Snake tails: Rescue of the fortnight

FOR five days in a row, a Mariannhill family had seen two Black Mambas basking in some dense vegetation, just metres away from their home. When one of the mambas was seen slithering against their home, they decided enough was enough, and so they called me.

I’m generally very reluctant to respond to calls where the snake has been spotted ‘in the bush’. To chase what is known one of the fastest snakes in the world, in the bush, is a pointless exercise. We humans can outrun Black Mambas, but not with hundreds of branches in our way. Also, once a snake has moved into the bush, and out of sight, the chances of finding it are next to none. Some people ask me, “Don’t you have a machine that can track them?” No, I wish there was such technology available. And snakes aren’t like elephants or rhinos that leave easily trackable signs.

ALSO READ: Nick Evans rescues baby Spitting Cobra in Westville 

However, in this instance, the caller insisted they had gone into a hole in the ground, right near her house. This is apparently where they always go, and at the time of calling, she had just seen them go in there. I agreed to go and take a look.

I went with two friends, Duncan Slabbert and Gary Nicolau, for back-up. By the time we arrived at the homestead, the sun had just set.

We walked about three metres into the bush, and at the base of a tree, was an old, abandoned termite nest, which had tunnels running underground. We looked down one of the tunnels, and about a meter down, we saw a Black Mamba curled up. Sensing our presence, it reversed back into the tunnel, and out of sight. So there was definitely one, but were there indeed two?

How did you get it/them out?

The only way we could- manual labour. We got a pick axe and a spade, and started digging into the rock-hard ground. Termites certainly don’t build weak homes for themselves. We dug, and dug, for well over an hour.

We’d dug about a meter down, when finally, we dug into an underground cavity, behind a plastic pipe. After moving a little more sand away, we caught a glimpse of the mamba. “I can see the head”, I told my friends. Then, Gary, who was looking into another section of this cavity, said, “I’ve got a head here too!” The caller was right, there were two! I could not believe my luck!

These two Black Mambas were trapped. They were backed up into a corner with nowhere to go. This is when some may say they can get really aggressive, and possibly attack. But, as has always been the case when I’ve worked with mambas, they didn’t. They ‘sat’ there, and opened up their mouths at us, showing the pitch-black colouration inside. An intimidating sight.

I went in for the one I could see. I had a view of its ‘neck’ region, grabbed at it with my tongs, and gently pulled it out where I secured the head in my hands. That didn’t give us too much of a problem. Now for the other.

The second mamba was proving to be a bit trickier to catch. There was the big opening I had made, into this cavity, and a tunnel going out the side. This mamba would poke its head out of the opening, then reverse. Then it would pop out the tunnel, and reverse again. Eventually, I got a grip of its tail, and we pulled it out. As the head emerged, I pinned it down quickly, before it could swing around and cause us some stress. Job done, we had the two mambas. I couldn’t have been happier!

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Why were the snakes together?

A common belief is that snakes move in pairs, but they don’t. During the mating season, which for most species is in spring, then yes, you may see two snakes together. They don’t usually stay together for very long though, not usually more than a few days. Snakes prefer to be alone. Black Mambas mate in winter, unlike most other species, hence why this pair was together. Now and then, videos on social media pop up of mambas entwined with one another, out in the open. This is often construed as them mating. Those would actually be two male mambas fighting for mating rights with a nearby female. When mambas, and other snakes, come together to mate, they’ll do so in a dark and protected area, often underground like in the above case.

What happened to the mambas?

They were released in a wild area, together, where they will hopefully never bump into people ever again.

For snake rescues and removals around the greater Durban area, contact Nick Evans on 072 809 5806. For educational work, you can email him atnickevanskzn@gmail.com.

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