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By Vhahangwele Nemakonde

Digital Deputy News Editor


WATCH: ‘Snake Man’ Jason Arnold removes black mamba from couch

On Tuesday, snake catcher Nick Evans was called to the Queensburgh area for another mamba after it was spotted by two dogs in the garden. 


In yet another instance of snakes found hiding in strange places, ‘The Snake Man,’ Jason Arnold, found a black mamba hiding in the couch of a KwaZulu-Natal home.

Arnold removed the snake after some time of battling to find its head, in what he said was “an extremely dangerous situation”.

“Extracting a black mamba from a couch is difficult enough. Finding the mamba in the couch in order to catch it, is another thing. I don’t know where the head is so I’m a bit cautious as to where I put my hands. I don’t want to stick my hand and get bitten

“Judging by the description that they’ve given me, this could be a black mamba or a splitting cobra. I just have to open this so I can see it properly,” he said as he tore the couch apart to remove the reptile.

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After some time, Arnold finally found it and removed it from the couch.

Watch the video he posted on YouTube below:

On Tuesday, snake catcher Nick Evans was called to the Queensburgh area for another mamba after it was spotted by two dogs in the garden.

The dogs went after the snake in an attempt to “defend their turf, and/or owners, as they instinctively do”, said Evans.

The snake unfortunately fled and hid in the dogs’ kennel.

“With the dogs gone, I moved the boards away and found the mamba curled up in a corner. It seemed calm. I thought I’d take a photo, of the snake in this unusual place, and just as I was about to, the snake started moving slowly. Phone down,” said Evans on his Facebook page.

As he was about to grab the reptile, it lunged towards him, but he managed to stop it from reaching his hand with his tongs.

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“I had little control over it. The tongs were almost halfway down the body. Luckily it was a small Mamba (2m+-), otherwise, it could have struck and reached my hand. It had us dancing around! I managed to pin the mamba down.”

Evans thought his job was done until he realised one of the dogs had been bitten. He quickly rushed it to the vet, where it received medical attention.

“Snake/dog conflict is horrible. Often, these clashes end up with a dead dog or two, and a dead snake. But in this case, both animals survived. I’m so relieved!”

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