Keeper Charles Snyder, of the reptile house, 

 Bronx Zoo, New York, extracting snake venom 



IF you are quick and fearless you may 

 manage any snake so long as you are 

 armed with a cane or a piece of wood 

 like a cane. Push the snake around in any 

 way that you can in order to prevent him 

 from coiling. When you have him in just 

 the right position, make a very quick move 

 and place your cane across his neck, just 

 behind his head. Then you have him. 

 He cannot get out of control. Now bend 

 down and grasp the snake in the place 

 where your cane rests, just behind his head. 

 With your left hand put his body under 

 your right arm. No matter how enraged 

 the reptile may be he can do no harm as 

 long as you hold him in this position. His 

 body is held by your arm against your side 

 so he cannot coil around you or around 

 any convenient object. 



In handling snakes in the house 

 it is essential to keep away 

 from furniture or anything 

 which the snake could 

 coil about. They are 

 very strong and once 

 they get themselves 

 wrapped around any 

 object it is exceeding- 

 ly difficult to pry 

 them loose. 



Pike county, Penn- 

 sylvania, is known for 



Handling Live Rattlers 



How professional snake hunters 

 manage the most venomous rep- 

 tiles and extract their poison 



By A. M. Jungmann 



the number of rattlesnakes which infest 

 certain parts of it. Men make a business 

 of catching these dangerous snakes. They 

 are sold alive to museums and to individuals 

 for exhibition and other purposes. The 

 snake hunters of Pike county employ the 

 rnethod described when catching the rep- 

 tiles. They carry them home in sacks and 

 store them away in a wooden bin. When 

 the hunter desires to show one of his 

 captives he reaches into the bin, dexterously 

 whips out a rattler and throws him on the 

 floor. Then he holds out an old hat to the 

 angered snake and permits him to strike it 

 repeatedly. By the time the snake has 

 bitten the hat several times it has exhausted * 

 its supply of venom. But even then there 

 would be enough venom left in the fangs 

 to do harm. The hunter, however, feels 

 that the chances are in his favor and does 

 not hesitate to handle the snake freely. 



When a poisonous snake wishes to bite, or 

 strike, an enemy, it rears its head, lowers 

 its under jaw and elevates its upper jaw 

 in such a way that the fangs are directed 

 straight forward. Then it strikes with 

 incredible swiftness. When the fangs strike, 

 the poison sacs are opened and the venom 

 is injected into the victim as with a hyper- 

 dermic syringe. The action of snake venom 

 is very rapid. Small animals and birds fall 

 to the ground immediately upon being 

 struck. They become paralyzed and die 

 in a few minutes. 



Removal of the fangs does not make a 

 snake safe to handle, because as soon as 

 one set of fangs is removed others grow. 

 They are supplied with two 

 fangs in the upper jaw. 

 Once in a great while, 

 as in the case of the 

 moccasin pictured on 

 the following page, a 

 snake may have three 

 fangs, a new one 

 having grown in 

 before the old one 

 fell out. Some snakes 

 will inject as much as 

 a teaspoonful of ven- 

 om into an enemy. 

 Poisonous snakes 



In case of snake-bite you would need a razor 

 to open the wound, anti-venom serum, a 

 syringe for injecting it and a rubber bandage 



H7A, 



