Winter is mamba lovin’ time!
IF YOU happen to see a couple of snakes frolicking in the undergrowth, don’t be alarmed because it’s just mamba mating season.
This winter, mambas in the heat of things are keeping snake catcher Nick Evans busy.
On Thursday, Evans responded to a call from Mariannhill, where a resident saw “two mambas living in a hole”.
At the base of a tree, in an old termite mound, Evans and his colleagues found two mambas, believed to be mating.
“Winter is the time of year mambas come together to mate, hence the spike in activity and the sightings of pairs either together to mate, or when two males bump into each other and wrestle for a female,” said Evans, adding that mambas did not hibernate.
And this was only the third time he had caught two mambas together.
“As I usually do, I let locals come and have a closer look at the mamba and allowed them to touch the mamba. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and one in which I can help people overcome their fears. I wanted them to know that they aren’t out for people, they’re here for rats.
“I wanted them to know that if they leave the snake alone, it will leave them alone. I think we managed to get the message across,” said Evans.
He will release the mambas after the cold front passes.
“The happy couple will soon be released in a much safer area for them, far from people. I presume they have mated, therefore the female will be pregnant, but I’ll still release them together,” he said.
This was Evans’s second call out this week to Mariannhill for a mamba sighting. On Wednesday, cattle herders in the area had seen a mamba on a path next to a river. “When confronted, it would slither into a hole underneath a large rock. It was deemed to be aggressive, and a threat to the cattle and the herders.
However, when Evans found the mamba, it was in fact “so skinny it was frightening”.
“It was worryingly weak. I pinned the head down. I could have probably caught it with my bare hands, it was so weak. But you never underestimate any mamba. If you do, that’s when you’re going to get bitten,” he said.
“With it being peak-hour traffic time, getting to hospital wouldn’t be a speedy process. I looked in its black mouth, and could see phlegm in the trachea, indicating a possible respiratory infection. It’s body was triangular shaped, with loose skin, not like the usual, healthy and powerful mamba. It was a very sad and sorry sight,” said Evans.
He said the community members were quite proud at having called him and, in effect, saved the mamba, although Evans was not certain that the mamba could be saved.
“They apparently always killed snakes in the past, and two years ago they killed a large python. However, after learning about snakes via the popular National Geographic show, Snakes In The City, they’ve learnt it’s wrong.
“I was so impressed by this, to meet people with a will to learn, a will to change their ways for the better of conservation,” he said.