Sssomething snuck into the car
They opted to use wire to gently poke the mamba out of its hiding spot. The snake began to move a little, but refused to come out.
A staff member from the Hibiscus Retirement Village in Widenham immediately contacted local snake catcher, Miguel de Fonseca, after spotting a ‘big black snake’ slithering underneath a resident’s vehicle last weekend.
Miguel and his wife Micaela rushed to the retirement village, hoping that the snake would still be there.
When they arrived, the search began and only after about ten minutes was a small part of the snake visible – just above the petrol tank.
Miguel was able to identify the snake and announced that it was in fact one of Africa’s most feared snakes – a black mamba!
The mamba’s location underneath the vehicle made it quite awkward for a normal rescue, so Miguel decided to call his friend and fellow snake catcher Donald Strydom for assistance.
When Donald arrived, the duo first planned their method of capture before taking action.
They opted to use wire to gently poke the mamba out of its hiding spot. The snake began to move a little, but refused to come out.
After a little while, Donald was able to get the wire around a coil of the snake, tugged at it and the tail popped out.
He held onto the tail to ensure that it didn’t try to coil up and disappear underneath again, and he and Miguel continued poking around trying to get the head out.
Eventually, the head showed and Donald quickly reached for his snake tongs to secure the mamba.
Once the mamba was secure, the snake catchers unwrapped the rest of the body from what it was coiled around.
It was also discovered that the mamba had eaten at the time as it still had a full belly.
Before removing the snake from the area, Miguel and Donald gave the residents and staff who witnessed the rescue, an educational talk about mambas.
Miguel and Micaela later released the mamba in suitable area away from the retirement village, and were glad to see that the snake was able to keep its meal down despite being captured and transported.
For rescues, Miguel can be contacted at 072 6123218.
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