Durban - A family in Montclair gave Durban snake rescuer Nick Evans permission to remove the entire ceiling in their home in order to catch a black mamba that they discovered living in the roof.
Evans said that on Sunday at 10pm, fellow snake catcher Warren Dick messaged him about a black mamba in Montclair.
“Its body had been seen and photographed hanging out of the roof, against the wall, in the bathroom. A peculiar but frightening sight for the residents.”
Together with Grant Cavanagh and his daughter Savannah, Evans went to the house and upon arrival found that the black mamba had gone back into the ceiling.
He said it was not an easy roof to work with as there was a small gap between the ceiling board and the asbestos above. No one could climb in and no roof tiles could be removed. The only option was breaking through the ceiling.
“The residents said we could remove the whole ceiling, as long as the snake is gone.”
Evans said he tried breaking the ceiling in several places but the mamba could not be seen.
Eventually he said he saw the snake, but when he went to that part of the ceiling the snake had moved.
“You could hear it sliding along the ceiling board. And so started our game of cat and mouse. And destruction.”
Evans said that at about 1am they stopped hearing and seeing the mamba and decided to call off the search.
“It had vanished, somehow. I was exhausted and covered in dust. We didn’t want to, after all that effort, but we called it a night. We were sure it would be back. Early this morning (Monday), or should I say later this morning, I met Warren on scene. Grant and Savannah couldn’t make it.
“We could both hear the mamba moving. And so our little ‘game’ resumed. I broke a few more holes in the roof, and we were now getting more sightings of the snake, some close-up ones too.”
Evans said they were getting close to grabbing the snake.
“I was resting the hammer on my ladder, while I was up there. While up there, I bumped the hammer, and it fell, landing on Warren’s toe! Blood started flowing. His search for the mamba momentarily stopped, but he quickly returned. We had literally put blood, sweat and tears into getting this snake!”
He said as the mamba started moving, he managed to get a tong on the tail, which was risky.
“Warren handed me his tong, and I tried to get his tong up there quickly, but it wasn’t easy with the space I had to work with. Once I did, and once the mamba’s head had come a little closer, I grabbed the head end. I had to juggle the tongs a bit, but eventually had the head in my hand. It was a twisty snake, desperately trying to twist its head out of my grip, but I managed to get a better grip.”
Evans said everyone was relieved that the mamba was finally caught.
He said the mamba weighed 1kg and measured 2.3m. It has since been released away from humans.
