Snakes Can Be Interesting (1952)

foreign [Music] my uncle John took me and my sister Susie fishing at least we started out to fish but that was before we found the most interesting pet I've ever had we were just walking along not thinking of anything much when he squealed Susie the way girls sometimes do a snake I almost stepped on it you wouldn't want to do that Uncle John said this is a bull snake one of your friends and do you know what Uncle John did he picked that snake up holding it behind the head so it couldn't bite because snakes are just like most animals they will bite if they're scared Dolly I said what if he's poisonous if he were poisonous I wouldn't get close to him Uncle John said you saw how closely I looked him over before I picked him up calm down boy now that we've had a look at you we'll let you go off and catch a big fat field mouse well we went on toward the pond talking about snakes and how they helped out Farmers by killing pests like mice and rats we threw out our lines but I don't know seeing that snake had got my mind way off fishing I kept thinking about that bull snake and I wondered if maybe I couldn't find him again see you later I said and went looking little did I know I was going to find something a million times better than that old snake pretty soon Susie and Uncle John heard me yell come on look what I found what is it a baby bull snake maybe it's that other one's baby set out to see the world boy he was pretty slim and graceful and bright-eyed I knew right then I had a pet worth keeping at first I didn't know how I'd get him home but Susie said what about your cap so I closed him gently up in it and I could feel him kind of snuggle down right at home already well that ended the fishing for that day everybody was too excited about the pet snake we picked up our poles and on the way home we named him Sammy we said we'd call him Sammy the snake Uncle John made Sammy a cage out of some boards and Screen wire and glass I put in some dirt for him to crawl on and in he went say uncle John Susie said I've been wondering where did Sammy come from in the first place he hatched from an egg Uncle John said his mother laid the eggs some place where they would be safe or maybe she buried them in the Earth but not all snakes hatch from eggs as bull snakes do these baby garter snakes were born alive rattlesnakes and water snakes are also born alive what are we going to feed Sammy I wanted to know he must be plenty hungry by now don't take any lessons in table manners from Sammy or any other snake Uncle John said snakes swallow their food without chewing it they come down an egg shell and all the egg is bigger around than the snake but he has special Jaws that stretch and stretch most American snakes eat mice rats and Gophers prairie dogs too and other Farm pests while water snakes eat mostly frogs and fish some of the smaller snakes can make a good meal out of worms and caterpillars boy it's something to watch our snake stretches Jaws round an egg and then squeeze it on down to his stomach snakes drink water too just as other animals do Susie and I never once forgot to feed Sammy we knew we were lucky to have a chance to watch him grow another interesting thing we learned was what happens to a snake skin when he grows three or four times a year his skin gets too little for him so he sheds it by rubbing and wriggling through the dirt or against stones to get the old skin off and there's his new right-sized skin underneath did you ever see a snake skin that some snake has outgrown it's made up of scales held together by skin different kinds of snakes have different shapes and numbers of scales different snakes have different Arrangements of scales but all snakes shed their skin every so often the more I learn from watching Sammy the more I wanted to know about other kinds of snakes so I talked Uncle John into taking us to the snake house at the zoo in the first cage was one of the most common snakes in America a bright colored garter snake it is quite harmless and has stripes down its back the pine snake is a cousin of bull snakes like Sammy it lives in the eastern United States and it too is a friend of the farmer it is not poisonous a snake's tongue is a very sensitive organ and we think he uses it to hear taste and smell he flicks it out all the time testing for signs of food or enemies nearby the blue racer gets his name because he can crawl so fast he eats many Farm pests he is not poisonous but he can bite fiercely if he's cornered in the next cage we found one of the most beautiful snakes in America the California king snake he's called the king snake because he can kill other snakes he's not poisonous and is not affected by the poison of other snakes he's been known to kill and eat deadly rattlesnakes black snake is another Farm friend he is not poisonous but will bite when angry or excited black snakes grow quite large sometimes as long as eight feet they are great climbers spending lots of time in trees is there any way you can tell if a snake is poisonous just by looking at them I asked usually Uncle John told us except for some water snakes most North American harmless snakes have slender heads the head is not much wider than the body all but one of the American poisonous snakes have wedge-shaped heads the base of the head is wider than the neck because the poisoned glands are in the base of the head these poisonous snakes belong to the pit viper family they have a small pit between the eye and the nostril this pit is a very sensitive organ which helps the snake detect the heat from the warm-blooded animals upon which it feeds rattlesnakes are the best known to the pit vipers all of the several kinds of rattlesnakes are deadly poisonous notice the wedge-shaped head rattlesnakes all have a button or series of rattles on the tail this usually serves as a warning signal when the snake is aroused or angry watch this timber rattlesnake signal Danger another pit viper is the copperhead somewhat less poisonous than the rattlesnake but still a dangerous snake brown in color it is usually found among rocks in wooded areas in the Central and southeastern states the cottonmouth or water moccasin is the last member of the pit viper family it is always found near water there are many different water snakes but this member of the pit viper family is the only poisonous one when aroused it may open its mouth showing the white lining inside which gives it its name cotton mouth we didn't see the coral snakes North America's other group of poisonous snakes at the zoo but from one we saw preserved in alcohol we learned that the coral snakes are not pit vipers but they are very poisonous a coral snake has broad red and black bands on its body first a red band then a black these are separated by narrow bands of brilliant yellow the milk snake which is not poisonous looks very much like the coral snake but the bands of color are arranged differently we learned a lot from that trip to the snake house and the zoo but there was more we were soon to learn not long after that Uncle John told us we should turn Sammy loose so he could hibernate for the winter that was a new word what do you mean hibernate well Uncle John said snakes are cold-blooded animals they have to spend the winter where it does not freeze they do this by Going Underground below the frost line there they huddle together in caves holes or animal Burrows and sleep through the winter so we took Sammy out in the field Uncle John had to be the one to let him go I thought I'd be too sad losing him but when I saw him streak out happy and free I knew it was right for him to be with his own kind so long Sammy have a nice winter nap [Music]