Exciting snake rescue tales: Mozambique spitting cobra and black mamba in Durban
Durban — Over the last couple of weeks, Durban snake rescuer Nick Evans bagged a cheeky Mozambique spitting cobra and a black mamba cruising along the top of the wall in a lounge in two separate call-outs.
Evans removed the cheeky, 90cm+- Mozambique spitting cobra (mfezi) from a garden in Westville North last week.
The snake was seen in a wood pile.
“I moved all the wood and other material, with nothing left apart from a piece of old steel and some glass. It wasn’t looking promising, but as I lifted the steel, out popped the cobra!” Evans exclaimed.
He said the cobra was far from impressed. It was quite happy in that warm, safe space, where it was digesting a toad it had for lunch.
“It gave me a good few sprays of venom, much to my displeasure before I managed to pin it down,” Evans said.
“It’s horribly annoying to be on the receiving end (even worse without eye protection), but one still has to admire this genius method of self-defence.”
Then about two weeks ago, Evans was called out to a home in the Giba Gorge area, for a young black mamba inside a house.
He said the mamba had been seen cruising along the top of the wall, in the lounge, before squeezing into a small gap, allowing it to hide between the top of a wall and the roof sheeting.
“This was an absolute nightmare of a place to get it!
“After lots of coaxing wire and plenty of frustration, I managed to chase the mamba towards the verandah side of the wall, where it tried getting out. There, I managed to grab it with my African Snakebite Institute tongs, and bring it down to the ground,” Evans described.
He said he does not see many mambas that small.
“It was absolutely terrified and desperate to scare me off, it spread a cobra-like hood, hoping I’d move away. I couldn’t exactly just leave it there by the shoes, though,” Evans said.
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