WATCH: Three metre black mamba bagged in Mtwalume
Watch how the coast's snake catcher carefully removes a highly venomous black mamba from a bedroom.
IT’S one of South Africa’s deadliest snakes – the BLACK MAMBA!
Sarel van der Merwe of Pure Venom Reptile Park was lucky enough to rescue one of these beauties measuring a whopping three metres last Saturday.
Sarel received a phone call about a mamba lurking in a house and, accompanied by his friend, Ivor Krisch and Warrant Officer Frans Kroukamp from Hibberdene police, the intrepid snake catcher made his way to the property inland from Mtwalume.
“I thought it was a placid green mamba so I wasn’t on high alert,” said Sarel.
So he was a little surprised when he saw the big black mamba next to a bed, behind a stack of suitcases.
“When I saw it my adrenaline kicked in. But it was a lekker one, and quite a fighter. He probably ventured into the house to look for food or shade,” he added.
Interestingly, Sarel caught more black mambas last year than this year.
When asked why he thought this could be, Sarel replied with a chuckle: “I saw one trying to get into a suitcase, so maybe they are busy packing to leave the country. Perhaps there are more rats overseas.”
The biggest black mamba Sarel has ever caught measured 4.2 metres, a challenging catch in Port Edward about a year ago.
On a sad note, Sarel arrived at a home in Woodgrange, Hibberdene last week to discover two Jack Russells had died after being bitten by a green mamba.
Shortly after Sarel caught the injured green mamba in a nearby bush, however it later succumbed to it’s injuries and died in the bag on the way back to Pure Venom.
“It was not a happy ending for either the pets or the snake,” said Sarel.
