Huang Kuo-nan, manager of the Snake King Education Farm in Tainan’s Gueiren District, which has kept a six-meter long python for 26 years, says the only problem they have is the lice, which are hidden inside the scales and have to be removed with a “medicinal bath.” However, the pythons are not very obedient animals, and the cage is not spacious enough for an additional bathtub, so the farm has no choice but to catch it, rub it from head to toe and help delouse it.
The snake in question was hibernating under the basking light. Upon entering the cage, the workers catch it by its head, then carry the snake out of the cage. After the large snake is completely under control and is no longer agitated, Huang dips a rag in vermifuge liquid and carefully rubs the snake to disinfect it.
Rubbing takes about 15 minutes, during which the python does not move around and the process is done without mishap. However, this snake is six meters in length and weighs more than 60 kg, requiring the workers, young and old, to muster all the strength they have to carry it, saying to it: “You get served while we sweat our guts out.”
Photo: Wu Chun-feng, Taipei Times
照片:自由時報記者吳俊鋒攝
(Liberty Times, translated by Ethan Zhan)
台南歸仁區世界蛇王教育農場負責人黃國男表示,農場裡的一條六米大蟒蛇已飼養廿六年,唯一的問題是攀附在蛇身上的蛇蝨常躲藏在鱗片裡,靠「藥浴」才能根除。但蟒蛇沒那麼聽話,且籠舍空間不夠大,難以增設大型浸泡池,只好硬抓起來,全身擦澡、驅蟲。
這條蟒蛇原本在保溫燈下冬眠,工作人員一進去先將牠的頭抓好,再接力將蛇身搬出籠。等待大蛇完全制伏,沒有躁動後,黃國男拿起抹布沾驅蟲藥水,仔細地幫牠擦拭、消毒。
擦澡時間約十五分鐘,大蛇沒有亂動,過程順利,但這條大蛇長約六公尺,重量更有上百台斤,老少無不使出吃奶的力量抬著,直呼「爽到你,艱苦到我」。
(自由時報綜合報導)
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