Cape Town - A member of the Western Cape Legislature got an unwelcome “ssssurprise” when he discovered snakes had slithered onto his property, turning his garden into a “nursery” for the female serpent’s babies.
Shaun August, a member of the GOOD party, told Weekend Argus that he did not expect to stumble across the venomous creatures in his backyard in Zeekoevlei on Tuesday, adding that he continuously shouted, “Lord have mercy” as he attempted to get his unwanted guests safely removed.
“Yesterday, my dog spotted a snake, barking ungodly loud. I did an inspection, and saw a snake tanning in the sand in my garden, half of the body was hidden away,” he said.
August said he then “immediately” rang a snake catcher, who told him to stay “far away” from the poisonous animal.
“While waiting for the snake catcher, I spotted another four: two were babies and the rest adults. The snake catcher and his team arrived after 15 minutes, and caught the female snake and identified it as a boomslang,” said August, adding that the other snakes were still at large.
“They said an additional twelve babies can still be in my garden. However, we could only spot five,” he said.
“They don’t know if there’s a nest in my garden. They came out again this morning (Wednesday). I’m monitoring the situation.”
A Boomslang is a venomous snake. This snake’s venom is haemotoxic and compromises the blood clotting mechanism, causing uncontrolled bleeding if not treated. But because it is extremely shy and docile, bites are uncommon.
According to data on the Western Cape Government’s website, there are 41 different types of snakes in the Western Cape.
Around 18 of these species are not venomous, while eight can inflict painful bites. At least six species are considered potentially deadly.
The six venomous snakes found in the Western Cape are the Cape cobra, puff adder, berg adder, boomslang, rinkhals, and black spitting cobra.
Weekend Argus.