A BEDROOM ZOO 235 



her own hody^ and thus produces her young alive. 

 Thus naturalists term these two British reptiles 

 oviparous and viviparous respectively. 



Snakes, like Frogs and Toads, cast their skins 

 regularly, and this is called " sloughing." The 

 creatures wriggle about until they literally turn 

 themselves inside out, as it were, and when an old 

 skin is shed, the " bloom " on the new one is often 

 very beautiful. 



Not long since I watched the largest Boa Con- 

 strictor in Europe undergoing this sloughing 

 operation, and when I tell you that the huge 

 animal was kept in a room that adjoined my bed- 

 room in a well-known fashionable watering-place 

 on the Yorkshire coast, you may imagine- I had 

 good opportunities for studying my neighbour ! 



His companions in the room were many and 

 various, for I remember there was a large Indian 

 Python, some Frogs, Black Rats, Newts, several 

 Birds, and other animals. 



My friend, who owned this little Bedroom Zoo, 

 handled all his pets without the slightest fear, 

 and it was a rare sight to see the large Boa Con- 

 strictor twisting its massive form about my 

 friend's body. Captured when only a few inches 

 long, it had, when I saw it, grown to a length of 

 many feet, and was so tame and apparently 

 attached that it appeared to understand when it 

 was fondled and even spoken to. 



