Black Mamba Stares Down Person On The Toilet
A person in South Africa was sitting on the toilet, minding their own business when they found themselves being stared down by a large, chunky black mamba.
Snake catcher Nick Evans, who runs a snake removal service in South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province—announced on Facebook that he attended the “rather exciting” call at a home in the Seaview area.
Evans and fellow snake catcher, Grant Cavanagh, had already been to the property earlier in the day, looking for the snake but they weren’t successful. Then around 7 p.m. the same day, Cavanagh called Evans to say the snake had returned.
The very deadly snake was spotted lurking in the ceiling above a toilet when a person on the toilet looked up and saw the snake staring down at them.
Black mambas are highly venomous and their bite can kill a person in under 30 minutes. The species are typically shy and reclusive unless directly provoked.
“I was thinking how I was going to do this. I couldn’t hold up the board and catch the mamba at the same time. It looked a bit big to flip over, plus, if I did that, the mamba may flee,” he said. “Grant volunteered to stand below, and hold the masonite up with a broom, while I restrained the mamba. I reached toward the startled mamba and dragged its head towards me, so I could restrain it. It took a short while to reverse back into the tongs, but it eventually did. I passed the tail down to Grant, as I climbed down with the head.
Black mambas are the longest snakes in Africa and can reach lengths of up to 14 feet, this snake was relatively small for the species. While it only measured around 7.5 feet, “it was certainly well-fed,” Evans said.
“Everyone there… was excited to see it, although the family was more excited about it being taken away,” he said.
It was not the only black mamba call Evans assisted with that night. Later that same evening at 11 p.m., Evans was called to the Savannah Park area, where a black mamba had been spotted slithering around a property.
The terrified homeowner called the snake catcher—who was on his to the property—asking how far away he was because the deadly snake was “starting to move.”
That black mamba was also “well-fed and powerful,” but proved to be a simpler catch than the previous one.
“The family and neighbors, like on the previous call, were all super excited about seeing such a large, infamous snake up close!” the snake catcher said.