Indy craws out of the box car but he feels a snake crawling under his clothing. He pulls the snake out then climbs to the roof of a boxcar where he finds the looters waiting for him. They youngest looter tries to take the gold cross out of Indy's hands, but another garter snake crawls out of Indy's sleeve and onto the boy. The boy screams, afraid of the snake, which lets Indy escape again, but not for long.

This brings up so many questions - why exactly would a circus ever need so many snakes? Is the House of Reptiles exhibit just piles and piles of snakes? What else could they do with them? I need to see that circus. And is this the best way to transport large numbers of snakes - in open tubs with no lids - or is it the worst way imaginable? Why don't the snakes crawl away out of the tub? What on earth is the large fanged snake supposed to be and why is it just sitting in a container of water?

Later, after the young Indy flashback, when the movie becomes a hunt for the Holy Grail, we see adult Indy with some snake sculptures. One of them is a switch that when pulled, turns a fireplace around to reveal a secret passage.


The snakes we see are mostly live garter snakes, but I suspect they also used some fake snakes to make the snake piles look bigger. The giant fanged snake is some kind of special effect. It may be a practical effect or maybe it's CGI. I can't tell, which means it's a pretty good effect.