EVERY now and then there comes a question that really sets the cat among the pigeons; well in this case, a snake. I had a call from a reader in Trafalgar the other day who asked if we had noticed a dearth of snakes this summer.
Interesting, because yes, we have. We have a spotted bush snake (or maybe several, they are difficult to tell apart) who inhabits the Hide. He, or she, quite literally pops out of the woodwork and investigates the pot plants for anything interesting and then tends to find a nice sunny spot and chills.
He ignores us completely.
Well, the truth is that this summer we have seen our visitor perhaps a total of three or four times, so we tend to agree with the questioner.
But of course one doesn’t just leave it there, one contacts an expert* and the expert opinion is that no, there is no shortage of snakes, particularly mambas, but that frog eaters like night adders and red-lipped heralds may be lying low because of the drought.
It begins to get interesting.
The drought, which I am reliably told is one of the worst on record, means less surface water which in turn means fewer frogs, which in turn means fewer frog eaters.
The lack of surface water also means fewer mosquitos, in theory anyway.
I have spoken to other people who variously reported a normal presence of snakes, or perhaps not, the normal presence of geckos (snakes eat geckos) or even gecko infestations, and fewer mosquitos, or maybe not.
So a very mixed bag in response to the question, are there fewer snakes around?
However, it does emphasise another side to the drought saga, and that is that it affects so much that we don’t tend to notice or that doesn’t affect us directly.
One other interesting fact arose from all this, and that is that many people have permanent surface water in the gardens in the way of water features of one kind or another, and water features mean mosquitos, frogs and therefore snakes.
The water feature can, and should be, a natural phenomenon in an urban setting, but is every bit as important as the waterhole in the bush, particularly in times of drought.
British writer Rudyard Kipling put it rather romantically, “By the Law of the Jungle it is death to kill at the drinking places when once the Water Truce has been declared. The reason for this is that drinking comes before eating. Every one in the Jungle can scramble along somehow when only game is scarce; but water is water, and when there is but one source of supply, all hunting stops while the Jungle People go there for their needs”.**
Sadly, the Law of our Jungle does not work that way, but still your water feature and those out there in the wild are vital in these times.
Cheers.
*Alan Williams, Ezemvelo-KZN-Wildlife
Honorary Officer.
**Rudyard Kipling, The Second Jungle Book,
Macmillan, London, 1924, and thank you Paddy Norman for spurring a long overdue revisit to Kipling.
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