WATCH: Snake latches onto 12-year-old boy in Richards Bay

While other boys his age are playing with marbles, young Mason Daniel of Richards Bay chooses to play with marbled tree snakes, among other friendly species.

But this boomeranged on Monday when ‘The Snakemason’ found one of these firmly attached to his arm as he tried to release it.

Although the marbled tree snake is listed as ‘mildly venomous to humans’, Mason (almost 12) had no adverse reactions other than a bit of itchiness and mild swelling at the site of the bite.

“He had no headache and no nausea either; no side effects whatsoever, despite what people say about these and red-lipped heralds,” said his famous snake-catcher father, Peter ‘Daring’ Daniel.

While obviously very protective over the son who is following in his snake steps, Peter wants Mason to get used to handling non-venomous serpents and learning their ways and movements.

‘Once bitten, twice shy’ might be a good lesson learnt from this incident by Mason, who has passed a snake handling course and is already quite expert on identifying species.

Peter can be contacted on 076 0516420 in case of snake emergencies.