semblance of cruelty, if not the actual reality. Many 
things must be done which are very unpleasant, and go against 
one’s natural inclinations, but when called upon to perform such 
duties they need never be paraded unnecessarily. 
If a snake can once be induced to eat of its own accord, there 
is no further difficulty, for it afterwards feeds freely if the air in 
its cage is genialand warm. Sucha snake, if placed in a cage with 
others which have previously refused to eat, will often induce 
them to make a beginning. 
