250 THE VIVARIUM. 
being fed artificially. For many reasons it is fairly safe to 
conclude that Snakes have little or no sense of taste whatever. 
Many of my own Snakes would have been dead long ago, had I 
not fed them forcibly, and so prevented them from starving 
themselves to death. Almost invariably when a Snake has been 
So treated it has recovered its appetite, and when given the 
opportunity, taken food of its own accord. 
I believe many keepers of reptiles in Zoological Gardens adopt, 
to a greater or lesser extent, the artificial system of feeding their 
charges. The largest Snake in the Reptile House, Regent’s 
Park, London, and which is also perhaps the largest Snake in 
captivity anywhere, has been fed by hand for the last three years 
at least, and is in splendid condition, weighing probably some- 
thing like 18st. This Snake, the Reticulated Python (Python 
reticulatus), receives its food regularly once a week. 
The forcible giving of food does not seem to interfere in the 
slightest degree with a Snake’s becoming tame. Indeed, I think 
that this extra handling tends towards that desired end. 
There are several methods of administering food to Snakes. 
For example (1) Some Snakes will swallow a dead animal, or 
even a piece of meat, when it has been simply placed between 
their jaws. (2) The Snake’s mouth is forcibly opened, and a 
dead small animal, dipped in milk, is pushed down the throat, 
and then worked down the gullet by the manipulation of the 
fingers outside the Snake’s body. (3) Pieces of meat, or portions 
of animals, dipped in milk, are pushed sufficiently far down the 
opened mouth of a Snake by means of a smooth stick. (4) A 
tube is filled with suitable food, and passed down the gullet of 
the reptile, and then the contents of the tube are discharged by 
means of a piece of cane used as a ramrod. 
This last method I have generally adopted. I was told, a few 
months ago, by the keeper of a Reptile-house, that tubes were used 
for the purpose of artificially feeding Snakes in the Zoological 
Gardens of America. Until I received this information I was 
under the impression that I was the only one who employed tubes 
in the forcible administration of food to these Reptiles. 
The tubes, which should be of glass for small Snakes, and 
of india-rubber for the larger Reptiles, may be filled with dead 
