The well-known reptile rescuer, Nick Evans from KwaZulu-Natal has seen many some things in his career, but his latest find takes the cake.
Not only did he have to break up a mamba fight to rescue them, but he also encountered his largest mamba ever, coming in just under 3 metres long.
Evans wrote in a Facebook post: ‘I received a call from Escombe (Phillips Road). The caller, Charmaine, said, ‘It’s an emergency! There’s two Black Mambas dancing in the backyard!’
He explained that he had been anticipating a call like this as the snakes enter into their mating season. ‘I had been waiting and waiting for a call like this, this season. I’ve been lucky enough to see this behaviour twice so far. It’s only at this time of year, winter, the mating season for them, but the excitement just wasn’t kicking off yet. I had a mamba yesterday, which you’ll hear about soon. But this is the call I had been waiting for!
‘When I got there, I was told they were going into the bush. So I ran up to the back of the houses, where there was a cliff, covered in dense bush. They were out of sight, but clearly still wrestling.
‘I climbed over some rocks, and peeped over a shrub, and I could see them, ‘dancing’ (it does look a bit like that). Their bodies intertwined, and throwing their heads about. Two massive Black Mambas, one of the world’s most famous snakes, battling right in front of me. Words cannot describe how I felt.’
The snake fight broke up and the two mambas fled when he approached.
‘I grabbed the tail of the mamba, as it was trying to get in a crevice. I was amazed at the length of it, but I was mostly focused on the pointy end! So I tried to grab the neck as quickly as possible, with the tongs, and pull it towards me. Once it was close enough I grabbed the head with my hands. While doing so, the body was thrashing around, in panic, and the tail whipped me on the hand, and it stung! (More than I thought it would). I don’t recall ever being whipped by a mamba before.’
After placing the first in a bucket, Evans returned for the second, but it was gone. ‘It had vanished. I presume into the dense bush higher up.
Admittedly, I was absolutely gutted. I know the residents weren’t too chuffed with the other male and a nearby female on the loose! Hopefully they stay out of reach from dogs.
‘However, measuring the captured mamba cheered me up. It measured out at 2.95m! My biggest mamba ever! I’ve been dying for a 3m mamba, and I was just 5cm shy of that! Still, I was chuffed! And it weighed a whopping 3.1kg! What a beast!’
The black mamba measured 2.95 m long
‘These two were wrestling it out for a female. They weren’t going to kill each other, just fight till one surrenders. So she must have been not too far away. With plenty dassies around, and great habitat between this road and the one above, these mambas had been doing well in life, clearly. Sad to have to relocate them, but what a privilege to work with them/it,’ Evans concluded.
The mamba will be microchipped with an ID tag, have DNA taken, and released.
To see the work he does or get involved, follow Nick Evans’ Facebook page.
Image credit: Nick Evans
