Durban — A black snake a gardener kept seeing in a shed turned out to be a black mamba that later nestled in a leaf blower.
Sharing details about the incident on Thursday, Durban snake rescuer Nick Evans said it was his first time catching a snake in a leaf blower.
He said that for a while, a gardener in Dawncliffe, Westville, kept seeing a black snake in a shed when he opened it.
Evans said that on Monday morning, he searched the shed, which was neat and did not have many hiding places for a snake.
“I searched everywhere I thought a snake could hide. I had a brief look in the leaf blower but foolishly didn’t look all the way in,” Evans said.
He said that in the afternoon, the homeowner opened the shed and found the snake and what he described sounded like a black mamba.
Evans said: “I entered the shed, but couldn’t see the snake, or hear any movement. I checked everywhere. The last remaining place it could be was in the leaf blower, which was on the top shelf.”
“I lifted the leaf blower. I’ve never used one and never needed one, so I didn’t know how much they weighed, but it felt heavier than it looked. I put it on the floor, shone my JETBeam South Africa torch inside, and there was a very unhappy black mamba!”
The black mamba opened its mouth at Evans, telling him to “go away”.
Evans said he did not think getting the snake out would be a problem. He just needed to shake it out, however, that would not work.
“No, I didn’t turn the machine on. It needed a plug, but also I didn’t know where inside the mamba could go, and I didn’t want to injure it,” Evans said.
“Then, the mamba popped out the top pipe, if I can call it that, not the larger, main one. Just the head was popping out. Despite all my efforts, I could not coax it out.”
Evans said he had another call to attend to and the homeowner handed him a screwdriver. He unscrewed the screws in the middle of the leaf blower, taking the main pipe off.
“Then it was game over for the mamba. Apart from struggling to squeeze it out of the smaller pipe, I had it under control.
“A 2.4m specimen, a little underweight, but not worryingly so,” Evans said.
“I’m not eagerly hoping for a mamba in a leaf blower again any time soon, although I suppose now I know how to best get it out.”
Evans thanked the family for calling him.
He added that the snake was released into nature, far from people.
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