I was also taught the proper way of holding and handling snakes. On the third day, I was bitten by a wolf snake. Now you must understand that this is a non-poisonous snake and it was deliberately allowed to bite me for my experience and to enable me to get over the irrational fear of snake bites that all of us have acquired as a result of grandmother's tales being dinned into us from childhood. In my case even though I liked snakes, still, Anna explained, there will be a subconscious residual fear! This bite was not particularly painful and treatment was like any other wound one might receive.
During my stay at the snake park I was bitten on several occasions by a variety of non-poisonous (but hot-tempered) snakes and when I left after 3 weeks I had at least about 15-20 bites on my arms. Some of the bites were quite painful and one was so bad that my wrist had swelled up and I couldn't wear my watch for quite sometime. However when you remember that the snake gets damaged much more than you-it loses quite a few of its teeth in the bite-then you don't feel too bad. At any rate there was no question of using anti-venom as the snakes were all non-poisonous. And I learnt to think of the bites as injuries and wounds rather than the much feared `snake-bite'.
Besides snakes, the Park also has a number of other animals. Some had been rescued, others found injured and brought to the Park for rest and recuperation. At the time of my stay at the Park it housed a wild boar, a civet-cat, a leopard, a Shikra bird, a jackal, three mongooses and several owls and eagles with broken wings. The eagles and owls were in cages with the top end kept open.
Once they were able to fly again they could fly out if they wished. There were also many types of exotic fowls, guinea pigs, white mice, rabbits, monkeys and a pair of turkeys. And of course there were Ganges soft shell turtles, starback tortoises and melanac turtles. All these animals had to be fed daily and their cages cleaned regularly.
The snake park has a system through which people in Pune city can call up the park if they sight a snake. Someone from the park will then go to the site with the caller, after taking directions from him/her, and try to get the snake. This ensures that people do not unnecessarily kill snakes. It was on two such occasions that I went with the boys on "calls" and returned without a snake. You see when the distance that the rescue team has to travel is long, the snake may not necessarily remain in the same spot till it gets there.
The snake park has a lot of visitors daily and people are always looking for someone knowledgeable to answer questions. I used to feel quite proud to do this and would gladly answer all the queries like, "What is the name of the snake?" "What does it eat?" "Which is the male and the female?" and so on. At other times I would be pestering the staff to answer more complicated and detailed questions about the habits of snakes. Workers are a mine of information and all of it is knowledge gained from practical experience.
Some nights we went frog catching. We used to go after dinner on scooters to a river about 10 kms away. The method was simple. One person shone a torch on the wet banks of the riverbed, blinding the vision of the frog, which would stop dead in its tracks, while another nabbed it with his bare hands from behind. (Frogs must be taken alive or else the snakes won't eat them.) It was easy to catch the frogs as they remain quite still for the few seconds it takes to catch them, the difficult part being only to ensure that once caught they do not slip out of your grasp, for frogs are quite wet and slippery. After two to three hours we would return with 25 to 30 frogs in our sack.
I used to have my food at a small shack where some poor people cooked meals mainly for the Snake Park staff. One of the popular items was something called `shample' which was made of vegetables and had lots of oil floating over it. This was served with bread and it was deep red in colour and very spicy. After a couple of days of eating this delicious food, I had a very bad stomach and I had to go to the toilet seven times that day. That was the end of shample. I decided to stick to dal and chappaties, and cheap creamrolls.
The bathroom of the snake park looked very dirty and I usually avoided having a bath. I would wet my long hair and pretend that I had had a bath. When the Snake Park staff found out about this they decided to give me a bath. One day they caught me and stripped me of all my clothes, then they dragged me to the bathroom and, using detergent and a little bit of Harpic, they scrubbed me with the toilet brush.
Somehow these chaps also came to know that I was afraid of the dark and all night sounds. So they kept telling me ghost stories which despite my fears I liked to hear. Finally, on the last night I even met this "real" ghost. It happened this way. Three of us, together with the watchman were watching TV when Bhushan, one of the boys said he had to go on a "call". Shortly thereafter the lights went off and a sound like a cat mewing was heard. Baba, the watchman didn't seem to care but the other boy Popea and I were terrified. Next a light appeared at the window and the door started banging. A voice (in Marathi) thundered, "close the window". All sorts of strange things kept happening one after another. A skull with bones was floating in the air outside the window and when we went out, cautiously, to see who was there we found no one. Returning to the room we found my bedding thrown around and my clothes and the whole room in a mess. The door frame shook, the windows rattled and I held on tight to the watchman's hand. I remembered being told that if one makes the sign of the cross the "ghost" will disappear, and so I did that, but it didn't work. This ghost apparently did not know the rules. Then suddenly we received a phone call from Bhushan saying that he was on his way back, and strangely, with Bhushan's return, the ghost had done the disappearing act. Nothing more was heard from the ghost after that. The next day when I told Anna and the others about this night-time visitor they all had a good laugh.
During my stay at the park I learnt how to handle almost all the non-poisonous snakes except the pythons. I also learnt how to handle monitor lizards, catch geckos and eat earthworms. Eating earthworms was not part of my diet or training, but once I saw Mr Shirke toss one into his mouth after being challenged to do so by one of the boys. I thought of trying this out and though I felt nauseated the first time I took a bite. I was okay the second time, for earthworms taste crunchy, like raw cucumber, not slimy and wet as they look.
On my last day at the Park, I was allowed to handle a cobra. I held a stick under the neck of the cobra and then lifted it by its tail. I did this about 2-3 times after which the cobra was put back in its box. I was so excited and happy. It was a perfect ending to my stay at the Snake Park.
As I write this I think about my other previous experiences with snakes. Like the story my mum tells about the time when I was only a few months old, sleeping one afternoon in my cradle at our home in Valpoi. She had heard a soft thud and to her utter horror she saw a thin bluish green snake which had obviously dropped from the roof making loops all over and around the cradle. Snakes are not unusual in the countryside and RUSTIC Farm was no exception. Mum says she was terrified but dared not make a sound for I was sleeping soundly and the cradle was covered with a mosquito net, outside of which the snake leapt around. It was less than a minute before it bounded onto the chairs and was out of the window and she rushed to reassure herself that I was safe which I very much was. From her description I know now that it was a green whip snake, a very delicate and absolutely harmless snake.
Another time as a toddler, Mum says, I was playing with some old cartons and boxes at the farm when out leapt a snake from one of them. To my parents' astonishment, instead of crying out in fear as one might expect a child to do, I promptly went on my hands and knees crawling towards it as fast as I could, reaching out and trying to catch it.
In fact, as mum tells it, I seem to have deliberately gone out of my way to befriend snakes as a child. I would be afraid of dogs, for, as I would say, they had teeth and could bite, but snakes didn't appear to have any and for that reason perhaps remained my best friends.
Field Work Notes:Snakes
There are around 2500 species of snakes in the world. Of these, only about 15% are poisonous. The maximum number of species of poisonous snakes is found in Australia (90% of the snakes are poisonous).
238 species of snakes are found in India. Of these, 72 are poisonous. But only few can cause serious or fatal bites. For example, Pit Vipers are poisonous but rarely prove fatal to human beings. The poisonous Big Four are (1) the Cobra, (2) the Krait, (3) the Russel's Viper, and (4) the Saw-Scaled Viper. Of these the most poisonous is the common Krait. Its venom is about four times more toxic than that of the Cobra.
All sea-snakes are poisonous. The most poisonous snakes in the world include some sea-snakes which have venom 5 times more toxic than the Cobra. But sea-snakes will bite only when severely provoked and are never known to attack swimmers in water.
Snakes are cold-blooded; their eyesight is very poorly developed and they have no eyelids. They are deaf and can only respond to vibrations. They taste, feel and smell with their forked tongue. These senses are very well developed and enable them to differentiate between living and dead creatures, prey or enemy.
Some poisonous snakes inject venom into their prey, release the prey and then track it down with their tongue after the venom has done its job of killing it. The venom contains digestive enzymes that start digesting the prey from the inside.
Snakes grow rapidly till they mature and then continue to grow very slowly till their death. As they grow, they outgrow their skin so they moult the old one after a new skin has formed under it. The snake splits the old skin at the nose and literally crawls out of the old skin. During moulting, the snake stops eating but becomes aggressive.
A bite from a poisonous snake affects either the nervous system (neurotoxic) or the blood vessels (hemotoxic) of human beings. The only cure against snake bite is snake anti-venom. It is made by injecting very small doses of raw venom (about one-tenth of the fatal dose) into a horse and then gradually increasing the dose, making the horse immune to snake venom. The blood of the horse is then drawn, frozen and processed after separating the antibodies and crystallized into a powder. This is anti-venom as we know it.
When a snake bite occurs, the following first aid measures should be taken. Panic should be avoided and the patient should be kept warm and reassured. The wound should be checked to see if it is a poisonous or non poisonous bite. A poisonous bite will have two big fang marks, a non poisonous bite will have many teeth marks.
If the bite is poisonous, the patient should first be immobilized. No alcohol, tea, coffee or other stimulants, nor even painkillers should be given.
The wound should not be washed or cut or the poison swabbed out as this could cause infection and loss of blood. A tight tourniquet can be tied a little above the wound, such that one finger should be able to pass under the tourniquet. The patient should be transported as quickly as possible to the nearest hospital. The tourniquet should be left in place until antivenom is given. But it should be released for 10 seconds every 90 seconds and should not be used for more than six hours. At the hospital antivenom will be given which rapidly subdues the effects of the venom.
To avoid snakes, the following precautions must be taken. Rubbish around the house should be cleared. Rat holes should be filled and rats should be prevented from breeding in and around the house. Long tree branches touching the houses and creepers trailing the porches and window panes should be cut. Good boots should be used while walking through forested area. Avoid stepping over any obstacle when the other side is not visible and use a torch while moving outside the house at night.
My stay at the Pune Snake Park was to be for about three weeks but I was enjoying the experience so much that I was reluctant to return home. To my good fortune the family decided to spend the Diwali vacation holidaying in Rajasthan and since it was necessary to travel to Mumbai to catch the onward train north, I persuaded my parents that I would come to Mumbai directly from Pune where I would meet them at my grandparents' house in Girgaum. So I got myself a few extra days at the Park and another experience of finding my way around, this time in the big city of Mumbai.
Sujit bought me a bus ticket to Mumbai and dropped me off at the bus station as well. I had earlier received elaborate instructions on the phone from my dad on how I was to get to Girgaum once I got off the bus at Dadar and backup information from my nervous Mum on what I should do in case I got lost. I later learnt that my uncle and family were also put on alert to receive a call from their nephew in distress, which did not happen for I was determined to find my way on my own, and I succeeded in doing so.
The bus left Pune at around 10 a.m. and arrived in Mumbai a little after 2 p.m. I took a taxi, gave the driver the address and watched carefully as the taxi sped away down unfamiliar streets. I could barely recognise the place where the driver dropped me off but I asked around and after wandering about for around 20 minutes, found myself suddenly at the doorstep of the familiar 47/C Khotachiwadi, my paternal grandparents' house. My aunt and uncle were expecting me and so were my favourite cousins, Lucano and Ricardo. An hour later came my parents' anxious call from Goa to find out if I had reached safely. By then I was already in my shorts watching a movie on TV with my cousins.
The next few weeks were strictly not part of my sabbatical programme for it was a holiday along with my family, with snakes and frogs and fish left far behind. Our holiday included a brief visit to Ahmedabad where we stayed with Korah and Sue Mathen. I had met Korah and his daughter Nidhi a few months earlier at the organic farmers' meeting in Wynad. On knowing that there was a snake park in Ahmedabad we simply had to visit the place, just to satisfy my curiosity. At the park, we found pythons, Russel's vipers, kraits, chequered keelbacks, boas, ratsnakes and a king cobra, all in glass cages. The park also had starback tortoises, monitor lizards, ducks and geese of various kinds, monkeys and other small animals. There was also a small aquarium, kept very poorly. I don't know whether the whole setup was run down because of lack of funds or lack of interest.
From Ahmedabad we went by train to Jaipur where we spent the next eight days at the home of Srilata and Mahendra Chowdhury. Although our base was Jaipur we visited and stayed two nights at a real fort, on the outskirts of Jaipur. It was my first visit to a fort and it was quite an experience living high up in the residential part of the fort with its cool rooms, some large, others tiny, some corridors so narrow and so low one had to bend one's head to walk through. The time of our visit coincided with the famous solar eclipse which was the talk of the town but I was disappointed with the eclipse as it darkened only briefly before returning to normal again. My friends told me later that the TV experience was far more wonderful.
In Jaipur we went sightseeing almost everyday, visiting forts, palaces and shopping bazaars, and had delicious kulfi and lassi in mud pots, and mouth-watering chicken tandoori. We drove down to Udaipur, where we went boating on the famous lake, saw some more palaces and then to Srilata and Mahendra's second home in Ghantali where we swam in the river behind the house and fished with the village boys.
The vacation ended with a 3 hour bus journey to Ratlam station, from where my brothers and I returned to Mumbai with my mum while my dad went on to Delhi. This time we stayed at my maternal grandparents' place in Mahim. My grandfather, a sprightly 86 year old and a very active gentleman, was there to greet us. It happened to be his birthday and he decided to take us all out to dinner to a Chinese restaurant not very far away from the house. I recall we were all dressed and ready to go when Mum asked Grandpapa how we were going to the restaurant. To which he said: "You and the boys take a taxi, but I will walk. I prefer to walk." I was quite astonished. Of course, we all decided instead to walk to the restaurant, with Grandpapa briskly leading the way, and had an enjoyable birthday dinner.
My mum and my two younger brothers, Sameer and Milind returned to Goa soon thereafter, but I stayed on with Grandpapa in Mumbai for a few more days, since I was to proceed from there directly to Chennai where I would spend the next two and a half months in the pleasant company of spiders, earthworms and my all-time favourites, crocodiles and snakes.
On the 6th of November, I was put on the Chennai Express, which was to leave Dadar Railway station at 7 p.m., by my Uncle Alan who is very knowledgeable about trains since he has worked in the railways all his working life. My mum had requested him to check my departure from Mumbai since Dadar railway station is a crowded and busy place and I too was not confident of finding my way around. Earlier Grandpapa had brought me to the railway station by cab after making me double-check that I had my ticket, sufficient cash, little tidbits to eat and my water bottle filled for the long journey ahead.
I was to spend one night and the whole of the next day in the train for it was due to arrive in Chennai at about 8.30 p.m. on the 7th. Having travelled on a couple of journeys by train during the past few months I was quite relaxed on this one although I continued to be watchful and careful of my things throughout.
The train journey from Mumbai was entirely uneventful. I had a window seat and slept the night on the lower berth. Around me was a family of migrant workers who spoke neither Hindi nor English and who were quite busy doing their own things. I did not speak with them nor with anyone else on the journey but contented myself with watching the countryside we passed through and the hustle and bustle at each station, and when I was bored I just went to sleep. I had about Rs.500 with me in cash and some of this was carefully tucked away in different pockets of my jeans, the balance in various compartments of the haversack. When I slept the haversack was my pillow. I also carried a water bottle, some snacks and some fruit which was all I ate during the journey.
The train was delayed by 3 hours and it was well past 11.30 p.m. when it arrived at Chennai Central railway station. I was to be met at the station by my parents' long-time friend K. Manoharan. Uncle Mano and Aunty Sagu had willingly agreed to look after me during my stay in Chennai, even though both of them were not keeping good health. Not knowing where exactly Uncle Mano would be waiting I walked towards the entrance keeping a careful lookout for him. Yet, I failed to recognise him when I saw him for his hair was whiter than when I had seen him last. He recognised me, however, from the bright yellow haversack that I carried. He took me home in a rickshaw. I had some food there and went straight off to sleep. Uncle Mano suggested that I relax the next day, which I did, watching T.V., looking at photo albums and generally chatting with them about my sabbatical so far and about my plans in Chennai.
Early the following morning Uncle Mano and I set off for New College where Dr Sultan Ismail's Earthworm Institute is located and where I would spend the next fortnight studying earthworms and vermiculture. Actually I had a choice of studying at Dr Bhawalkar's centre in Pune or Dr Ismail's institute in Chennai. But I chose Chennai because I had heard Dr Ismail speak at the organic farmers' convention in Kottayam and had liked his talk very much. Another reason of course was that I was dying to get to the Crocodile Bank in Mamallapuram and being in Chennai which was close to the Croc Bank was infinitely better than being far away in Pune where Dr Bhawalkar works.
Although Uncle Mano, being a heart patient, does not usually travel by bus, he deliberately took me by bus that morning so that I could get to know the route to New College. On the way he pointed out to me various landmarks which would help me know my way around, and gave me general bits of advice on how to travel in the city. I had to learn well and quickly, for language would be the main problem for me in this city where I spoke no Tamil.
At the College we met Dr Ismail who took us through the college campus down to the fields where the vermi-pits were and we saw the biogas plant, the garbage collection pits, the culture crates and the organic compost now ready for use. I was quite eager to begin and happy when "Sir" as everyone calls him, suggested I start work from the next day itself.
Every day, except Sundays, for the next 15 days I followed the same routine which was: wake up at 6 a.m or so, eat a hot breakfast of idlis, sambar, dosas, vadas or whatever was cooked for breakfast, carry a hot packed lunch which Aunty Sagu prepared for me and catch a bus by 7 a.m. from Ashok Pillar to Panagal where I had to change buses and get on one going to New College. Usually I would land up at the College by 8.30 a.m. or so and would be at the College till about 3.30 or 4 p.m., after which the journey would be reversed. These timings helped me to avoid the office rush both ways. My dad had suggested to Prof Ismail that I be given practical experience and so my programme included a mixture of study from books, taking down notes, watching and helping the others and finally making my own vermi-pits.
During the first two days I read up as much as I could about earthworms and the world they inhabit from books which were recommended to me by Dr Ismail. Later I started to observe the different types of earthworms, their movements, colour and other characteristics. I also learnt a lot about different types of soils, their textures and nature, and was taught how to take soil samples using the tulgren funnel.
There were about 8 to 10 students doing different kinds of research under Dr Ismail and all of us worked in a large room which was formerly the main library. Each one had a separate desk to work and when I came I was also given my own desk and chair. The big hall also had a mini library on earthworm related books at one end and it was a simple matter therefore to find the books I needed to read.
The main vermi-beds, compost pits and so on were on the ground floor but some of the vermi-beds which were in crates were stacked in the narrow corridor outside the study hall, where we also gathered to eat our lunch in the afternoons. Usually any one of the students would briefly guide me in the work that I was assigned for the day after which I would manage on my own.
During my fortnight stay at the Institute I learnt a lot about earthworm environments, including determination of porosity of soil, moisture content and texture. I also observed the other organisms present in the soil and took photos of microarthropods with the help of a compound microscope. At the end of the course, I practically prepared a vermi-bed and also ate a few earthworms and cockroaches for experience!
My stay in Chennai was not without its share of adventure. I recall that on my second day, I had entered a bus and rushed for an empty seat. I was completely unaware of the procedure, that while in Goa the ticket collector comes to you and sells you the ticket in the bus, in Chennai one has to go to the conductor (who is seated at the end of the bus) and buy the ticket. So while I waited for the conductor to come on his rounds two inspectors came up to me and caught me for not buying the ticket. One of them started shouting at me in a forceful stream of Tamil. After much action and hand waving, I explained that I did not know Tamil, that I was from Goa and it was the first time I was travelling in a bus in Chennai. He fined me Rs.25! Fortunately, I had enough money on me and paid the fine but when I got down from the bus, I found that my empty purse had also been pick-pocketed!
Another time I was on the last step of a bus which I thought would be quite okay for I had seen many people travelling while hanging at the doors of crowded buses. However, as this bus started gathering speed I found it very difficult to hold on because the weight of so many people began to press against me and it felt like I was literally holding everyone in with my outstretched arms as I hung practically out of the door. I resolved never to travel on the footboard, if I could help it, again.
I also got lost several times. But I would never phone for help with directions but would struggle away, walking this side or that, asking passers-by till I reached familiar landmarks which would get me home. Often I found that I had alighted from the bus a few stops before or after my destination. On one such occasion the next stop was so far away that I jumped out of the bus while it slowed down at a traffic light and then spent nearly 30 minutes walking back!
Although Uncle Mano and Aunty Sagu had welcomed me very warmly. Looking back, I think I must have given them quite a headache during my stay at their house because of my rather careless and casual ways and the laid-back lifestyle I had acquired and was thoroughly enjoying. Uncle Mano would constantly be shouting at me for not having a bath regularly or for staying in the bathroom forever when I decided to have a bath or for wearing soiled clothes again instead of washing them.
Aunty Sagu cooks well and I enjoyed her food but both she and Uncle Mano would notice that I ate much more when there was chicken or fish for dinner rather than vegetarian food and I would get a lecture again for my poor appetite for simple food. I was also quite a sloppy fellow and would slouch around on the sofas after coming back from the college, channel surfing as I watched TV, which must have been quite exasperating for both of them. Anyway, they took very good care of me, not only in terms of feeding me but also going out of their way to make arrangements for me to study at the Earthworm Institute, the spider centre and later at the Crocodile Bank and I am most grateful for that. I hope when they read this book they will forgive me for all the trouble I must have caused them.
Extracts from Diary:Earthworms
10th November: Sir gave me a book on earthworms to read, then Jagan took me down to the field. There I was able to observe many organisms other than earthworms. We took a soil sample from one place and then went back to the lab where we put the soil sample into the tulgren funnel. I then went and brought three more samples from the vermi-tech pit. We then put these also into three other tulgren funnels. By then it was lunch time and we all ate together. After lunch I weighed the soil samples and got to see the organisms that were in the beaker under the tulgren funnel. At 3.30 p.m I left for home.
11th November: In the morning, I was given two types of earthworms i.e. Lampito mauritii and Perionyx excavatus and told to observe them. I spent the whole morning doing this. After lunch, I wrote down the observations that I had made. In the evening we went out to the College playground and also to the area near the College Boarding to make some observations. We dug two pits of 25 cm x 25 cm x 25 cm each at the playground and one, of the same size, at the Boarding. We made many observations which included the number and species of earthworms we found and whether they were clitellates or not. We also made observations regarding soil, atmospheric temperature and relative humidity and took soil samples to measure the moisture content.
12th November: Left for New College as usual. I was told that Sir did not come today as he had a high viral fever. Yesterday a research scholar had expired and so there was a condolence meeting today. After that everybody left as it was declared a holiday. I arrived home at about 10.30 a.m. I had a bath and then some food. I then watched a bit of TV and wrote my diary. In the night Uncle Mano and Aunty Sagu had invited some guests and had cooked chicken curry which I enjoyed very much.
14th November: Sir did not arrive today either. With the help of Jagan I used the Infrared Moisture Balance to find out the moisture content of the soil samples which we had taken on Saturday. After we finished one sample, the voltage started fluctuating so we used the tulgren funnel instead. Then Jagan sent me to get soil samples from the field and from the area near the Boarding. We put the soil samples in the tulgren funnel and observed the arthropods that fell into the beaker under a compound microscope. We also observed some preserved specimens of microarthropods.
15th November: Pounded 100 gms of soil sample and then sieved each soil sample through 5 sieves. Then weighed the soil in each sieve and noted this down.
16th November: Did sieving of soil in the morning. In the evening, used Keenscups to find out the waterholding capacity/porosity.
18th November: Sir arrived this morning. Read some books in the library for sometime. Then did a bit of soil sieving and then did burning of soil in a bunsen burner. In the afternoon, I watched a very comic film called "Junior Shylock".
19th November: Started preparing my report in rough. In the evening I went with Babu to buy a film roll for taking photographs for my report.
20th November: Did burning of a second sample of soil. After that Jagan, Sir and I photographed microarthropods with the help of the compound microscope that has a camera attached to it. After lunch, I attended a seminar conducted by one of the students.
21st November: Ate a Perionyx excavatus earthworm in the morning. Then weighed some soil samples to find out the waterholding capacity of different soils, weighed burnt soil, also learnt how to calculate and find out soil texture of different samples of soil. Continued writing my report.
22nd November: Sat and wrote the final parts of my report. Then I gave it to Chitra who corrected it. After she finished, she gave it to Sir who also made some corrections.
23rd November: Wrote my report in fair in the new notebook I had bought. Then Jagan and I stuck the photographs we had clicked earlier in the various spaces in the notebook. Then Sir said that I would have to prepare a vermi-bed on my own. He gave me a bucket and I made a vermi-bed in it. Sir checked that I had done it correctly.
24th November: Drew some diagrams that remained to be done in my notebook. Then gave it to Sir for final approval. He made me write a few lines about each photograph. He said I should come and collect it after a week or so. After that I said bye to everyone and left at 4.30 for home.
10 days later…
5th December: Today was a holiday, so I went to collect my report book from New College where I had given it to Sir for his signing. Met all my friends there. All of them wrote their remarks in my report book and then it was stamped. Sir gave me a certificate for the earthworm course I had finished at the Institute. Then Chitra dropped me in her Fiat car near the Panagal Park bus stop.
Field Notes on Vermiculture:Turning Garbage into Gold
Vermicompost and vermiwash are the two earthworm products that have become very popular nowadays. Ordinary organic garbage which consists of litter, such as, kitchen waste and dead plant material is used and converted into manure with the help of earthworms.
Earthworms
There are three kinds of earthworms. One, the epigeal or surface earthworm (Perionyx excavatus) which eats only organic litter which is present on the top layer of the soil. Two, the anecic earthworms (Lampito mauritii) which are present in the upper layers of soil and feed on waste and leaf litter. The third kind are present deep inside the soil and are known as endogeic earthworms (Octochaetona thriretonis).
The most suitable earthworms recommended for vermiculture are the epigeic and anecic earthworms. Perionyx excavatus is purplish red and rough. Near the two ends the Perionyx excavatus is almost black in colour. It is smaller and thinner (approx. 10 cms long) and more active compared to the Lampito mauritii. They also breed faster than Lampito mauritii. Lampito mauritii are greyish white in colour and shiny, thicker and longer (length-16 cms) compared to Perionyx excavatus.
Earthworms prefer cool temperatures, moist soil, humidity, relatively less sunlight and neither too coarse nor too fine sand. These are the ideal conditions that must be kept in mind when using them for vermiculture. Since earthworms breathe through the skin, they perish if their skin becomes dry or the quantity of mucus diminishes. Hence to keep earthworms alive in the vermicompost containers, care should be taken to ensure that the vermibed remains moist. Earthworms however do not prefer waterlogged soils. In fact if earthworms are kept in water for too long, the concentration of ammonia that is discharged through their excreta makes the water too toxic for the earthworms to survive. Earthworms also cannot tolerate salt or salt water even briefly.
Earthworms are hermaphrodites. Depending on the species, their life span is between six months to one year. Fully matured earthworms upon mating shed their clitellum (a small band like an overgrowth of skin) and produce cocoons which take about 14 days to incubate and hatch into juveniles. Maximum three juveniles are hatched from each cocoon. From the juvenile to the clitellate stage i.e. the fully matured or reproductive stage it takes 15-18 days. Thus earthworms are able to multiply several times in their life span which makes them ideally suited to process even large quantities of garbage.
Vermicompost
A pit, a small plastic or wooden crate or, even a bucket, can be used for vermicomposting organic matter. Although not necessary, two crates can be used simultaneously; while one is being used for fresh garbage, the garbage in the other can be allowed to decompose.
First, 6-8 holes should be made (one at each corner and four in the middle of the crate). A pot or a bucket needs about 3-5 holes. The crate or pit must first be filled with a one inch layer of pebbles or broken bricks. Then, a half to one inch layer of sand should be spread. Over that, a five to six inch layer of soil should be spread. Then Lampito mauritii and Perionyx excavatus earthworms should be introduced. The soil must then be moistened with water. A little bit of cowdung (nitrogen) and some hay (carbon) should be spread on it, and the contents of the pit left for 20-30 days. This is called a vermibed. The cowdung and hay will allow the worms to multiply. With this, the vermicompost crate or pit will be ready for processing organic waste.
All organic waste should be evenly spread out on the vermibed. As far as possible add garbage in small quantities regularly rather than dumping large quantities at one go. The earthworm begins processing the garbage immediately. Water the container occasionally so that the vermibed remains moist. Once the container is full with organic waste, it should be covered with a little soil and allowed to decompose undisturbed. Only watering the pit should continue. After it has decomposed fully (roughly 45 days) watering must be stopped for about 3 to 5 days. This will force the earthworms to migrate down to the bottom of the container which will have some moisture as compared with the top soil. Then the top layer of soil which is really the organic matter which has been converted into manure should be removed without disturbing the vermibed. This organic manure can be used for plants.
Vermiwash
A drum, barrel or bucket can be used for making vermiwash. The drum or bucket should be placed on supports a little above the ground. A hole should be made at the bottom of the container. A pipe should be pushed through the hole and a tap attached to the outer end.
The bottom of the drum should be covered with a layer of gravel (about 6-8 inches). Over it, a layer of sand (6-8 inches), and then a layer of soil (6-8 inches) should be spread. The earthworms should then be introduced and the soil moistened a little. Then a little bit of cowdung and hay should be mixed together and scattered over it. This should be left for a few days.
Whenever vermiwash is needed, water should be sprinkled with a shower or, gradually poured on top of it (5 litres of water for a 150 litres drum). The water will pass through the earthworm burrows and the organically rich soil will become liquid manure and can be collected at the bottom of the container. As the hay and cowdung is eaten up by the earthworms, this should gradually be replaced.
Conclusion
In nature, litter is decomposed in a way similar to what happens in a vermicompost pit. Litter (consisting of leaf material, twigs, bark, dead wood, flowers, fruits and other plant and animal material) that falls on the ground is constantly moistened by dew or rain. Decomposition then sets in with the help of microbes, fungi and microarthropods.
Microarthropods are of two kinds-the detritivores that feed on the litter attacked by the microbes and fungi and the predators that feed on the detritivores. The litter that has not been decomposed, dead microbes and microarthropods, along with their excretions and secretions, mix and form humus. This humus is in a complex form and therefore not available to the plants for use. Here is where earthworms come into the picture. The earthworms present in the soil feed on the humus. The castings (wormicasts) excreted by these earthworms, as a result, contain nutrients in a form that is readily available to the plants for their growth. The plants in turn, when they die or shed leaves, contribute to the litter which becomes food for microbes and fungi. Thus nature's cycle is made whole and complete.
Earthworms have proven that they are wonderful creatures for they can truly turn garbage into gold.
My stint with vermiculture over, I had another fortnight of study with Dr K. Vijayalakshmi, whom my dad calls India's `Spider Woman'. Dr Vijayalakshmi has been doing research on rearing spiders as a biological weapon for controlling cockroaches and her workplace is full of spiders of various types, all in bottles, and bred under her supervision. An authority on spiders, she is also the author of a well-known book on the subject.
Actually I had been anxiously waiting for a phone call from my parents saying that the decks were cleared for my Crocodile Bank visit. Instead Dad had phoned to say that the final arrangements for my stay at Croc Bank were still being finalised and that I could use the 10 days or so in between to learn what I could from Dr Vijayalakshmi about spiders, and the unusual use she intends to put them to. I had readily agreed.
Dr K. Vijayalakshmi and her husband both work in an organisation called the Centre for Indian Knowledge Systems (CIKS). CIKS is housed in a one storey building and Dr Vijayalakshmi's office is on the first floor. Here she studies various plants that are useful as pesticides and so on. But I was not at all concerned with that aspect of her work.
In the garage of the building was the Spider Room-a laboratory of sorts filled with bottles of different spiders in various stages of growth. There must have been over 500 transparent plastic bottles at the time I was there, each one neatly labelled, and all sitting one next to the other with spiders in them. For air, each bottle had tiny pinholes in its lid. Feeding was done through another small hole in the lid: this hole was plugged with cotton. All these spiders and their activities including growth, moulting, mating and hatching of babies were monitored by Dr Vijayalakshmi. She had an assistant called Selvan and he followed her instructions, keeping the records and making the notings in a log book.
During the fortnight that I worked with Dr Vijayalakshmi, I simply slipped into this set-up, reading books about spiders that Dr Vijayalakshmi gave me, then learning to identify different spiders and simultaneously helping Selvan in all the tasks that were needed to maintain the huge spider population housed in the garage.
The spiders that Dr Vijayalakshmi deals with are called giant crab spiders. These spiders do not build webs. They feed only on cockroaches. The spiders were a little smaller than their prey i.e. the cockroaches. I used to separate the babies, feed them, check the moultings and catch flies for feeding them. I read a lot of books here and sometimes caught the spiders in the garden in order to identify and study them.
Spiders were not the only creatures housed in the garage. There were also cockroaches bred in buckets with rolled cardboard in the centre and broken biscuit pieces thrown in the bucket. The cockroaches were fed once a week or so to the giant crab spiders.
The smaller spiders used to get flies to eat and these were caught by us everyday from the garden. The flies have to be fed alive to the spiders, so we used transparent plastic bottles to trap the flies and once caught we would carefully put them into the spider's bottle. Sometimes the spider would immediately catch the prey and eat it; at other times the fly would buzz around in the bottle for days till the spider was ready to eat it.
Dr Vijayalakshmi also bred a particular species of fly in a small cage with fine mesh with a small saucer of milk in the centre as a medium for breeding.
Baby spiders were also housed individually in bottles and these were fed fly larvae or the larvae which come when maida or rava begins to lose its freshness.
The purpose of all these experiments was to find out which types of spiders were useful for using as pest control agents to deal with cockroaches. Information about spiders such as their growth, hardiness, their eating habits, reproduction etc. are important indicators of the species of spiders that can be kept in houses as predators for cockroaches.
Other than the spider work I tried to learn Tamil from Selvan but he was keen to learn English from me and so both of us failed in learning a new language and ended up speaking a cocktail of TamEnglish instead.
Extracts from Diary:Spiders
26th November: Uncle Mano and I left for Dr Vijayalakshmi's office this morning at 7 a.m. While Uncle Mano and Madam chatted, I read some books. Madam then showed us her spider collection. She also introduced me to Selvan. Before we left she gave me some books to take home to read.
27th November: Watched how Selvan separated baby spiders from their mother, placing each baby in a separate container. There were about 110 babies. Then we fed about 200 older spider babies. Selvan showed me how to check their moulting.
28th November: Today I did feeding of the spider babies on my own. Then transferred adults from one container to another and then fed them.
29th November: Today did only feeding of spider babies. Madam did not come to the office as she was ill but her husband Dr Balasubramanian came to check on us instead. Read some books on spiders in the afternoon. Left early for home as Uncle Mano and Aunty Sagu were going away for a few days and I would be staying at their relative Santosh Kumar's place instead. They left at 7.30 p.m. and I waited at their neighbour's place for Santosh to collect me which he did at 9 p.m.
30th November: Being Sunday I got up late and ate idlis, dosas and sambar for breakfast. Wrote out my diary for the past 2 days and watched some TV. In the evening Santosh took me to the bus stand and explained the route I would have to take next morning to CIKS.
1st December: Madam came to the office today and showed me how to collect spiders which were in the compound of the office. She also gave me some more material to read on spiders and told me to start preparing my essay on spiders. After doing a little bit of feeding as usual, I went out on my own and collected few species of spiders. Then Madam helped me identify them and also some other species of spiders that they had caught. Spent the afternoon catching flies to feed to some of the older spiders.
2nd December: Today I only did identifying of different species of spiders. I took some material home to read and so I left early; was so busy looking at the books I was carrying, I didn't notice the terminus where I was to get off and got over carried much further. Had to walk nearly half an hour back. Asked people for directions and finally reached the terminus.
3rd December: Did not feel well today so I didn't go to CIKS. Read the books I had brought at home. Started preparing my written report.
4th December: Today did feeding of spiders as usual. Then caught about 70 flies and fed them to the adult spiders. Put 2 spiders to mate and made my observations. Continued writing my report in the evening.
5th December: Went to New College to collect my vermiculture report.
6th December: Did feeding of baby spiders first. Then caught flies. A female spider's eggs had just hatched so Selvan and I did the separation of the babies into individual containers.
7th December: Did writing of my report first today. Then I gave it to Madam to correct. After she finished with it, I started writing it in fair. I finished writing the report before evening and left it with Madam for final approval.
8th December: Went to CIKS late as I had a bad stomach. I was given my final report signed and Madam also gave me a certificate. I left slightly early in the evening as I was still feeling unwell and was scheduled to leave for the Croc Bank the next day.
Field Work Notes:Spiders
These days most of us use Baygon or some other synthetic poison to control cockroaches and other pests. But what does this do? It only makes cockroaches or pests immune or resistant to such poisons. Moreover, synthetic chemicals are very harmful and pollute the environment. How nice it would be if we had a biological method of controlling of pests. But that's just what spiders are!
A spider is not an insect. Insects are made up of a head, thorax and an abdomen. They have compound eyes and are six-legged. They usually grow wings in certain stages of their life and possess feelers or antennae. Insects produce eggs which hatch into young that are completely different from their parents. The young ones usually grow through metamorphosis.
A spider on the other hand is an arthropod, made up of a cepolothorax joined to an abdomen. It does not grow wings at any stage of its life. It is eight-legged, and in place of the normal insect antennae it has pedipalps. A spider generally has eight simple eyes or it could have six eyes e.g. a spitting spider. Depending on the species the eyesight may be well or poorly developed. Some species, such as the cave spiders, are totally blind. Depending on the species a spider's life span ranges from a couple of months to more than a decade (e.g. mygalomorphs).
Almost all spiders have their first pair of appendages later modified into fangs with venom glands. But only a few have fangs that are large and strong enough to pierce human skin. Out of these, most cannot do any serious damage to human beings except for about four to five species which can be lethal.
The Black Widow spider, for example, which is found in South America is the most poisonous of all spiders. The female of the species, whose poison is strong enough to kill a human being, often kills and eats the male after mating and is thus aptly named the Black Widow. This spider is shiny black in colour with a red hour glass mark on the ventricle side of the abdomen. Fortunately, there are no spiders in India which can seriously harm human beings.
There are about 30,000 species of spiders in the world. They have been found upto a height of 23,000 feet up Mount Everest as well as underwater.
Almost all spiders are carnivorous. They can eat insects, small birds, mammals and reptiles, including poisonous snakes and other spiders, which they first subdue with their poison. They inject their prey with a highly lethal venom and, having no teeth, suck out the liquid from inside their prey. Large spiders with longer and powerful jaws may eat part of or even the whole of their prey. Spiders can live without food from a few weeks upto three months, depending on species, size, and age. They obtain liquid from their food and thus do not need water.
Many spiders spin webs to capture their prey. However spiders also have other means of capturing their prey. Some spiders spit a sticky web onto their prey. Others live in burrows with trapdoors. Whenever they feel hungry they come out and catch an unsuspecting insect. One species attaches a sticky drop to one end of its silken thread and holds it with its first three pairs of legs. When an insect passes by, the spider waves the thread at the insect and ropes it in, as it were.
Some spiders sit on flowers and catch insects that come to collect nectar. Others spin a small web, hold it with their first few pairs of appendages and then throw it on insects passing below them. Still others feed on other spiders only and are called pirate spiders. A few spiders live on the webs of other spiders: they are too small to be eaten by their host. They eat the small prey that get caught in the web, thus keeping it tidy.
Spiders also have amazing defence mechanisms. Some spiders camouflage themselves as a bird dropping. Others, as a dried yellow or black rotting leaf or twig. And yet others resemble ants which are often rejected by birds, reptiles and other insects. Some are even able to change colour and shape, to some extent, to match their surroundings. Some species build zigzag white coloured threads in their webs which are visible to birds who avoid flying through the webs and damaging them.
The male spider is smaller than the female, and is thus liable to be eaten by his mate. So, the male uses many tactics to prevent his being devoured by his mate. In some cases the male drums or pulls at the strings of the web in a special code to announce that he is not a prey or an enemy, but a sexual object.
Some spiders offer their mate a gift such as a juicy fly, wrapped in silk. But it may well be taken back after mating and offered to another female. Sometimes a male may even offer the female the empty husk of an insect. Sometimes the male loosely binds the female with silk to immobilize her before mating. Some species of male spiders may patiently wait near the web of a female spider for weeks until she has caught a prey, and then mate with her while she is busy feeding on the prey. Sometimes, the male is so small compared to the female that the female is practically unaware of him while mating and this gives him protection.
Most spiders are solitary in nature. Each one builds its own separate web. If one spider falls by mistake into another web, the bigger spider will eat the smaller spider. However, there are some spiders called social spiders that live together in one web. Sometimes there may be hundreds or even thousands of adults and young ones living in one web. Even if a single prey is caught (such as a small fly), all the spiders will share the meal.
Spiders multiply very rapidly. After mating, an egg sac is constructed and the internally fertilized eggs laid inside the egg sac which is carried by the female with her palps and fangs. Fertilization of eggs may be internal or external depending on the species. Within 15 to 20 days, 80% of the eggs hatch. (The eggs hatch into young spiderlings. The new born spiders are similar to their parents, only smaller. The spiderlings moult to mature.) After a gap of one week to ten days the next batch of eggs is laid in a fresh egg sac, and fertilised with the help of stored sperm. The female can do this three to four times without mating with another male, although she will readily mate with a male after the laying of every batch of eggs.
Spiders have proven themselves to be one of the best biocontrollers of insect pests. Very few of us realize that spiders were, are and will be laying traps for insects even after man has finally disappeared from the earth.
How to Rear Spiders
Spiders have cannibalistic tendencies, i.e. if two or more are kept in one container, they will prey on each other. Hence from birth, they must be separated into individual containers.
Transparent plastic containers (size depending on the individual species) can be used to rear spiders. A few pin-sized holes should be made in the lid of the container as aeration holes. One big hole should be made for dropping prey inside. It should be blocked with a piece of cotton.
Baby spiders will eat culture foods such as Thrypolium, drosophilia, fruit fly and house fly larvae. As they grow, they will eat house flies and later on cockroaches.
Cleaning the prey remains and moults is a must. Two containers should be used. Every week the used one should be washed with soap and water, and allowed to dry in the sun.
The legs of the stands on which the spider containers are kept should be placed in bowls of water or oil to avoid ants. The adults should be fed well before allowing them to mate. Spiders will tolerate moderate room temperature.
Culturing food
1. Milk powder and a medium sized piece of cotton, mixed with water. Every day, a teaspoon of milk powder should be added.
2. Drosophilia larvae culturing: quarter cup of wheat flour and two medium sized pieces of jaggery should be boiled in two cups of water.
Housefly and drosophilia can be reared in a wooden or metal framed box, covered with a fine mesh or netting. The above mixture should be put into small bowls and introduced into the cage. Adult houseflies and drosophilia should be captured and put inside the cage and left there to lay their eggs.
3. Thrypodium larvae: adults are found in rava and maida. A special bucket should be kept with an aeration hole and the maida or rava in the bucket, sprinkled with a little bit of water every day. A strainer can be used to strain out the larvae wherever necessary.
4. Cockroaches: need a bucket with many big aeration holes, covered with a fine mesh. A few rolls of paper can be placed vertically inside the box for the cockroaches to climb on.
December was the most eagerly awaited month of my one year sabbatical. All decks had finally been cleared for my long awaited trip to the Crocodile Bank at Mamallapuram. Nearly three months earlier my dad had written to Romulus Whitaker the legendary snakeman who now runs the Croc Bank asking whether I could spend some time there. There had been no reply largely because Rom travels quite a bit but also because, as I discovered, writing replies to letters is about the last thing these animal-dedicated persons have time for.
I was in fact beginning to feel quite frustrated thinking that my trip would not work out when Srilata Swaminadhan (with whom we stayed in Jaipur) told my father that her sister lived at Mamallapuram and would help out. Phone calls back and forth and finally it was all organised. I was overjoyed when my dad's phone call came to Uncle Mano's house saying I could go.
Babu, Uncle Mano's nephew, reached me by bus to the Croc Bank on the 9th of December and I spent one glorious month there, the nearest I got to living in the wild. Although I was supposed to return home for Christmas I begged to be let off and was in the seventh heaven when my parents agreed. In fact I enjoyed my stay so much, that in March, I returned to the Croc Bank again (for a brief while), as that was the breeding season for crocodiles.
The Croc Bank is situated at Mamallapuram which is about 37 kms fromChennai. It is a huge place with a beach just behind it.
Croc Bank is home to thousands of crocodiles, all of them housed in pits of varying sizes with sloping walls to enable water to collect at the centre so that the crocs can sunbathe on the upper part of the slopes. Some of the huge crocodiles have individual pits but usually the species is kept separately, male and female further separated from each other. A large enclosure divided into several sections houses the baby crocs.
In addition to crocodiles, snakes also have a significant position at Croc Bank for snakes were Director Romulus Whitaker's first love, and he is still known as the Snakeman, having founded Madras Snake Park several years ago. There is, in fact, a big snake pit at the Croc Bank, in which various kinds of snakes are kept. Here, snake venom is extracted from the snakes by the Irulas. There is a separate fee for visitors for entering the snake area. While the poisonous snakes are kept in pots in a snake room, the King Cobras, of course, have special separate rooms.
Croc Bank also has enclosures and pits for various kinds of turtles and large aquariums with fish in them.
At one end of the campus is the library, well stocked with books and magazines on all these creatures. Adjacent to it are the residential quarters of researchers and guests (there were mainly foreigners at the time I was there) who come to stay at Croc Bank from time to time. The residential quarters are quite simple but comfortable. Each room has a bed, desk and table, and an attached bath and toilet. I occupied one of these rooms during my stay here.
The Irula families live in a separate area close to where the Snake pits are located. The permanent staff which includes the Director, Deputy Directory and others have their own individual houses located in various places within the Croc Bank.
During my stay I became good friends with many of the people at theCroc Bank including the six foot tall Director, Romulus Whitaker, whomeveryone calls Rom; his wife, Zai Whitaker; their sons Samir andNikhil; Harry Andrews, the Deputy Director who hails from Kerala;Romaine, his wife and their son Tharak, Gerry the snake-catcher fromBangalore and many others.
My stay at Croc bank was exciting throughout and I learnt a lot. For the first few days, I was given my first assignment i.e., treating a 2-foot long turtle with infected skin. I used to apply ointment to its feet and then put on some bandage. The next day, before repeating the treatment, I had to feed the turtle with cabbage in water.
From turtles, I moved to big lizards i.e. monitor lizards and Green Iguanas. The Green Iguana I handled was quite big-about the size of an average dachshund. His tail measured two to three times the length of his body if not more. From head to tail, he must have been about two and a half metres long. But he had been in captivity for so long that he was very friendly, though he had sharp claws and a spiny back and head. Sometimes, when I used to guide special guests around, I would take him out so that they could have a feel of his sandpapery skin. I was surprised when Harry, the deputy director, told me the Iguana was as old as I was.
Sometimes, I also handled monitor lizards. They were very strong, had sharp claws and a very bad bite. Every time I jumped into the pit to handle them they would rush into the water. I soon learned to be quick enough, and would get them before they could reach the water. Once they were cornered they would whip their tails about and inflate their necks, hissing dangerously. Of course, you had a few of them running up trees and then you couldn't do anything about it. I soon discovered that though it looked scarier, it was easier to catch them in the water.
The croc bank is filled with pits. Each of these pits is an enclosure varying in size, depending on the size and type of reptile, and the number of them in it. Every pit has a pond of sorts filled with water for the reptiles to swim in or to drink. Most of the crocodile pits were bare, but the monitor lizard pits were usually filled with trees which they could climb to the highest branches. The branch ends were kept within the range of the pits so that the monitor lizards did not get out by trying to climb other trees or jumping out from the high branches.
The ponds of the monitor lizards were almost waist deep with dark murky water and you had to feel around until you touched the head, leg or body of the monitor (they are less likely to bite in water). Then I would feel around till I got the tail, slowly lift it to the surface and grab the neck under the water. Their necks were so huge that I could hardly get my fingers round them. On land, catching them by grabbing the tail was much faster, but one had to avoid the biting head by quickly grabbing the neck.
Once, when the Croc Bank staff wanted to get some monitors down from the trees, they just took a long stick and pushed them over from the height of almost a two storey building. They fell on the ground but suffered no damage and just continued running around. I recall the day Gerry challenged Nikhil "the bodybuilder" to pull a monitor lizard that was half out of a burrow. At first he thought the monitor's tail would break but though he tugged with all his might his rippling muscles couldn't move an inch of the monitor.
In the mornings, I helped the workers clean the croc pits, a task which I thoroughly enjoyed. We would jump into the pits with big sticks and chase all the crocs into the water. Then we would clean out the croc shit and the left overs of their food which included a lot of bones. This exercise was usually done with a male worker first chasing the crocs into the water. Then the remaining 3 to 4 women would help with brooms, baskets and spades. Occasionally, we would have a crocodile wanting us to get out of his pit instead. No matter how hard you hit him on his nose he would chase you around until he would finally give in, so to speak, and dash into the water with a big splash or sometimes, glide gracefully to where he could join his friends who sometimes numbered a thousand! (The Croc Bank had around seven thousand crocs at the time I was there.)
I also had occasion to participate a few times in the operations involved in shifting crocodiles from one location to another. That was quite an adventure in itself!
One day Rom and Harry decided to shift the largest male Gharial in the Croc Bank from one pit to another as it had broken its upper jaw in a fight with another male during the previous breeding season.
Normally you try to catch a croc by throwing a sort of a small anchor in and when the croc latches on to it you try and pull it out. Once it is out, about 10-15 people quickly jump and sit on it. (That's the only way to prevent a croc from getting back into water!). With its mouth bound by rubber bands, the croc is then rolled onto a ladder, bound to it, lifted and carried to the pit that it has to be transferred to. An average adult croc is about 250 kg and about two to three metres long. It takes 15-20 people to carry it.
Once it is released in the pool the ropes and rubber bands are removed and the last unfortunate or brave man, depending on how you look at it, makes a run for his life over the edge of the pond onto the safety of dry land.
As we were transferring the male Gharial into a female mugger pit, Harry jokingly yelled: "What do you think we will get-a Ghammer?" Of course crocs only mate with others of their own species and there is no way a Gharial and mugger will get together. We were in fact transferring the male here in order to give it a period of rest and recovery from fighting with other males.
Another time the exercise was because `Jaws III' needed female company. Jaws III is the biggest captive salt water crocodile in India. He is about 16 feet and ranks may be, 3rd or 4th in the world in terms of his length. Therefore, after Part II of `The Great White Man-eating Shark' was produced, called Jaws II, the Croc Bank rightly decided to name its crocodile `Jaws III'.
Jaws III was a loner and would kill anything including other crocs which fell into his pit. So he lived a lonely, if majestic life. Whenever we jumped into his pit to clean it he would come charging at us even if he was in the water. He seemed to give us more exercise than all of us put together gave him. Anyway, the Croc Bank, after ten years, finally felt it was time to find a him bride. Since he had on more than one occasion bashed his head against a wall sensing a female in the opposite pit, we knew he was ready!
The first female we caught was about to be thrown into his pit when I asked to examine her. (I had just learnt how to sex them). I began to feel inside the crocodile and felt a hemipenis! "It's a male," I shouted. "Can't be," said Gerry, "let me check." After a few seconds there was a reassuring nod from Gerry: "Yes, Rom, it's a male!"
"Rahul, Champion Sexer," cried Gerry.
One cannot tell if crocs are male or female by their outward appearance. So, at the Croc Bank, after crocs grow to a certain length they are sexed and markings are made on their scales. But workers can sometimes make mistakes while sexing small crocs. That's perhaps how the error occurred with the first bride we got for Jaws. I can't imagine the plight of the poor chap had he been put in the pit with Jaws. He would have been turned into minced meat in minutes.
After that episode we physically examined every supposed female we caught to be doubly sure of not making any error and found that most of the supposed females turned out to be males! By then, most of the crocs had run into the deepest part of the pond and we had hardly any crocs to choose a female from. Rom suggested chasing the females out of the water onto the land, but that's not easy at all. So he came up with another idea.
We got some iron gates and tied them together with a thick mesh net over it all. Then we had to wade into the green water with the net in front of us. This would effectively push the crocs from the deep water onto the land. But the best of plans can go haywire and, instead, the reverse started happening. The crocs from the land started coming into the water colliding with those being driven out by us. Thereafter there was general commotion in the water and all the crocs started thrashing about. One almost got my neighbour's hand. I could feel the crocs at my feet through the iron mesh that I held grimly onto. However we finally accomplished our dangerous mission and when we had driven a sufficient numbers onto the land we were able to select a female for Jaws.
Imagine Jaws' surprise when he saw a companion after all those years. She was exactly half his size in length and width. Perhaps he was just very excited or maybe it was due to a normal state of male aggression, we don't know, because he just caught the hapless female croc between his huge jaws and thrashed her about. "Croc barbecue is delicious", said Tharak expecting the poor creature to perish any moment. Fortunately or unfortunately, his wish was not fulfilled. The female survived although with quite a few bloody marks. Thereafter she kept her distance from the water as any sane creature would, avoiding Jaws like the plague.
Much later, when I visited Croc Bank a second time, it was the breeding season and there were a few nests to be excavated everyday. Each nest would occupy about the space of a medium size basket. Each egg was at least three times the size of a hen's egg and they usually numbered around 30 to 35. Every female-and each one of these measured from about 2 m to 3.5 m-would determinedly guard her nest, refusing to budge when we tried to chase her into the water in order to clean the pit.
There is now a problem of excess population of the mugger crocodiles at the Croc Bank partly because they breed twice as much at the croc bank compared to in the wild and also due to their high survival rate. In the wild, at the most, one or two survive out of the 30-35 eggs as many are lost to predators, etc., but here due to artificial incubation, special enclosures, etc., a large number tend to survive. Therefore the croc bank has stopped all breeding of this species which meant that we had a surfeit of eggs for breakfast! We used to scramble the salty eggs and finish them off with sauce, although a larger number used to be sent raw for the monitor lizards' breakfast.
I sometimes went snake hunting with the Irulas. The Irulas are tribals that are expert at snake catching. They formerly caught snakes for the snake skin industry. After the ban, they went out of business and found it difficult to make a living because they did not own land and did not know how to cultivate fields or do any trade at all. After the croc bank opened they were back in the business they excelled in, but this time it was to save people and snakes with snake venom extraction.
Carrying only a crowbar and a few cloth bags, they would set out, overturning every bush and digging any hole that showed signs of a snake in it. Their crowbar had three uses, namely: (1) to shine light into the burrow; (2) to dig the hole and (3) to handle the snake. During my outings with the dark, short, curly haired snake hunters, we caught striped keelbacks, ratsnakes and also black scorpions.
Apart from snakes the Irulas also caught rats. These rats, which destroy crops and fields, build their burrows within the bunds. After catching the rats, the Irulas would take away the rice which the rats had stowed away and cook it to eat with the field rat meat. These outings were long, hot and tiring but I found them nonetheless enjoyable.
The Irulas also taught me a lot about snake handling. I learnt to handle the four poisonous snakes of India (the "Big Four", i.e. Cobras, Common Kraits, Russel's Vipers, Saw-scaled Vipers) and also Pit Vipers and Pythons.
Snakes were kept in mud pots that were placed in the snake room (no different from an ordinary bedroom). Outside, a board merely announced: `Danger: Snakes Loose'. This was done to discourage intruders. But really speaking, snakes were let loose only under supervision. There was a small canal of water outside to prevent ants from entering the room. (You may not believe it but ants can reduce a snake to a skeleton.) Next, there was a little space outside the room and about 1 to 2 metres after, a smooth wall, about a metre high. I used to remove the snakes from their pots, put them to drink water in the canal and then clean the pots. During this exercise I would take the opportunity to improve my skills at handling the snakes. Basically one has to hold the tail with one hand and control the snake using the snake hook (a long stick with an iron hook at the end) with the other.