Durban - A Westville resident is lucky to have escaped being bitten by a black mamba after he stuck his hand behind a bucket where the snake was hiding last week.
Local snake catcher Nick Evans said the resident put his hand behind a bucket on a shelf in his outdoor bar.
He said the resident was attempting to fix a wire.
“Suddenly, a snake's head appeared, and it opened its mouth at him, dangerously close to his hand,” he said.
Evans said the homeowner knew it was a black mamba immediately and fortunately, he was able to avoid disaster.
“I couldn't believe how close the homeowner had come to being bitten,” he said.
He said it was not difficult to catch the mamba.
“It was a fairly feisty mamba. A female, 1.9m in length. It had gained access to the bar via a branch growing against the roof of the bar,” said Evans.
Evans said the fact that the mamba did not bite the resident proves that they are not the “vicious, blood-thirsty monsters” that they are made out to be.
“If it wanted to bite him, it very easily could have. Instead, it gave him a warning to back off, and that was that,” he said.
Evans joked that it would be a good story for the resident to tell his guests at the outdoor bar at his home.
