Snake rescuer called out for ‘impressive cobra’ under aircon unit at office park

Durban snake rescuer Nick Evans was at the vet with an injured mamba when he received a call for a suspected black mamba, but a picture confirmed it was a Mozambique spitting cobra.

Evans said that last Wednesday he received the call for a big snake at an office park in Westville. He said the caller sent a picture.

“It wasn't a black mamba, but a large Mozambique spitting cobra. Can’t say I was disappointed that it was a spitting snake! I left the vet in a hurry and made my way there,” Evans said.

He said the caller did exactly what every caller should do – he watched the snake and did not take his eyes off it until Evans arrived.

Evans said it was a good thing the caller watched the snake because it had been hiding under a large aircon unit, but kept trying to exit. It saw the caller, standing on the level above, and nervously, retreated back under the aircon unit.

He said that when he looked under the unit, he could see this was a very impressive cobra. Fortunately, it was not too difficult a catch.

“I could see it wasn’t the longest, not as long as the 1.64m specimen that a friend and I caught the week before. However, it was certainly more chunky. This was an extremely well fed cobra. It would have been feeding on toads, other snakes and rodents,” Evans said.

“It was only around the 1.4m mark, but weighed over 1.2kg, more than the 1.64m specimen. Impressive!”

Evans further explained that it is the mating season now for the species and the time of year we usually see a number of large cobras – they can be seen throughout summer, but there are more at this time of year, he finds. Males are on the move looking for females.

“I was most delighted not to get spat at! Well, a little bit on my arm, but none on my face. That’s the best outcome for a cobra call,” Evans said.

He also thanked the caller for being a great help and for allowing him to use the screenshot from the video he took.