Durban snake handler Jason Arnold rushed to a home in Avoca Hills, Durban, over the weekend after the owner spotted a black mamba coiled into a ball. The scaly black snake was tucked away behind boxes of spare car parts.
In the video, the camera-shy serpent tries to slither away as Arnold removes some boxes for a clearer view, but he quickly gets a hand on the snake.
Arnold told News24 that this wasn’t the first time he had removed a snake from this particular home.
“I was here back in 2003 for another black mamba. The snake had bitten the owner’s dog and I took it to Westville veterinary hospital,” he said.
Arnold said that, although there were black mambas in the area, they weren’t that common.
“In my 23 years of doing this, I have only caught four mambas in the area. Mambas are more commonly found in Newlands or the Westville area,” he added.
After taking a closer look at the female mamba, Arnold noticed that she looked malnourished. She measured roughly 2m.
“The snake could either have been sick or battling to find food. I don’t want to say this, because people lose it, but she could also have been pregnant,” he said.
“When a snake is pregnant, because it’s holding its eggs, it doesn’t eat. So after laying the eggs they are underweight.”
The snake was removed from the premises and taken to a nearby nature reserve.
