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A SPA THAT SLITHERS. FORGET MUD FROM THE DEAD SEA. ISRAEL'S LATEST TRANQUILITY TREATMENT HAS SNAKES ON TE BRAIN
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BY TIM MCGIRK/TALMEI ELAZAR

Most spa's have names that conjure up an atmosphere of bliss and tranquility. So I am a little taken a back by the sign outside the spa in the orange groves of northern Israel. It reads, ADA BARAK'S CARNIVOROUS PLANT FARM. Barak makes most of her income by showing off her plants, which eat everything from insects and reptiles to small mammals and schnitzel. She started grabbing one of the little snakes slithering in and out of the hungry plants' jaws and passing it around to visitors at the end of her act. And that was how she hit on the snakes' therapeutic value. "Some people said that holding the snakes made them feel better,relaxed,"she says. "One old lady said it was soothing, like a cold compress."

Traditionally, snakes have