Snake rescuer and conservationist Nick Evans, together with a friend of his, Duncan Slabbert, recently removed a 2.5 metre female black mamba that was hiding in the home of a KwaDabeka family.
On Saturday, Evans said he got a call informing him that the snake slithered into the home located in western eThekwini, and hid behind their fridge.
After evacuating the house, one of the residents stood guard to see if the reptile changed its location.
“No one had tried killing the snake, which was great. Not just for the snake’s wellbeing, or from an environmental point of view. Trying to kill a snake, particularly the species this turned out to be, would be really dangerous.
“The snake had no desire to bite anyone, only to hide. But if attacked, it would have defended itself,” Evans said in a post on his social media.
When Evans and Slabbert got there, they found the snake was no longer behind the fridge, as there was a path it could have used without being noticed.
But the snake was still inside the home and until this point, neither the family nor the rescue team knew how dangerous a species they were dealing with.
“Duncan pulled away a long TV cabinet, and caught a glimpse of movement. He shone his torch under there, and could positively ID that it was as we suspected: a black mamba.
“The two of us worked together moving things out the way, then moving the cabinet further back, before finally pulling the mamba out, with Duncan securing the head.
“It was a good sized, female mamba, 2.5m in length,” Evans said.
Contrary to its name, the black mamba does not have black skin and ranges in colour from grey to dark brown, with a lighter underside, according to the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI).
The black in this snake species refers to the colour on the inside of its mouth.
The warmer season may draw out more of these reptiles, and residents who come into contact with them should avoid them and call for assistance, instead of trying to contend with the snake themselves.
The neurotoxic venom of a black mamba can cause a human to experience difficulty in breathing within half an hour.
“They often use their eyesight, mainly for detection of motion, and sudden movements will cause them to strike,” SANBI said.
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