A tight squeeze

QRIKUS SWANEPOEL from Pretoria writes: I saw this snake near the Kruger Park’s Phalaborwa gate. The snake – I think it’s a skaapsteker – was coiled around its prey. What animal has it caught, and is it common for this kind of snake to kill its prey by constriction?

AReptile expert JOHAN MARAIS says: This isn’t a skaapsteker, it’s a western yellow-bellied sand snake eating a common rough-scaled lizard. The snake is venomous and merely holding down its prey while it waits for the venom to take effect.