PICS | Black mamba more than two metres long found hiding in bird box
A more than two-metre-long black mamba hidden inside a cockatiel nesting box sparked a dramatic rescue at a Pietermaritzburg bird sanctuary.
A dramatic snake rescue unfolded at a Pietermaritzburg bird sanctuary when a bird rescuer discovered a black mamba, more than two metres long, hiding inside a cockatiel nesting box.
Craig Fry said the cockatiels’ unusual behaviour first alerted him that something was wrong while he was feeding birds on Saturday afternoon.
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“I noticed everyone was on one side of the aviary, and nobody was coming down to feed. That’s when I knew something wasn’t right,” he said.
He initially suspected a bird might be inside one of the nesting boxes.
Normally, Fry would reach into the boxes to check if birds had laid eggs, but something made him pause.
“There’s a small hole in the box and I thought I saw something move,” he said.
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When he stepped back and onto the large feeding table to get a better look, the truth became clear.
This mamba just looked at me.
Fry quickly closed the nesting box and called Pietermaritzburg snake catcher Dean Boswell for assistance.
Boswell arrived shortly afterwards and began the tricky task of removing the snake from the box.
At first, the snake did not appear particularly large and refused to leave the safety of the nesting box.
“It was very difficult to get out because it didn’t want to leave the safety of the box,” Boswell said.
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Attempts to coax it out by tapping the box failed, as well as the use of a ‘tickle stick’ to further agitate it.
Eventually, Boswell managed to slide his snake tongs inside and secure the snake’s head.
What happened next surprised everyone.
“As it came out we realised it was a lot bigger than expected,” he said.
The snake measured about 2.1 to 2.2 metres and appeared thick and healthy.
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Fry said the length of the snake seemed almost impossible, given the small space it had hidden in.
“It just kept coming out. It’s not the biggest box in the world, but this huge mamba kept coming out,” he said.
Boswell added that it appeared the snake may have eaten one of the birds.
“Birds are part of a black mamba’s natural diet,” he said.
Another snake the next day
The drama did not end there.
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The following afternoon, Fry encountered another dangerous snake while working at the sanctuary.
The birds again began sounding alarm calls, prompting him to investigate.
At first he suspected monkeys or a returning monitor lizard, but quickly realised the threat was far more serious.
“I thought, ‘No man that’s a great big puff adder,” Fry said.
The snake proved difficult to capture.
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Although puff adders are generally slow-moving, this one was particularly aggressive and repeatedly launched itself off the hook.
Eventually, Fry managed to secure it and place it in a bucket.
“I’ve been catching puff adders for years but this was one of the biggest,” he said.
Multiple snake call-outs
Boswell said the mamba rescue was one of several recent call-outs he had attended.
A few days earlier he had been summoned to a facility with horse stables in Umlaas Road where staff had spotted a large black mamba.
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“They kept an eye on its escape routes until I got there,” Boswell said.
When he arrived, the snake appeared to have vanished until he looked up.
There it was, coiled on the roof beam.
Boswell managed to grip the snake with his tongs but had to engage in a brief tug-of-war as it tightened its coils around the beam.
Monitor lizard rescue
In another recent rescue, Boswell was called to Bellevue, where residents had spotted a water monitor sticking its head out of a rainwater drain.
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With the help of a friend, he flushed the reptile out using a hosepipe.
“It soon popped out, and I grabbed it,” he said.
Boswell said the monitor, measuring about 60cm, was relatively small but extremely strong.
