Durban — The hatching of 12 green mambas was another early morning treat for staff at the South African Association for Marine Biological Research’s (Saambr) Dangerous Creatures.
Saambr’s Ann Kunz said that there was a huge amount of excitement and energy on Friday morning in the Saambr Dangerous Creatures exhibit at uShaka Marine World as staff watched and carefully documented the hatching.
Kunz said the herpetologists were not surprised to notice the young snakes emerging from their eggs as Thursday marked the 70th day since the eggs were incubated.
She said that in November last year, Evans rescued a green mamba from a residential area and noticed that the snake was visibly gravid (pregnant). In order to give the mom and her offspring the highest chance of survival, he brought the snake to the herpetologists at uShaka Sea World.
“The beautiful, gravid mom was given some privacy and offered a laying box in order to comfortably deposit her eggs. As soon as the hatchlings have shed their skin and eaten their first meal, they will be released,” Kunz said.
She said that although green mambas are born venomous, they have a very docile nature compared to their nervous cousin, the black mamba. Green mambas are arboreal snakes found throughout the KZN coast and are generally never found more than a few kilometres from the coastal forest.
Meanwhile, in February last year, one of the many pregnant green mambas rescued by Evans in December 2021, had 11 of its eggs hatch on Valentine’s Day.
Evans had not shared information about that particular green mamba.
Kunz said the ball started rolling in December 2021 when Evans brought the green mamba to them after he removed it from a home on the KwaZulu-Natal North Coast.
Kunz said it was obvious to the staff at Dangerous Creature that the snake was heavily gravid when it arrived. The team was therefore not surprised when they discovered 11 healthy eggs the following morning.
She said it appeared that the snake had slithered into the North Coast home looking for a place to lay her eggs. Understandably, the residents were not very comfortable sharing their home with this unauthorised summer visitor and contacted a local snake expert to remove the beautiful bright green mom-to-be.
“The unauthorised visitor was released the following day leaving behind her eggs which were placed in a specialised substrate and monitored for the next 68 days,” Kunz said.
“Some of the young green mambas had already started the slow and cautious emergence from their eggs by the time the staff arrived at work. The process of fully emerging from the safety of their eggs takes green mambas roughly 18 hours. They seem to take an awful lot of “peeps” into their new environment before they muster enough courage to emerge fully from their eggs,” Kunz said.
She said the juveniles, which are independent from the time they hatch, will be released into the wild by Evans.
Daily News
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