Durban - A broken geyser led to the discovery of a 297cm (2.97 metre) black mamba snake skin in the ceiling of a Shallcross house on Monday.
Snake rescuer Nick Evans said a plumber climbed into a ceiling today to replace a geyser when he made the discovery.
“When he saw a large snake skin, he gave up on that task.”
Evans said the snake skin measured 297cm, however, the snake would be a little shorter, as the skin stretches.
“It’s a house I’ve been to twice for black mambas. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find the snake. The skin is actually quite old, a few weeks at least.”
He said there is a healthy dassie population around the property, which is feeding “this big beast”.
Evans said the skin was found right next to the geyser where it is warm.
“Mambas love ceilings. It’s safe, and there’s often rats.”
He said in a recent incident in Westville, an electrician opened the trapdoor of a ceiling, and came across a black mamba.
Evans said he hopes to one day see the mamba that shed its skin.
He advised the public that hearing a noise in the roof does not always mean it is a snake.
“Usually, it isn’t. It’s most often rats.”
Evans said in some cases the noises in the roof are made by other animals such as genets, dassies, monitor lizards and tree agamas (blue-headed lizards).
“I should add, I don’t know any snake-remover who enjoys getting calls about snakes in roofs.”
Evans lists the reasons why snake rescuers do not like these types of call outs:
1. Roof calls are often a waste of time, as the snake is very often not found. We stand a half-chance with a large Black Mamba (depending on size of roof), but if you see a Spotted Bush Snake (they’re less than a metre in length), enter your ceiling, you'll have to just live with it. The chance of finding it and then catching it is next to none.
2. They’re horrendously hot, as any plumber or electrician will agree, particularly on a hot, summer day, It can be downright dangerous.
3. As if temperatures and venomous snakes weren’t enough risk factors – falling through the roof is another worry. One wrong step, and you can have a broken snake-catcher and a broken ceiling.