Popular Science Monthly 



829 



Making Comfortable 



Quarters for the Pet 



Snake 



ONE of the special trea- 

 sures of the average 

 country boy is likely to be a 

 pet snake, and one of his 

 special problems is how to 

 house it safely. According 

 to L. S. Crandall (Pets, 

 Henry Holt & Co., New- 

 York) "no fixed dimensions 

 need be set. Snakes are not 

 particularly active creatures, 

 and the cage need be only 

 large enough to give its occu- 

 pants room to move about 

 freely. For the smaller 

 species large glass aquaria, 

 fitted with wire tops, make 

 excellent homes and have 

 the added advantage of 

 plenty of light. If the cage 

 is to be of wood, the front 

 should be of glass rather 

 than of wire, as snakes are 

 likely to rub against the 

 latter and injure their 

 mouths. 



"It is always wise to make 

 the door of such a box in the 

 top, which makes it possible 

 to care for the captives with 

 a minimum of disturbance. 

 This door, or the entire top, 

 may be of wire netting to allow ventilation. 

 The furnishing of the cage may be varied 

 according to the needs of the inmates. In 

 some cases it is better left entirely plain. 

 In others the bottom may" be covered with 

 sand, loam, dry leaves, moss or rounded 

 pebbles. Many snakes will take advantage 

 of a shelf placed midway between floor and 

 top, and others will drape themselves 

 among branches set upright in the cage. 



"Water should be provided for all species, 

 and water snakes should have a good- 

 sized bath, in which they will often be found 

 immersed. Cages should be cleaned fre- 

 quently and all excreta removed with care. 

 Snakes are fond of sunshine and cages 

 should be placed so as to admit it, but care 

 must be taken to avoid overheating. It is 

 important that the cage be absolutely dry, 

 for snakes of most species will not thrive in 

 damp quarters or even in a moist atmos- 

 phere." Black snakes and garter snakes 

 are interesting and harmless. 



Salvaging sunken ships with collapsible floats. As the floats 

 swell they displace the water and cause the vessel to rise 



Raising Sunken Ships with 

 Collapsible Air Bags 



A NOVEL method of salvaging sunken 

 ships has been devised by Dr. Sylvio 

 Pellico Portella, of Rio de Janeiro. 



The invention consists of a specially 

 built tender which carries collapsible floats 

 made of waterproof material. The floats 

 occupy very little space until they are put 

 into use and inflated. They are constructed 

 in such a manner that they will assume a 

 number of different shapes when they are 

 inflated. 



Taken down to the wreck by divers they 

 are attached to the vessel both inside and 

 outside and are connected with the tender 

 by lines of hose. When in place they are 

 inflated by air pressure from the tender. 

 As they swell they displace the water from 

 within as well as from without, and their 

 buoyancy causes the wreck to float upward 

 to the surface. 



