IT took almost two months for a snake catcher, Warren Dick, to capture a 1.89m-long Green mamba that had been hiding in a garden in Marine Drive on The Bluff since the beginning of January. The snake was caught on February 22.
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According to Dick, catching the snake was an uphill battle because it was hiding in the trees.
“Patience and understanding paid off,” said Dick. He said after receiving the first call from his friend early in January, he went out to investigate.
“She keeps chickens and also enjoys the wild birds and wildlife in her garden, but every now and then she gets a Green Mamba to come around looking for food. Having dogs, chickens and unsuspecting people around, is not ideal to leave a potentially deadly snake in the garden. Fortunately, a Green mamba mostly stays up in the trees out of sight so while there is a measure of danger, it’s not much. She phoned me at the beginning of January about the snake, I went to try to catch it, but it was too high up in the trees. I then went back again a few times that week and in the coming weeks, sometimes spending hours just watching this beautiful animal in the trees but never really had a shot of getting it,” explained Dick.
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Numerous attempts were made to catch the snake but all proved to be fruitless until Dick and his friend set up a trap to catch it.
“We then decided to mostly feed the birds on the one side of the garden with low bushes to try getting the snake within reach. This worked, two days later in February, my friend phoned me saying the snake was low down. As I pulled into the driveway, I was pretty sure the snake had learned what my car looked like. As I came towards the garden, the snake started moving fast. I got to see its tail disappear high up into a fig tree,” he said.
However, Dick did not give up. A few days later, he received another call from his friend asking for his assistance.
“I rushed over, getting there within five minutes. The snake had just finished swallowing its meal. Then it seemed to notice I was there, fortunately it did not mind my friend and her gardener standing close watching it.
“I was still trying to get my tongs out of the car when the gardener screamed ‘It’s moving’. I just grabbed my two tongs and bolted for the snake. I got the snake mid-body with my tongs, but it was not budging out of the tree easily. Then its head appeared uncomfortably close to my hand holding the tongs. I got my second tongs on its neck just behind the head. This caused the snake to panic and thrash – not wanting to injure it, I had to let go for a second to try to grab it again. Unfortunately, the snake disappeared into the bush,” said Dick.
On Thursday, Dick received another call from a friend asking for his assistance.
“Again I rushed there. This time I parked my car at the beginning of the driveway. I grabbed my tongs and ran towards the bush where my friend pointed the snake out to me.
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”It was deep inside the bush and felt quite safe there, but once it saw me, it started moving away. I ran around to the back of the bush to get closer to it. This time before the snake knew what I was doing I had it in my tongs just behind the head – the only thing now was to safely grab it behind the head with my other hand,” said Dick.
After the snake was captured, it was safely released into the wild. Dick appealed to people feeding the birds in their gardens to ensure that they are less attractive to wildlife.
For assistance or to have some of your interesting spiders, snakes or other wildlife identified, call or WhatsApp Warren Dick on 072 211 0353. You can also follow him on Facebook, Warren’s Small World
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