WHAT IT IS Persuading a serpent to dance to your tune
WHY YOU WON’T DO IT People and snakes have struggled to work together since the days of Adam and Eve
‘Hypnotizing’ a venomous snake might seem like a risky business, but snake charmers are wily fellows who do everything in their power to eliminate danger. Though the practice is now outlawed in India, there are still around a million charmers, most of whom learned the skill from their fathers. So what’s the secret?
The first thing you’ll need to do if you’re seriously considering a career in snake charming is to find out whether it’s even legal in your part of the world. It’s forbidden in many parts of the world for protection of both the animals involved and their rapidly declining environment.
Assuming you’re in the clear, the first thing you’ll need to do is get a snake. A cobra is the classic choice, but a viper will do just as well. In all honesty, get somebody with specialist skills to obtain the snake for you, and make sure it’s from a legitimate source.
Snake charming is not a profession beloved of the animal rights movement for good reason. It is not uncommon for charmers to remove the snake’s fangs or venom glands, and in some cases, to actually sew the snake’s mouth closed. None of these methods are recommended here, but ‘milking’ the snake to temporarily drain its venom seems like a good idea. Once again, though, you should get a specialist rather than do it yourself.
Put the snake in a pot or basket, don a suitably ‘mystic’ outfit and find a spot in a crowded market. Lay down your basket/pot and sit by it in a cross-legged pose, out of biting range just in case. (As a rule of thumb, a cobra’s attack range is about one-third of its body length). Keep the snake well fed so it is likely to be docile. When you take the lid off the pot/basket, the snake will probably ‘stand up’ without encouragement – a defensive rather than aggressive gesture, and hardly surprising given the circumstances.
Start playing your flute, while swaying the instrument from side to side. The snake appears to ‘dance’ to it. In fact, they do not hear music like humans do. Instead, they respond to the sight of the moving instrument – no hypnosis required. At the end of the act, slowly replace the lid on the container. But in retrospect, why not take the snake out of the equation altogether and just learn to play the flute really well instead? It’s a lot kinder to animals and if you get really good, it could earn you a lot more money.