The new year has started on rather a busy note for snake catcher, Sarel van der Merwe of Shelly Beach.
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Apart from rescuing a green mamba in Southport and black mamba in Umzumbe, he nabbed an unusual snake – an egg eater – from Sayidi Farm Stall in Sea Park.
Sarel had just seen the back of 2017 when he got a call from Heidi Visser of Sayidi Farm Stall on January 1. She had spotted a snake at her chicken pen, and Sarel asked her to box the snake in until he got there.
But it is not always as easy as it sounds with snakes.
“After a hour of searching I found the egg eater high up in a tree. This special snake is harmless and virtually toothless,” said Sarel.
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According to kznamphibianreptileconservation, the Southern Brown Egg-eater (Dasypeltis inornata) is non-venomous. This interesting snake feeds only on bird eggs, not reptile eggs.
Sarel pointed out that the eating of an egg by these snakes is truly a ‘wonder of nature’.
He explained that the snake swallows the egg whole, and it’s often several times larger than the diameter of the snake.
“When the egg is some way down the throat, they contract their muscles and move from side to side. This presses the egg shell against special protrusions on the snake’s vertebrae, which pierces the egg. After they pierce the egg and squeeze out every drop of the contents, they regurgitate the shell.”
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