In this file photo. Durban-based snake rescuer Nick Evans battles a black mamba, one of South Africa's deadliest snakes. Photo via Facebook/ Nick Evans Snake Rescue
The relentless heatwave experienced by some provinces since last week has led to an alarming increase of snakes slithering about in residential areas…oh, and lest we forget, it has also been cited as the culprit for Eskom implementing Stage 6 load shedding.
People are urged to be extra vigilant as most of these reptiles that have been venturing into residential areas due to the intense heat and an abundance of food, such as rats and frogs, are not exactly the harmless garden-variety types…
This according to some of Mzansi’s top snake rescuers who say they have been inundated with frantic calls of snake sightings in metropolitan and rural areas inhabited by the human species…
ALSO READ: Ekurhuleni warns pet owners to be on high alert as snakes come out of hibernation
Well-known KwaZulu-Natal snake handler and catcher Nick Evans told News24 that over the past two weeks, he had been called out to numerous properties where snakes, specifically highly venomous black mambas, were spotted.
“The heat we have been experiencing could be one of the reasons we are seeing so many reptiles come out from hiding. It’s been chaotic with snake-catching in the last few days. Some of the black mambas, specifically, are looking for comfortable, safe hideouts to lay their eggs. So when they come out, we get more calls,” Evans explained.
According to the fast-footed snake-catcher, the five mambas which he encountered on various properties, was “the most mambas” he has ever been called out to remove in his years on the job.
ALSO READ: Heatwave hell to stay with us until Wednesday
Evans shared with the publication that the most-frequent question he has to deal with, is whether “snakes eat people”.
“There are no man-eating anacondas here, and our southern African python does not hunt people,” he said.
“Movies about man-eating [snakes] fuel the fear of large snakes such as pythons, which is sad as what is shown in the movies is hardly ever factually correct.”
Evans urged people to be on high alert for unwelcome slithering guests, adding that he has had to remove more than 20 snakes, including Mozambique spitting cobras and a green mamba, from several properties over the past two weeks.
Another snake rescuer who works his charm in Umhlanga’s Sunningdale area north of Durban, Jason Arnold, previously offered some sound advice of how to handle an unwanted encounter with a snake.
“I’d like to just warn people to be aware and to stay calm if they happen to come across a snake. Don’t go into a frenzy. Stay calm and keep kids and pets away from the area and monitor the snake from a safe distance and call a professional snake catcher,” he said.
Arnold told Northglen News the best way not to get bitten by a snake was simply to not interfere with it.
“They only become scared and defensive when they are put in a position where they feel threatened,” he said.
Cape Town reptile expert Tyrone Ping recently shared a nerve-wracking video clip of him removing two Cape cobras in one go during a call-out.
Ping commented on the abundance of videos of snake sightings by Capetonians doing the rounds at present.
One of the videos that went viral, depicts the epic battle between an enormous Cape cobra and a mongoose on the golf course at the Atlantic Beach Golf Club, in Melkbosstrand.
@snag_africa_official GOLF IN CAPE TOWN SOUTH AFRICA !! #fyp #africa #golf #SAMA28 ♬ Water – Tyla
ALSO READ: WATCH: ‘Josh, f**king drive!’ – Epic mongoose vs Cape Cobra ‘battle of the golf course’
Ping said it is “normal” for snake sightings to increase in Cape Town at this time of year as temperatures rise.
He added that in Cape Town, Cape cobras, boomslangs and puff adders are “the only three most venomous snakes to worry about”.
Durbanville, snake catcher Andries Cilliers said harmless mole snakes were in abundance in the Cape Town area and along the West Coast.
He advised Capetonians to regularly trim the trees in their garden and cautioned people who encounter a snake to always maintain a distance of five metres, “especially if it’s a cobra”.
According to Cape Town-based snake handling trainer Willem van Zyl, the average snakebite treatment in a hospital could cost about R200 000.
“If you need surgery, costs may be well over R1 million, so it’s much cheaper to call a snake catcher when you see one rather than try and deal with it yourself,” he told News24.
In April this year, the National Snakebite Advisory Group raised the alarm on the fact that South Africa was experiencing a massive shortage of snakebite antivenom.
Following an appeal to Health Minister Dr Joe Phaahla to ensure funding and emergency upgrades of equipment and backup power supply at the South African Vaccine Producers’ production plant, the shortage crisis has apparently been resolved.
In an update provided earlier this month, National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS) spokesperson Mzi Gcukumana said:
“The NHLS has been working tirelessly to manufacture snakebite antivenom through its subsidiary, South African Venom Producers. As a result, from 1 January to 30 September 2023, the NHLS made snakebite antivenom available to 265 institutions in South Africa, including public and private hospitals and veterinary clinics.”
He added that the NLHS “has a sufficient reserve supply to deal with emergencies”.
Download our app and read this and other great stories on the move. Available for Android and iOS.
