Snake Rescue

In fairly recent times, Snake Rescue’s Nick Evans has been called out twice to the same construction site in the Sibaya area of the KZN North Coast, to remove Green Mambas, both on scaffolding. “As completion of the development neared, I figured that's it for the Green Mamba calls from there. Well, I was wrong, and a third was in store for me,” says Nick.

Green Mambas are generally restricted to the KZN coastline, in the lush, coastal forests, seldom venturing further inland. However, their habitat is constantly being destroyed, and so with fewer spaces to live in, they often end up in weird places, like this!

“Green Mambas are highly venomous, with a mostly neurotoxic venom (affecting the nervous system). They are shy snakes, which are not often seen due to their arboreal (tree-dwelling) habits,” says Nick.

“I am so grateful the staff at this construction site had a call rather than kill policy! I think they've completed their building now, so now there should be no more mamba excitement with them, much to my disappointment!” Find more here

Hamsters are cute little pets. However, snakes don't see them that way. To some snakes, hamsters are a very tasty snack. In the latest Snake Rescue podcast, with Nick Evans, he deals with a case where a black mamba picked up the scent of a pet hamster, and moved in.

"A young man had been 'hamster-sitting' his little sister's pet while she was away. You can imagine the shock and horror he experienced when he went to check on it, and found a black mamba in the hamster cage, with a bulge in the middle, and no hamster.

How does he explain that to his sister? Awkward," says Nick. Listen to the details here. Find more here

Season 2 of Snake Rescue with Nick Evans kicks off with a bang with Nick being called to a south Durban home for a brown snake under a patio. Little did he know at the time that it was to become one of his most exciting call-outs. Find out what went down in Snake Rescue... Find more here

A pigeon loft - a place a Black Mamba simply cannot refuse to visit!

Snake Rescue's Nick Evans received a call from a pigeon loft owner, at Mt Moreland on the KZN north coast, for an unwanted visitor: a Black Mamba!

Unfortunately for the owner, there were casualties already, so Nick needed to get there quickly.

"Fortunately for me and the mamba, this was an understanding pigeon loft owner, who wasn't going to kill the snake," says Nick. Find more here

A python call at 2am! That's one way to get Snake Rescue’s Nick Evans out of bed at that time! When the large snake was seen on a factory property out in the Cato Ridge area, security staff were worried and called Nick.

“I had to go and rescue the snake, although I think the security officers thought they were the ones who needing saving!” says Nick. Find more here

In the latest Snake Rescue, Nick Evans receives a call from the Tongaat area, on the KZN North Coast, for a Black Mamba in a 'storeroom'. As you'll hear, Nick got a lot more than he'd bargained for! See photos · Find more here

Most snakes come together in spring to mate, but mambas are not most snakes! In the cooler months, female mambas leave a scent trail in their wake, which male mambas pick up and track using their forked tongue. Should two males bump into each other in the vicinity of the female, they'll break out into fight mode! They entwine their bodies in one another, and wrestle it out for the mating rights. The winner claims the girl, the loser leaves with nothing but a dented ego. They don't fight till the death, nor do they really hurt each other. It's just a wrestling contest.

That is exactly what happened in this episode of Snake Rescue which takes place in the Westway Office Park area of Westville. Some lucky bystanders were privileged enough to watch the action – and called Nick Evans in to assist! Find more here

‘It doesn’t rain, but it pours’ – is an expression we know well. And it was definitely the case one afternoon (a while before lockdown) when Snake Rescuer Nick Evans had two callouts in the space of a few hours.

“It started with an upsetting call about a beautiful Southern African Python that found itself in a really dangerous situation at a school by Hazelmere Dam, in Verulam,” recalls Nick.

“It was in a bad way, and I was really worried!”

Listen below to the latest Snake Rescue to find out what happened with the python, and also how Nick’s later call – for a black mamba seen slithering behind a couch stored outside a Carrington Heights home, turned out.

Update: The injured python was treated by Dr. Kerry Easson (Riverside Vet) and the Dangerous Creatures staff at uShaka Sea World, and later released by Nick into a safe environment. Find more here

In this week’s Snake Rescue podcast with Nick Evans he returns to a property in Westville that he’s been called to numerous times before, to retrieve a very elusive Black Mamba from a cluster of trees.

On the site, he finds things a lot more difficult as the snake moves between two properties; he encounters a very protective dog and gets a little help from the local birds who go crazy whenever they spot the snake. Listen now... Find more here

While Snake Rescue’s Nick Evans was on his way home from releasing snakes he’d rescued from around Durban, he received a call from a man he’d met a year or two earlier. ‘Help, there’s a snake under my sofa!’ – he told Nick.

“I’d met this guy a snake awareness talk that I had done at his place of work. He’d told me he hunted snakes. He even had a horrific video of his dogs attacking a python. I tried convincing him to rather leave the snakes alone, and if there was ever a situation where the snake needed to be removed, to call me,” recalls Nick.

“I wasn't sure if I had managed to convince him back then. But when he called about a large snake in his house, I was so delighted!”

Listen to the details in the podcast. Find more here