Durban - A ’big, big mamba’ had to be removed from a Clare Estate home after it was attracted to the house by the birth of kittens.
Jason Arnold, known as The Snake Man, said the huge black mamba had slithered into a home to eat the family’s kittens.
In a video, Arnold said he was called out by a man who reported seeing a large black mamba on his property. It was on the rafters of his roof.
The homeowner reminded Arnold that he had been to his home previously to capture a black mamba and spitting cobra.
“If you live in an area that has mambas and you have kittens, you are guaranteed to get a mamba,” Arnold said.
He said the kittens were lucky because the black mamba would have eaten all of them.
Arnold had to climb a ladder in order to reach the snake. He grabbed onto the tail and tried to secure the snake with his tongs.
Once secured, he grabbed the snake’s neck and started pulling it gently.
“He’s a big, big mamba,” Arnold said
He had to climb onto a chair to get the lower part of the mamba’s body as it held on with its tail.
For a couple of minutes, Arnold wrestled with the snake’s tail until the snake loosened its grip.
Once measured, the female mamba measured at 2.6m.
Arnold said the mamba weighed about 4kgs.
Meanwhile, over the weekend, START Rescue was called out to Bhangazi in St Lucia, north coast of KwaZulu-Natal for the removal of a snake.
“On arrival, the team were presented with a big, healthy brown forest cobra. The snake was safely and humanely caught and relocated to a nearby nature reserve for its release,” said Warren Brauns, START Rescue spokesperson.
Daily News