28o THE SNAKES OF SOUTH AFRICA. 



Feeding Snakes on Live Animals. 



It is popularly supposed that if rats, mice, rabbits, guinea- 

 pigs, wild birds or domestic fowls are placed in a cage containing 

 live snakes, that they will suffer agonies of fear. This is not so. 

 Wild birds, when introduced into a snake cage, immediately 

 fly out of reach of any snakes which may be present ; but if their 

 food is placed upon the ground, they will after a few hours 

 readily fly down and begin eating, utterly oblivious of the presence 

 of their enemies. In a few days they take no notice at all of the 

 snakes, and even hop about on their bodies. However, it is not 

 pleasant to contemplate that such lovely and bright little creatures 

 should be devoured by these reptiles. I could never bring myself 

 to feed snakes with live birds, although there is no actual cruelty 

 involved. 



Rats, mice, rabbits, guinea-pigs, and fowls, when put into a 

 snake cage, are timid at first, owing to the strangeness of their 

 surroundings, but in a very short time they are quite at home, 

 and do not show the least fear of the snakes. If a snake, such 

 for instance as a pj'thon, is disposed to dine, with a sudden 

 and unexpected movement he seizes his victim, and next instant 

 his deadly coils have done their work, and it is limp and dead 

 — killed so rapidly that death is practically painless. All 

 constrictor snakes kill their prey very rapidly. A rat will be, per- 

 chance, nibbling some food, and the spectator sees an instant 

 later a confused mass of coils, and realizes a snake has the 

 rat in those coils, and already its life is fast ebbing away. If 

 the snake be a venomous one, the poison rapidly benumbs the 

 victim, and, although it may not die immediately, it does not 

 suffer any pain beyond a momentary smart when the fangs 

 penetrate the skin. The venom has the property of narcotizing 

 the sensory nerves. 



Although snakes may be kept alive in captivity for prolonged 

 periods by artificially feeding them, such a plan is not nearly so 

 satisfactory as allowing them to kill and cat their food in a natural 

 way. The mortality among artificially fed snakes is great. When 

 made to swallow against their will, the food frequently fails to 

 digest, putrifies in the alimentary canal, and so poisons the 

 reptile. Others develop abscesses in the mouth, from which 

 they usually die. 



