Snakes slither out after sleepy Sunday siesta
WHILE many people dread the so-called ‘blue Monday’, few would have had to come faceto-face with three venomous snakes as they began their week.
But it was a reality for local snake remover Peter ‘Daring’ Daniel, whose first stop was in Alton where he made an ‘easy catch’ of a 1.8m female forest cobra.
From there, he went off to Ntambanana, where a black mamba had been reported at Mashoda Primary School.
“I arrived there only to find the snake absent from school,” said Daniel.
“It turns out the culprit was playing truant that day and was last seen by the night watchman on Friday. A 57km drive without reward, but rather safe than sorry – nobody would like to see a schoolchild being bitten.”
From there, Daniel headed straight for Birdswood to answer another emergency call.
“This time it wasn’t so simple. The house has quite a large opening in the brickwork that goes under the bathtub to allow access to work on it.
“The snake was inside there and I had to lie down and basically put my head in so I could see where it was in order to grab it.
“It then decided to leave the hole, but luckily I got the grab stick onto it and it got within about 30cm of me before I could get hold of it with enough space to grab it properly.
“It was another forest cobra, about 1.7m long.”
Daniel also gave feedback on a garden service victim who was bitten by a stiletto snake about two months ago, with photos showing the long-term effects of cytotoxic venom.
After the initial burning pain and swelling, local tissue necrosis sets and, in extreme circumstances, an entire limb could be lost.