2m-long black mamba found in Pietermaritzburg

A dramatic snake rescue unfolded when a bird rescuer discovered a black mamba, more than two metres long, hiding inside a cockatiel nesting box. Craig Fry says the cockatiels’ unusual behaviour first alerted him that something was wrong while he was feeding birds last Saturday,reportsThe Witness. “I noticed everyone was on one side of the aviary, and nobody was coming down to feed.

That’s when I knew something wasn’t right,” he says. He initially suspected a bird might be inside one of the nesting boxes. Normally, Fry would reach into the boxes to check if birds had laid eggs, but something made him pause.

“There’s a small hole in the box, and I thought I saw something move,” he adds.When he stepped back and onto the large feeding table to get a better look, the truth became clear. Fry quickly closed the nesting box and called Pietermaritzburg snake catcher Dean Boswell for assistance, and he arrived shortly afterwards and began the tricky task of removing the snake from the box. At first, the snake did not appear particularly large and refused to leave the nesting box.

[paywall]

“It was very difficult to get out because it didn’t want to leave the safety of the box,” Boswell says. Attempts to coax it out by tapping the box failed, as well as the use of a ‘tickle stick’ to further agitate it but eventually, Boswell managed to slide his snake tongs inside and secure the snake’s head.

[/paywall]