SUMMARY:
The text describes Miss Proctor safely handling a small but powerful boa by securing its head and tail. It recounts a king cobra at the Bronx Zoo that refused to eat until offered a coach whip snake, after which long, thin strips of beef were cut to mimic its preferred food.
CONTENT:
The neck of a human being is just the sort
of a "warmer" that a tropical snake loves to coil
about—and squeeze—so Miss Proctor adopts
the simple "Safety First" measure of holding
the head and tail securely as she handles this
small but surprisingly powerful boa.
King cobras are another variety of Miss
Proctor's charges likely to become obnoxious at
times. Or, at least, that has been the experience
of other curators.
WHEN this monarch among snakes arrived
at the Bronx Zoo he registered his dis-
like of the institution and his objection to re-
maining in it by refusing to eat at all. As he is
a cannibal he was offered every species of crawl-
ing thing the authorities had ever heard of a
cobra eating. But no! Nothing doing! Never
in this world, so said the cobra in question, if
his expression mirrored his thoughts.
At length a "coach whip," a nice, five-foot
appetizing morsel, was sent in for the rebel's
breakfast. That hit the spot. The king cobra
ate and demanded more of the same. And there
the scheme struck a snag, for coach whips cost
three dollars each and aren't to be had at all
times for a striking monarch's fastidious taste.
What was to be done? The diet of coach whip
had been kept up while the curator engaged in
thought, and now long, thin strips of beef were
cut in the length of the favorite food