Durban — Snake catcher Nick Evans rescued a “beast of a mamba” that was 2.7m in length and weighed almost 3kg from a property outside Pinetown where residents had killed a mamba a few weeks ago out of fear.
Evans said last Thursday night, he was communicating with someone over WhatsApp from the Nazareth area, just outside Pinetown, who was telling him about a big black snake that came to eat kittens.
“I knew it would be a black mamba. I told her to call when she sees it again. Minutes later, I got a voice note from her with a lot of screaming, shouting that the snake was back. I thought this was odd. Too coincidental. How had it come so quickly? I wondered if it was a prank. Then, she sent a video. It was most definitely a black mamba, with an adult cat watching it. I couldn’t believe it!”
Evans said he asked his friend Duncan Slabbert to go to Nazareth as he was closer. However, with all the people panicking (understandably so), the snake did the same and went outside, which was much to everyone’s disappointment.
“With the smell of kittens still there, we were sure it would come back,” Evans said.
He said the next day, on Friday, he was told the snake was back. Unfortunately for him, the snake was in a massive wood pile with a few bushes around it and next to it was a shed full to the roof of things and it was the hottest time of the day.
He said Slabbert was unavailable to help him at the time.
Evans said he asked the residents to watch from the other side that he would be working on, that it does not come out, and had one man offer to help move wood. The biggest challenge was all the fencing on top of the wood, and a sheet. Shrubs were growing out of it so we could not pull it off.
“Eventually, in a gap in the middle of the woodpile, I saw the mamba. It was massive! Its body was so thick it barely fitted in there. It was impossible to get tongs on it. I needed to widen that gap. It knew it had been found, and started moving to the left, then to the right, then left, then right again. It moved far to the right and tucked itself in,” Evans said.
“With my assistant on the day, we moved as many planks as possible. But many were tired together. It was all getting frustrating. I decided to force a plank into this gap and use it as leverage to lift the whole top half up, while my assistant put more planks in, to widen the gap. We repeated this process.”
Evans said soon the mamba knew it was in big trouble and tried to get out, but that only solved his problems.
“I got the tongs on its neck, although it managed to wrap its tail around pieces of wood, pulling itself hard. I let go to avoid it injuring itself, and it zipped across under more wood. I grabbed the tail and waited for the head to appear. When it did, I grabbed it and managed to restrain it successfully,” Evans recalled.
“It was 2.7m in length, and close to 3kg. A beast of a mamba.”
Evans said wild animals did not see other animals that way, they only care about survival. That is just how they work in nature.
“Kittens are an easy, filling meal for a snake this size. Durban has a high number of feral kittens (I think these ones were actually pets, but usually it is ferals), and this, along with rats and dassies, keeps black mambas well-fed, particularly in bushy areas such as this one. We don’t usually see such cases in the middle of suburbia. I have also never heard of a mamba eat an adult cat or kill one in self-defence (as is the case with dogs).”
He said cats seem to know to stay clear of these snakes.
“The residents had killed a mamba a few weeks ago, beating it to death with sticks. They were terrified and didn’t know what else to do, I don’t resent them for that at all. I explained to them that they were extremely lucky not to have been bitten because that’s exactly how bites happen. A mamba has no desire to bite a human, but beating it with a stick changes things. I told them how this one was constantly trying to get away from me,” Evans said.
“I am so glad they called this time, and they assured me they’ll call in future which I’m happy about. Safer for them and the mamba. I’m grateful for their willingness to learn, and I am so, so grateful for my assistant on the day! He was a brave helper.”
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