Snake Rescue

When a woman on Durban’s Berea called snake rescuer Nick Evans for what she identified as a Green Mamba, he didn't believe her. They just aren’t usually found on the Berea. But Nick was wrong. “80% of my calls are for green snakes, and I'd say about 95% of them are for harmless Spotted Bush Snakes (also known as the garden snake). Another reason I was sceptical it was a Green Mamba was that they traditionally occur in coastal forests, not in the built-up Berea!” Nick explains.

But then the caller sent Nick a photo, and he immediately knew that her ID was in fact spot on. It was a Green Mamba! Find more here

A day after a wild and stormy evening of torrential rainfall, which caused flooding and severe damage to some areas in the Greater Durban area, Nick Evans was called to a container storage yard near Albert Luthuli Hospital. A large snake had just crawled into a flooded office.

“A flooded office? That's not a place I've caught a snake before!” says Nick.

“And it was not just a case of the floor being wet, or even ankle-high water levels. Or clean water, I might add,” added Nick.

Here, the mamba was the least of his worries!

Listen to hear how Nick handled this situation, and if he managed to rescue the snake. Find more here

"One evening, as a storm was brewing, a policeman from Verulam called Nick Evans with a problem. At his home at Ndwedwe, north of Durban, was apparently a large black mamba in his roof.

“This sounded like a fun adventure! But a tricky one at that. And I wanted to be home before a big storm hit!" recalls Nick.

Listen to what happened in episode 10 of Snake Rescue. Find more here

Your 'mess' could be black mamba heaven. Why? Because snakes love 'mess'. Messy homes, messy storerooms, mess around the house – such as piles of wood or bricks.

Mess provides shelter for snakes, and is also usually where you’ll find the food they love: lizards and rodents.

So if snakes love messy areas, you can imagine how happy one would be in a scrapyard. Especially one that's surrounded by cane fields (meaning lots of rodents) and chickens breeding on the property!

All of that food and shelter proved too irresistible for this very big black mamba at Stanger. Nick Evans has the details in episode 9 of Snake Rescue... Find more here

In the peak of the black mamba season, Nick Evans was called to a home in Clare Estate, near Reservoir Hills - where a large black mamba had been seen slithering up into the roof.

“A mamba in a roof left me with mixed emotions. I was excited, of course, but a little wary. Chasing a black mamba in a ceiling could be considered somewhat dangerous. But, what I was perhaps most worried about was the heat!”

At around 25 degrees Celcius outside, Nick was expecting extremely hot conditions in the ceiling. Plus, it’s pretty dark up there.

Find out what went down in this episode of Snake Rescue… Find more here

Nick Evans has been called out to rescue all sorts of creatures: snakes, monitor lizards, crocodiles, dassies, and even Genet's. But never a bushpig. So you can imagine his surprise when he received a call about a bushpig trapped in a very dangerous and challenging situation just off a very busy road in the Cowies Hill area outside Durban. Nick rallied the troops and raced to the scene. Find out what happened in this week's episode... Find more here

When Nick Evans was called about a big snake in a kitchen cupboard at a home in Chatsworth, south of Durban, he thought it may be a big Brown House Snake, probably looking for rats.

The caller then sent Nick a photo, and straight away, he could see it was no House Snake. It was a very large black mamba!

“I think a lot of people would have died of fright!” reckons Nick.

What was worse was that he learned that this black mamba had in fact been hiding out in the kitchen for a few days. Imagine that!

“This was a great example proving to people that black mambas do not want to bite people. This mamba had ample opportunities to bite family members here, but it didn't,” says Nick.

Listen to the full story in this week’s Snake Rescue podcast. Find more here

Nick Evans really don’t like it when he’s called out to rescue a snake, and he can’t locate it.

“I've never thought of myself as competitive, but I guess when it comes to rescuing snakes, I am! I get so determined because I know if I don't find it, there's a chance the snake will eventually get killed. Or, perhaps, a dog or person could be bitten. I was frustrated on this morning - when I could not locate the large resident Black Mamba on a property at Reservoir Hills, just north west of Durban. But later that same day, when it was seen again, I was determined to find it and take it to a safer place,” says Nick.

Listen to the exciting story, from start to finish, in episode 5 of Snake Rescue. Find more here

In the thick of mamba mating season, a Durban man saw a black mamba snake slithering into his bedroom. Little did he know, it wasn't just one black mamba, but a happy couple. Two extremely venomous snakes on honeymoon in his Inanda house! Nick Evans has the details of what was a very exciting rescue... Find more here

This was a very unusual call-out for Nick, and one that got him really excited! A construction team in the Tugela Valley had inadvertently excavated a python nest, digging right through it. You can imagine the surprise they got when they uncovered all these little baby snakes!

They did what you might have expected - abandon the site. That is when Nick was called in to assist.

Travel just inland of Stanger - he was told. Ha! It was much, much further than that, and Nick had no idea what hard work lay in store. See photos · Find more here