Angry Spitting Cobra Found In Prayer Room Of Family Home
LAGOS MAY 23RD (NEWSRANGERS)-A South African snake rescuer has described a difficult encounter with a cobra after he was called to a home in Reservoir Hills in Durban.
Nick Evans, a reptile educator and conservationist, ended up being face to face with an angry Mozambique spitting cobra—a highly venomous snake native to Africa. The snake is named for its ability to spit its venom.
The snake that Evans had been called to rescue had been seen in a hole in a wall of a family’s prayer room. When he arrived, the reptile proved elusive.
“When I arrived, I stuck my phone in the hole in the wall, on video mode, hoping to spot the snake,” he wrote in a Facebook post. “I heard it. Cobras have a distinctive, short hiss, when they’re grumpy. But I couldn’t see it on the camera.”
Struggling to find the snake, Evans resorted to breaking apart part of the room as he spotted a gap which he suspected the snake had traveled through.
“I felt really bad,” Evans wrote. “But the homeowner was adamant we get this snake out.”
After some dismantling with the help of the homeowner, Evans said he found the snake just where he thought it would be, and it was not happy.
“I pulled it out with my tongs, and it spat furiously at my tongs, then me,” he said.
Eventually, Evans managed to pin the snake down. “The family were happy to see the back of this snake, and I don’t blame them!”
The Mozambique spitting cobra grows to multiple feet in length and may be gray or olive brown in color, according to the website Reptile Range. Like other snakes in the cobra family, this snake also has a hood.
The snake’s diet consists mostly of frogs, small mammals, birds, and even other snakes. The snake is known to bite humans and accounts for the majority of serious snakebite cases in Southern Africa, according to the African Snakebite Institute—though the institute notes that fatalities are rare.
The Mozambique spitting cobra’s venom is cytotoxic, meaning it is toxic to living cells. It can cause pain, swelling, blisters, and even severe tissue damage, the African Snakebite Institute states.
Snake catchers operate around the world removing snakes from places where they might cause issues for people. A few weeks ago, a COVID test center in Australia had to be temporarily shut down after multiple snakes were spotted on the premises. A local snake catching group was called to relocate them.
NewsWeek
Short URL: https://newsrangers.com/?p=88072
Posted by News Rangers
on May 23 2022. Filed under International, National.
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