A black mamba that had been hiding inside a leaf blower was rescued and released this week in Westville, Durban.
Durban snake rescuer Nick Evans said he was first called to the house after a gardener said he had been seeing a black snake in the shed.
When Evans went on Monday, he said the shed was neat with not that 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. In the afternoon, the homeowner opened the shed and found the snake, he described it like a black mamba.”
Evans said when he went back to the shed, he 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 up. I've never used one, never needed one, so I didn't know how much they weighed, but it felt heavier than it looked.”
Evan said he inspected inside the blower and found a ‘very unhappy’ black mamba.
“You can see it opening its mouth at me- that means go away...I didn't think it would be a problem getting it out of there. I just needed to shake it out of there. Well, that just would not work,” he said.
Evans explained that he had to be cautious when taking out the snake to avoid injuring it.
‘I didn't turn the machine on. It needed a plug, but also I didn't know where inside the mamba could go, and didn't want to injure it...Despite all my efforts, I could not coax it out.“
He said the homeowner handed him a screw driver, and 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 the smaller pipe, I had it under control. A 2.4m specimen, a little underweight, but not worryingly so, and it was released into nature far from people,” he said.
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