190 BOTANIC GARDENS MENAGERIE. 



and will not feed again. Almost any snakes of any size will 

 eat smaller ones. I have seen DoliopMs trivirgatus eating a 

 small brown snake, and the python will also occasionally do 

 the same. 



On one occasion there were five fair sized pythons put 

 into one large cage. The biggest, a very thick snake, was 

 about 25 feet long, the next in size seventeen feet, the others 12 

 to 15 feet. But during the first two nights the big snake ate 

 the three smaller snakes, and had a try at the other who beat 

 it off though it was slightly wounded. After this the two 

 snakes lived at opposite ends of the cage. The large one was 

 particularly vicious and it was unsafe for the keeper to go into 

 its cage. 



The python requires to be supplied with some arrange- 

 ment for bathing, as it is very fond of water and suffers much 

 if kept in too hot and dry a place, especially when it is 

 changing its skin a dangerous time for any snake. 



As a rule in spite of their great strength and weight these 

 big snakes are easy to handle as in a struggle they soon get 

 tired. One day one 21 feet long escaped from its cage and took 

 refuge in a wood. As a little rain had fallen it was easily 

 tracked by the broad bar across the road which it had made 

 when passing. It was noosed by a running noose by one of 

 the coolies and of course lashed out and fought furiously for a 

 few minutes, but the other coolies about 20 in number seized it 

 by the tail and body in a row and it was carried along, in spite 

 of its struggles. It showed great ingenuity in getting a kink of 

 its body against a tree and pulling on that, but eventually 

 became quieter and was quite exhausted by the time it was 

 brought to its cage. However it soon recovered, and lived for 

 some time being finally killed by one of those pests to a men- 

 agerie, the man who cannot see an animal in a cage however 

 tame without jobbing it with a stick. The man was arrested 

 and fined, but the snake never recovered from the compara- 

 tively slight wounds it received. In noosing a snake the captor 

 must wait till it raises its head, which it will generally do when 

 threatened, and he must not miss slipping the noose over its 

 head at the right moment or the snake will understand and dodge 



Jour. Straits Branch 



