Black mamba caught in La Lucia
Durban North snake man was searching for a spitting cobra when he found the mamba.
A SEARCH for a Mozambique spitting cobra at a La Lucia home led local snake man Jason Arnold to a rather surprising, but dangerous find earlier today. The 37-year-old managed to capture one of the world’s deadliest snakes, a black mamba in a property on Timavo Drive.
Arnold said this was the first time in his 22 year snake rescuer career that he found a black mamba in La Lucia. The mamba’s capture has left the local resident and snake handler questioning if the species had begun travelling.
“I think he was hiding in a car engine and would have slithered out when the vehicle stopped. I’m finding that more and more nowadays. This juvenile mamba was quite a surprising rescue. The homeowners had come home to find a very large snake skin in their garden. They sent me a photograph and I identified it as a spitting cobra.
“They had small dogs and were worried about their safety. When I got to the property I begin searching around the pool for the cobra only to find a black mamba nestling in the shrubbery around the pool. I immediately grabbed him and managed to capture him. It’s very unusual to see black mambas in La Lucia. This is my first ever call out to the area for this species,” he said.
Contact Jason Arnold on 082 745 6375.
