Durban snake catcher Nick Evans has bagged his first ‘monster’ mamba of the year, weighing just over 3.6kg and 2.9m in length; he measured it twice.
“Every now and then I am treated to a call for an enormous black mamba. The average length is 2.2m-2.5m, and some of those 2.5m ones are chunky. A 2.7m-2.8m (mamba) is special. I’ve only seen two or three bigger than that, my biggest being 3.05m,” Evans said.
He said that on Tuesday morning, he received a call from Reservoir Hills concerning a large black mamba in a tree.
He said that to most people any black mamba is large, and rightly so – they’re big snakes. But often to a snake remover these supposedly large snakes are relatively small.
Evans said that was not the case on Tuesday.
“When I arrived, I could see the snake through some fencing. It was in a small space between two homes, stretched out on a tree. I tried not to pay too much attention to it, in case I chased it, as I first needed to open the gate, which was right in front of the mamba,” Evans explained.
“I could not get the damn old lock to open. The massive mamba just stared at me. I was close, about 1.5m away. Usually a mamba would have fled by now. I think this one had more confidence than most.”
He said the snake was perhaps thinking, “surely this creature isn’t going to ‘attack’ me”.
He also said the homeowner assisted him with the lock. He wanted to smack it off with a hammer but eventually he got it open.
“I stepped up to the mamba, which didn’t move. I probably could have taken cellphone pics but I wanted to grab it before it darted off. It was the most simple of captures. Its head was closest to me, so I just grabbed it with the tongs, let it reverse, and secured it in my hand. That was it really. Quick and easy,” Evans said.
“I couldn’t believe the girth of it. I thought it was only just 2.5m in length, because often I’ll capture a chunky one and it looks longer than it is. It was longer than 2.5m, 2.9m on the dot – we measured twice (thanks to the homeowner for the help). It weighs just over 3.6kg.”
Evans said it was a well-fed animal. Apparently, there used to be dassies around.
“Used to be, I see where they went. Large rats certainly would have been on the menu. It probably sniffed out any feral kittens in the area too,” Evans said.
“Its head was large for a mamba, and it had a few scars. (It was) an old-looking mamba, perhaps 15-20 years if I had to hazard a guess,” Evans said.
“To see and rescue an animal like this is very, very special. Certainly made my day!”
He added that the pictures do not do it justice.
Daily News