Durban – A well-hidden black mamba, another in a garage and a bad-tempered one.
Those were the three mambas Durban snake rescuer Nick Evans was called out to attend to last week.
“Yes, they’ve been on the move!” Evans said.
He said a black mamba in Mariannhill was at a chicken farm he had been to before.
Evans said unfortunately for chicken farmers they will always have rats, no matter how clean they keep their property, because rats are attracted by the chicken feed. And where there are rats, in properties in bushy areas, there are mambas.
“It was a very difficult catch, and took a while, in the heat,” Evans said.
“I could see it on a beam going across the corrugated iron wall from the outside. Inside the coop, though, I couldn’t see it. Eventually, we figured out it was between two corrugated iron sheets.”
Evans said a calm resident offered to poke it from one side with a long stick to coax it out towards him.
“That plan didn’t really work and the mamba moved down and disappeared. Seconds later, its head popped out fairly close to the calm gentleman’s knee. He remained calm and moved back slowly.”
Evans said this was the right way to react, although not many people he helped were that calm.
“The mamba had a rat-sized meal in it,” he said.
The second mamba was in Escombe.
Evans said the homeowner was leaving his house through the garage and as he opened the garage door, he saw the mamba.
“Close call – luckily mambas have no interest in biting,” Evans said.
“It entered the garage and hid behind a pallet.”
Evans said the homeowner reviewed his CCTV footage as he made his way there.
He said the mamba was casually slithering up the road until a passing car prompted it to flee to this property. A case of bad luck for this homeowner. He had a neat and tidy property, nothing really appealing for a mamba.
“Fortunately, no human, pet or snake was hurt,” Evans said.
“(A) quick and easy catch.”
Evans said the third mamba was in Clare Estate, a home he visited frequently.
He said the family shared their home with mambas regularly – not that they enjoy it. But they always call him rather than kill them.
The mamba was hiding behind some Tupperware on the kitchen counter.
“It was a hot day, and perhaps it was just hot and grumpy, but my word was it was a bad-tempered animal. I didn’t enjoy capturing this one!” Evans said.
“Interestingly, it left a big poop for me to clean up in its bucket, shortly after capture. Among it, were many small bones. Judging by the size of them, and the fur, it had eaten a rat. I don’t often see so many bone fragments, it was interesting.”
Evans said mambas are excellent for rodent control. Durban has a massive population of invasive house rats.
He said that non-venomous alternatives were brown house snakes, or maybe an owl if you’re lucky, or a monitor lizard.
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