I have a wildlife zoo-Chapter 737 - 736 The Beauty Rat Snake Basking in the

The keeper said, “In the wild, there are no Egyptian plovers picking teeth. Their main food source is insects or other aquatic animals. Hippos primarily eat plants. What would they be going into their mouths for? This sounds even less reliable than the story about picking crocodile’s teeth…

Actually, the issue is with the food. The feed in the zoo is quite refined, and there are all kinds of sugar-rich fruits; food residue is more likely to cause cavities, so we keepers need to help them brush and clean their teeth.”

“Oh~”

The crowd uttered sounds of realization.

The keeper carefully checked Chubby’s oral cavity, especially the roots of his teeth.

Then he patted Chubby’s thick upper lip, with a ‘piapia’ sound!

Chubby immediately opened his mouth as wide as possible!

The keeper soaked the brush in water and then began to brush the hippo’s teeth.

Brushing to the left and right, Chubby closed his eyes, looking extremely well-behaved.

“He seems to be enjoying it a lot!”

“Haha, he looks like he’s about to fall asleep!”

“See? Even hippos need to brush their teeth. If they don’t, their teeth will turn black and yellow. You know you need to brush your teeth every day, right?”

Some parents took the opportunity to educate their children.

It took just about a minute or two to finish. The keeper felt the hippo’s teeth and checked how clean they were, then gently massaged it for a bit of a mouth spa.

Next, he took out some food like sweet potatoes and pumpkins and put them into Chubby’s mouth as a reward for cooperating with the brushing.

After patting Chubby’s upper lip, Chubby knew it was finished, chewed a couple of times, and then slowly sank back into the water.

“Eating right after brushing your teeth, that’s classy!”

“As long as they don’t poop, hippos are quite cute!”

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The visitors watched happily and clapped enthusiastically.

…

In the rural exhibition area, the paddy fields had just been watered these past couple of days, and rice had not been planted yet.

Due to the pandemic, the farm activities scheduled for this period naturally had to be canceled. This time, the staff of the zoo would do the planting themselves.

Tang Xiaoxin walked past the rice paddy when she suddenly exclaimed with joy, “Ah, dragonflies!”

Several dragonflies were hovering lightly in mid-air, their crystalline semi-transparent wings displaying a dazzling metallic sheen in the sunshine, while their bellies were a blood-like, vivid red, strikingly beautiful.

At times, they flew away like arrows released from a bow, and at other times, they landed on the surface of the rice paddy, lightly touching the water with their tails.

Sometimes they rested on a stone or the tip of a slender blade of grass, folding their wings and standing poised and graceful.

She couldn’t help but draw closer for a better look and took two pictures.

In the past, she never paid attention to dragonflies, such commonplace creatures, but now she found them quite pretty.

The presence of dragonflies indicated that the ecosystem here had become even more complete.

Just then, a red-eared bulbul appeared out of nowhere, swooping down rapidly and snatching a dragonfly with precise aim.

Carrying the dragonfly, it flew up to the treetops and hopped around in front of another red-eared bulbul, seemingly as part of a courtship display.

The two bulbuls fluttered and chased each other among the treetops, their pleasant chirping sounds filling the nearby area with vibrancy.

…

Beauty rat snake exhibit!

The afternoon sunshine was warmly comforting, and a yellow and black snake lay coiled on the windowsill, quietly basking in the sun, creating a sense of peaceful, bygone times.

With a broom, a bamboo sieve, broken bowls, darkened walls, and a picture of the Kitchen God, the ambiance was rich with the smell of cooking.

This unique exhibit environment attracted many enthusiastic onlookers.

Those who grew up in the countryside were showing nostalgic gazes, while those who had never been were observing with rapt interest.

On the glass was a small magnet with an arrow and the words “Please look here.”

Sometimes the beauty rat snake would hide under the stove or behind the broom next to the pickled vegetable jar, making it hard to spot, so visitors who found the snake could adjust the position of the magnet to help others find it more easily.

Of course, right now, the beauty rat snake was blatantly sunbathing, easy to find without needing to follow the arrow.

Next to the information panel, it was explained that the beauty rat snake got its name from a noticeable black stripe behind its eyes, and together with the king rat snake, it was known as the rat snake.

Since it’s large, non-venomous, and sluggish, it is also the most common type of snake sold for food in the market.

Though those sold in the market are purportedly farmed, a large portion actually comes from the wild, causing the beauty rat snake to become nearly endangered.

Wild snakes have many parasites, like nematodes and tapeworms, making them dangerous to eat.

Moreover, the beauty rat snake plays a significant role in controlling rodent populations—it’s a natural predator of the overabundant brown rats found in cities, capable of entering their burrows and wiping out entire nests with its slender body. Protecting snakes is actually protecting ourselves.

Many people are afraid of snakes, but with knowledge of these creatures, one would know that 99% of snakes will either flee from humans or be too scared to escape. In these cases, you can stomp your feet to scare them off, and there’s absolutely no need to hurt or kill them.

The visitors commented, “This beauty rat snake is really handsome!”

“I’ve seen this kind of snake before, but now I finally know its name.”

“A rat snake once crawled into my house when I was a kid! My dad heard noises at night, got up, and threw it outside.”

“It’s truly rare to see them now, I hope they don’t become the next rice birds.”

“Hey, my place has a serious rat problem, at night you can hear rats scurrying up and down the pipes with loud noises, they even run into the kitchen and can jump onto the shelves where the food is, I have to keep the cabinet doors closed. I’ve tried every type of rat trap, cages, glue boards, but they’re too clever, they just don’t work. I really wish beauty rat snakes would come take care of them.”

“The day when people stop shouting to kill snakes or catch them for soup is probably when this wish will come true.”