TREATMENT OF SNAKES IN CAPTIVITY. 19 



demonstrate their value in diminished hills of mortality. Never- 

 theless, I take it for granted that very few amateurs, even the 

 most enthusiastic, contemplate the erection of a reptile-house ; 

 and as isolated cages necessarily present some points of 

 modification, a short chapter dealing with spacious lodgings 

 and the serpents best suited to inhabit them may not be out 

 of place. 



First, as to the situation. Such a cage is most frequently 

 built in an orchid or other exotic house or conservatory, and it 

 seems reasonable to imagine that there would be the best place 

 for it, no extra, specially applied, heating apparatus being 

 required, and greater ventilation permitted while the high tem- 

 perature is constant. But it has this disadvantage ; the excessive 

 warmth of the place renders any but the shortest stay in it 

 disagreeable to dwellers in a temperate clime, to say nothing of 

 the dangers attending the sudden transition to the outer air in 

 cold weather. The consequence is that the snakes are rarely 

 visited, and never become tame ; or, if previously tame, soon 

 become wild again. Setting aside the presumption that the 

 creatures are kept for the purpose of study, too much stress 

 cannot be laid upon the injunction that for their own welfare they 

 should be placed where they can grow accustomed to the presence 

 of human beings (and especially of particular people) as much 

 as possible ; where, in fact, — to use a common phrase which 

 expresses the same idea from an opposite point of view, — they 

 can "always be looked at," and the more they are looked at, 

 after the first novelty of their position as captives has worn off, 

 the better. The tamest snake becomes nervous and spiteful in a 

 very short time if put away out of sight, a circumstance fre- 

 quently noticed by those who are obliged to cover up their pets 

 in the winter through not being provided with adequate means of 

 supplying artificial heat. It is a most important point this. A 

 serpent's chance of doing well in confinement is, like that of 

 most other animals, in direct proportion to the equanimity with 

 which it accepts the situation, ceteris paribus. We all know the 

 difficulties with a newly-caged wild bird or beast, the injury it 

 may inflict upon itself in its terrified efforts to escape and no 

 less terrified attempts at assault upon its captors, its refusal 

 to feed, and not infrequent death, independent of these secondary 

 causes, from sheer fright. All these things occur with snakes in 



