Pregnant green mamba pulled from wall in Amanzimtoti
Mambas rarely make life easy and Nick had a tense stand-off for a few minutes, as it initially refused to budge. He eventually got a good grip to pull it out, without injury.
A PREGNANT green mamba was removed from a Len Armitage Street property, where it had wedged in a wall on Sunday, 11 November.
KZN Amphibian and Reptile Conservation snake handler, Nick Evans was given a perfect description of the snake as he rushed over.
“An old school friend’s dad called to say he had a green snake which was over a metre long and as thick as one’s wrist. He provided the perfect description as plain green in colour with a green belly, albeit a lighter shade.
The snake had slipped inside a drainage hole in a wall before Nick arrived. “I thought it was strange. It’s generally an arboreal snake, seldom venturing to ground.” Looking inside, he was stunned by its beauty.
Mambas rarely make life easy and Nick had a tense stand-off for a few minutes, as it initially refused to budge. He eventually got a good grip to pull it out, without injury.
Evans then saw the female was heavily gravid (pregnant). “I’m sure she’d gone into the wall to lay her eggs. For the sake of the resident’s nerves, it was a good thing they called me when they did.”
As the snake is due to lay her eggs any day, Evans explained he’ll keep her for a while, as she may struggle to find a suitable egg-laying site if released. While searching, she could be vulnerable to predation.
“The whole egg-laying, incubation and hatching process is fascinating,” he said. He’ll release the babies and mother, as he’s completely against the sale of reptiles.
For locals who may be concerned their garden may be home to a mamba, Nick clarified: “Snakes don’t move in pairs or family groups. Toti is quite a ‘green area’, so the chance of a snake venturing into a home is not unlikely.” The usual suspects around homes are the smaller, harmless spotted bush snakes and Natal greens.
“Green mambas are restricted to coastal forest belts of KZN, so seeing this shy species really is a treat.”
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