LOOKING AFTER THE BOA

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7808, 12 September 1903, Page 1

LOOKING AFTER THE BOA

Professor Raymond L. Ditmars, sop-tim y tendent of the reptile-house for the New* York Zoological Society, has been describing toa writer in " Chambers's Journal "^ tha delicate task of forcing a newly-cap-tured boa-constrictor to tako its food before I tbat creature will take it on its own ac-y i count. After a big snake has made up L its mind not to starve itself to death (aaid L; tbe professor) its appetite is almont i*"*y.' ; satiable. It will eafc any quantity of rait& mice, chickens, rabbits and all uorts -el -v small birds and animals. ;'yL : After these snakes have learned to est LI bave observed thafc they begin to take ■ notice of children who approach their cages.; This seems to show that boa-constrictors are man-eaters. They will watoh a child '. ... as long as it is in sight; and occasionally! I have seen them strike at children througfc the glass. Fortunately for the little one** the glass is nearly an inoh thick, and thi snake gets a bruised nose for bis paina* Strangely enough the snake shows no in-' L terest in grown-up folks. I suppose v p ; " child meets its eye as bf'utg ol more sodJK able size. * " _ . v It is surprising how the skin of theee'; .y great snakes will change after they hatje y taken to food. While they are starving themselves the skin becomes dull of huer and tbe beautiful steel-blue colouring BOy characteristio of the python disappears :- After they have been feeding for a months w however, all this iridescent colour reap- y pears, and they become sleek and welt. groomed in appearance. y \ When we first ta&oa » great snake out. of its box we rub it all over with vaseline* and repeat this massage aboufc once every" two weeks. This treatment, prevents tiui '* development of skk. diseases, to which then y are very subject. It also enables them. '.-■ to shed their skins. If a snake does nos LL shed its skin periodically ifc very booq Lv sickens and dies. It is not generally known that snakes a^e very subject to lung troublo; but the change from the temperature ot their sjjrv * ; tive haunts to that of colder climes bri_H|i - ' on a species of pneumonia, ana at t_D__-|. L they also develop real diphtheria. The temperature in which th*y thrive ',-' best in captivity is between . eighty and ninety degrees Fahrenheit. Temperatures below sey^ &^g§ B»lu. qg£g| h^ L tal&b'- * ■