130 THE SNAKES OF SOUTH AFRICA. 



The Schaapstekers, Grass Snakes, and Sand Snakes. 



The Schaapstekers, or Sheepstickers, are well known to all 

 South African colonists. Their favourite haunts are the grassy 

 stunted-shrub-covered districts, dry plains and veld. On the 

 Karoo they are common. They are frequently found on the 

 grazing grounds and about the sheep kraals, drawn thither by 

 the mice, lizards, beetles, larvae, and other living creatures wliich 

 accumulate in and about the excrement of sheep and cattle. 

 Now and again a villainous Cobra, or Ringhals, gets irritated at 

 the presence of sheep feeding on his hunting grounds, and bites 

 one or two. The cobra is a crafty fellow, and can take good care 

 of liimself. After doing all the damage he can amongst the sheep, 

 he retires discreetly to his hole, or into the tangled bush. The 

 farmer, or his herdsman, comes along, finds the dying sheep, and 

 seeing Schaapstekers about, immediately concludes they are the 

 guilty parties, hence the name Schaapsteker, which means 

 "sheepsticker." 



They are delicate snakes, and do not thrive well in capti\ity, 

 unless the conditions under which they are kept are such as they 

 were accustomed to in the wild state. 



The Schaapstekers, Grass Snakes, and Sand Snakes will rarely 

 attempt to bite unless roughly handled or trodden upon. More- 

 over, being Back-fanged Snakes, their bite is not much to be 

 feared, unless they take a full mouthful of bare flesh, and are 

 allowed to retain their hold for a few seconds in order to worry 

 the flesh. A bite from any of these Back-fanged Snakes through 

 the sleeve or trouser would, in most instances, not develop any 

 poisonous symptoms at all. Even if a barefooted person should 

 tread upon a Schaapsteker, and ifbit him, the chances are that he 

 would only be slightly poisoned, for the first instinct of a bitten 

 person is to jump aside, or instantl}' shake the snake off ; so, it 

 is apparent that in most cases of bites by ordinary Back-fanged 

 Snakes, there is little real risk. 



My snake collector, Mr. James Williams, has such a contempt 

 for them tliat he sometimes brings me a pocket-full, and pulls 

 them out with his bare hand, one by one. Now and then 

 he is bitten. He instantly sucks the wound, and makes a couple 

 of slight cuts over the punctures and rubs in a few permanganate 

 crystals. Sometimes he feels a slight headache for an hour 



