Durban — A South Coast snake catcher bagged an unfriendly black mamba days after rescuing two green mambas at two separate locations.
Sarel van der Merwe said he received the call for the black mamba when it was still dark outside. He said he could not drive to uMzumbe in the dark.
“I told them to lock the snake up in the bedroom, close the door and the outside window and sleep elsewhere, because I can’t drive to uMzumbe in the dark. Umzumbe is about 80km from Shelly Beach,” Van der Merwe said.
He said that this time he went alone, without his assistant, Emma-Jane Cox.
When he got to uMzumbe, he had to find someone to take photographs for him.
“There was wire on the door (bedroom), so no one entered. There was stuff in the room, lying on the floor, including bags of clothes,” Van der Merwe said.
“I removed everything from the room. I removed bags of clothes and checked them. Then I went back inside the bedroom. I decided to check the cupboard and the bed last.
“I used my endoscope, but couldn’t see clearly. Then I lay on my stomach –and I was sure it was there!”
Van der Merwe said his photographer ran out, but he found a replacement, a daughter of the family, who said she would take photographs for him.
“I asked someone to move the cupboard by sliding it, because if not, the snake would go for the feet. Then I grabbed it,” Van der Merwe said.
He said he took the snake outside but it was “too crowded”, so he went back inside to bag it.
“The people were grateful and happy. I haven’t released it because of all the rain.”
Van der Merwe said the snake was in a “very good condition” and was just about under 3 metres long.
“It was not a friendly one.”
He added that last week on Tuesday, he bagged two green mambas in two separate incidents.
In the first, he was called to a complex in Oslo Beach. Van der Merwe said the green mamba was spotted in the garden, then on the wall and then outside the gate.
“I got stuck inside the complex until someone heard the fuss and opened the complex gates because the green mamba was getting away,” he said.
“I ran with my long stick and grabbed him on top of the wall and bagged him.”
Van der Merwe said that in the second incident, there was a green mamba under a fibreglass roof at an entrance in Umtentweni.
“I got him with a long stick then used a short stick to handle him better.”
Daily News