Durban - It was a real case of panic mechanic in
Durban this week when a black mamba
slid past Eugene Payne while he was
under a vehicle replacing a gearbox.
Payne, who was at his workplace in
Avoca late on Tuesday evening, said he
was working under the vehicle when he
heard a slithering sound next to him.
“It was about half a metre away.
I put the gearbox down and pulled out
of there as fast as possible. I think the
mamba was looking for a place to hide
because there were fireworks going off,”
said Payne.
He kept a close eye on his unexpected
visitor, which had slithered under a box.
Durban snake catcher, Nick Evans,
who arrived on the scene, said the
mamba was about 2.3m long and had
oil patches all the way down its body.
“It was an easy catch because I just
had to pick up the box.
“I wiped off the oil with a warm wet
cloth,” he said.
And even though the weather has
been cool with a lot of rain this week,
Evans had been busy with call outs,
including a call to deal with a 3m-plus
He said the large snake was crossing
the road and out of fear for children,
some residents had been throwing rocks
at it.
A municipal worker who had
attended an educational talk given by
Evans just last week, saw what was
happening and, with another local, protected the python until Evans got there.
“When I picked the python up, I
could see it was very swollen. I took
it for x-rays and it was full of eggs,”
he said.
Evans said mating season for snakes
started in September and that pythons
will be laying eggs during November
and December.