Durban — With the exclusion of spotted bush snake calls and a case of mistaken identity, Durban snake rescuer Nick Evans bagged three black mambas in a day after good rains the night before.
The weather created a flurry of snake activity and Evans’s phone was busy. Apart from several spotted bush snake calls, the mambas were also out and about.
Evans said that after removing a suspected black mamba, which turned out to be a harmless herald, in the Westville central area, near the Palmiet Nature Reserve, he received a call for a black mamba nearby.
The black mamba was on the boundary fence, covered in lavender, just below the family’s deck. The family was not too bothered by it and asked if they should leave it.
“However, it was lying with its body on its side. Well, the portion I could see. It didn’t look right, and I was worried it had been shot with a pellet gun. It also had lots of loose skin,” Evans explained.
“I caught it with relative ease, just needed to stretch a bit to get it ‒ African Snakebite Institute 1.5m tongs helped.
“It’s got lots of loose skin and looks severely dehydrated. Not what one would expect with good rains the night before. I think it’s got an illness or parasite.”
Evans said veterinarian Dr Carla Goede was expected to look at it over the weekend, and they would take it from there.
He said Durban South Snake Rescue’s Grant Cavanagh called him because he needed help with a black mamba in a “tough situation” that was a two-man job, in Nirvana Hills.
The day before, the mamba was seen basking on a thicket below a bank. The bank was covered in rubble, and at the bottom, larger pieces of scrap metal and rubbish ‒ that was the mambas ‘home’.
“Grant went around and tried to get under the mamba. I went and stood by the mambas ‘home’, hoping he’d either grab it, or it would make its way to me. It did the latter.
“The mamba moved quite nervously yet slowly down the branches, in my direction, gunning for its safe place. It was amazing watching it come towards me (not directly, about a metre from me),” Evans explained.
He said this snake was the second easy catch of the day, thanking Cavanagh for the call and team effort.
Evans added the snake had a happy home there, but it was a public space and some guys were keen on harming it.
However, he said the third catch was not easy.
The mamba was in the garden of a property they recently removed two from, in two days, in Westville North.
“It had climbed up a tree, and it wasn’t a tree I could climb,” Evans said.
He said after thinking, the neighbour placed his ladder against the Strelitzia tree for him.
“Luckily the neighbour was a strong chap and wasn’t going anywhere. He stood on the bottom step and held the ladder firmly. I climbed up, keeping to the left, trying to keep the ladder hooked in balance,” Evans said.
He said snake catchers often have to make less-than-ideal plans.
“I climbed up, and with my 1.8m African Snakebite Institute (ASI) tongs, I just managed to grab the snake. I then used that and my 1.1m ASI professional tongs to bring it towards me. I had to neck it mid-air. I don’t like that. I prefer to rest the tongs on a branch etc. when necking. But I had to make do,” Evans explained.
“I didn’t have a good grip, and twice needed to correct it whilst up there.
“It was a slow, slow climb down, and to say I was relieved to be on the ground would be an understatement.”
Evans said the mamba was the day’s smallest, about 2.4m long, and was a bit thinner than the other two.
He also thanked the neighbour for helping him.
“Three mambas in a day is great for my mind ‒ a good therapy session, and great data for my research,” Evans added.
“No mambas today (Friday), but still many snakes on the move. Happy to be busy again!”
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