342 



ORDERS OF REPTILES— SERPENTS 



This splendid Python is at home in the hot 

 and moist jungle which from Burmah to Java 

 covers the land with a dense mantle of trees, 

 thorny palms, rattans and tangled underbrush. 



The temperature is practically stationary all 

 the year round, and varies little save between 

 82° and 9S° F. The frequent rains, and the 

 moist, hot-house air of that region, with abun- 

 dant animal food and ample cover, constitute 

 ideal conditions for the rapid growth of reptiles, 

 and the triennial shedding of their epidermis. 

 It is no wonder that Pythons' and king cobras 

 grow large there, or that they are so numerous 

 that many of the former arc caught alive by the 

 Malays. 



But the term "numerous" is capable of sev- 

 eral interpretations, and in this case we enjoin 

 a strict limitation. Although between forty 

 and fifty Pythons of two large species 1 leave 

 Singapore every year, let it not for one mo- 

 ment be supposed that anywhere in the East 

 Indies are these serpents so numerous that they 

 constitute a danger to human life, or that it is 

 even possible to find them by hunting for them. 

 Quite the contrary. 



I spent several months in the Far East, roam- 

 ing through jungles of all kinds, some of them 

 so dense and so full of deadly bogs and miasma 

 that now I recall them with a shudder. I never 

 once found a wild Python, great or small; nor a 

 cobra, even in cobra-ridden Hindustan; nor did 

 any of my own native followers ever find a spec- 

 imen of either for me. The only wild Python 

 I ever saw or handled in its home jungle was 

 one that was brought to me in the Malay Penin- 

 sula. It was hiding in a hollow tree, and when 

 it looked out at a Malay who was passing, he 

 whipped out his parong, cut off its head at one 

 blow, and came to me calmly dragging behind 

 him twelve feet of dead snake. 



So far as I could learn, even the largest Py- 

 thons are harmless to man. They sometimes 

 visit native villages, crawl through the frail 

 fences which very feebly protect the domestic 

 animals, and swallow — chickens and ducks! It 

 is in these humble raids that some Pythons come 

 to grief by being caught alive. But jungle peo- 

 ple have no fear that a Python would make such 



1 The Black-Tailed Python {Python mo-ln'pis) , 



although smaller than the Reticulated, attains a 

 length of 20 feet. 



a blunder as to attempt to make a conquest of a 

 man. To be sure, in the Far East, people do not 

 often go poking around in the jungles at night, 

 in thick darkness. It is not considered the 

 proper thing to do so. 



The food of the Pythons of the East Indies 

 must consist chiefly of the muntjac, hog-deer and 

 other deer of small size ; young wild pigs, pheas- 

 ants and jungle-fowl. Our captive Pythons pre- 

 fer large chickens — full-feathered — and rabbits. 

 A Python should voluntarily eat a full meal every 

 two weeks. 



Until quite recently it was generally believed 

 that if a large serpent would not feed voluntarily 

 there was nothing to be done for it save to watch 

 it commit suicide by starvation. Two years 

 ago, Mr. Raymond L. Ditmars, Curator of Rep- 

 tiles in the Zoological Park determined upon a 

 very bold experiment. He decided that a starv- 

 ing twenty-foot Python should be fed artificially. 

 Accordingly, a smooth bamboo pole was pro- 

 cured, and a string of four rabbits was tied up 

 so that the pole would thrust the first one far 

 into the serpent's interior, and drag the others 

 after it. The next question was, how could the 

 snake be controlled? 



Summoning Keepers Snyder and Dahl, and 

 five other men, the cage-door was opened. As 

 the reptile raised its head to strike the intruders, 

 a stream of cold water from a hose struck it full 

 in the face. When it recoiled in confusion, the 

 plucky keepers seized it by the neck, and quickly 

 dragged it from its cage. As its form emerged, 

 the waiting men seized it at proper intervals, and 

 held it nearly straight. 



The Curator presented the pole-strung rab- 

 bits, the first of which was angrily seized in the 

 Python's jaws. With this auspicious beginning, 

 it was the work of only a few moments to grad- 

 ually push the string of wet rabbits down the 

 serpent's throat, to a distance of seven feet, and 

 withdraw the pole. Finally the tail and body of 

 the snake was thrust into the cage, and with a 

 careful toss from the hands of Mr. Snyder, the 

 head landed on the coils, sufficiently distant 

 that the door could be closed without acci- 

 dent. 



Since that time, all large serpents that fast 

 too long are fed in this manner, and the food thus 

 mechanically placed in the stomach is properly 

 assimilated. 



