Durban: Snake rescuer saves FOUR black mambas in one day – PICTURES

Snake rescuer Nick Evans had a busy day on Wednesday after successfully catching FOUR black mambas in a single day!

By: Garrin Lambley

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According to Evans’ Facebook page, he caught three in the Westville area and one in Malvern in KwaZulu-Natal.

“I received a call from a homeowner in Westville, to tell me that a team working on a roof of her outbuilding had found a snake in there,” said Evans.

Evans added that the vast majority of the time it’s either a non-venomous Brown House Snake or Spotted Bush Snake, both of which either vanish before one arrives, or gets into places you can’t reach.

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He said the homeowner described the snake as ‘big’, saying it had the thickness of a pick axe handle, but most of the time, the description of a big snake doesn’t actually match the snake in question.

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“On my way to investigate, I got a call from Westville North, for a Black Mamba inside a home, so I opted to go to that first.

“It was in a wendy house, under the kitchen cupboard. I had to lift a few planks up to get at it. Bit of a feisty one, around 2.2-2.3m in length, although a bit on the skinny side.”

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Evans then made his way to the Dawncliffe home, and climbed onto the roof.

“I shone my JETBeam South Africa torch down, and the snake was in plain sight, with a good torch, much to my relief. It was curled up under the geyser. I could just see a tiny section of the body, but enough to know it was a black mamba.

“I thought finding it would be the hard part, but it wasn’t, catching it was.

“At first, there didn’t seem to be a way of accessing it, so I half-attempted grabbing it from above, but could see I was wasting my time.

“I was thinking that there had to be a way of accessing the geyser, impossible for there not to be. I noticed there were wooden planks that looked like they could be taken out, on one side of the geyser. After going in a few rooms, we figured out where they could be accessed from, a bathroom.

“I went in, and unscrewed two planks joined together. When they dropped, a section of the mambas body dropped out! Fortunately I half-expected that. The mamba got a massive fright! I could see it was trying to think of somewhere to escape to, but before it could do that, I got the tongs on it.

“The body came sprawling out this gap I had created, and I basically lowered it down onto the floor as gently as possible, and grabbed it there.

“Not a massive one, around 2.1-2.2m. More well fed than the first mamba of the day. If there were rats in the roof, they’re not there anymore! Mambas are a rats worst nightmare.”

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According to Evans, the third catch was a quick and uneventful catch.

He said the mamba was spotted in a garage and when it saw the people, it panicked and ducked behind some tyres.

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“The next call, in Malvern, had come in, so I was in a bit of a hurry. I moved the tyres quick, and grabbed the snake. Uneventful catch really of a 2m+- mamba.”

The Malvern one was a bit tricky, confessed Evans.

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“It was a home I’ve been to in the past. The first mamba I got there had been killed. Now, they know they can call for help, it’s the safer option, and I’m so grateful for that. The homeowner had seen it in the garage, but to make my life difficult, it moved up into the ceiling.

“I had to climb from one end of the roof to the other to get where it had gone into. They know how to make life inconvenient,” said Evans.

“I climbed across, sweating in the sauna-like roof and as I neared the end by the wall, I spotted the mamba, curled up.

“I’m not sure if it was my JETBeam South Africa headlamp blinding it or if it was just confused, but it didn’t move. It just watched me approach, and finally, grab it. Probably the easiest roof capture I’ve had.

Evans added that the young snake was about 1.5m in length.

Clearly if you spot a snake, Nick Evans is your man!

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