Mamba found in kitchen sink

Washing the dishes is nobody’s favourite pastime, but washing the dishes with a 1.7m green mamba lurking in the sink is infinitely more exciting.

This was the reality for one elderly resident from Sezela who immediately alerted the team from Crocworld Conservation Centre.

Reptile Curator at the centre in Scottburgh, Wade Kilian said: “I received a phone call from a young man out in Sezela about a large snake that had been discovered in the kitchen. Apparently his mother had been packing away dishes before doing another load when she spotted the snake climbing the curtain rail. It then took refuge in the kitchen sink beneath a pink bucket, which is where we discovered it.”

Kilian said he arrived to find a very nervous, machete-wielding, elderly lady shouting about a snake.
Fortunately, added Kilian, the lady’s son had alerted the reptile team in time and she had not attempted to kill the snake herself.

“We encourage residents not to approach or attempt to kill any snake species, but rather to contact us to safely remove the animal. Not only are some of these species threatened and, therefore, protected by law, but most snake attacks happen when humans try to move or kill them. Once the snake had been smoothly removed from the kitchen, it was safely released into a wildlife habitat away from humans,” said Kilian.

He added that a few facts about green mambas include them being carnivores, saying that they will eat eggs, birds, frogs, lizards, rodents, and other small mammals.

Kilian said green mambas are mostly solitary but aren’t known to be territorial.

“Green mambas prefer coastal areas with dense, shaded vegetation and tend to live in trees. Female green mambas will lay 4 to 17 eggs at a time that hatch after around three months. Green mambas can live for up to 14 years. Green mambas are highly venomous and have short, fixed fangs at the front of their mouths,” said Kilian.

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