DURBAN - Nine of the 11 green mambas that hatched on Valentine’s Day at uShaka’s Dangerous Creatures have been released.
On Monday snake catcher Nick Evans, who rescued the pregnant mother on the north coast of KwaZulu-Natal confirmed that he released nine snakes far up along the north coast where the mother came from.
In a Facebook post on Sunday morning, Evans said it was hatching season and he had a few clutches of eggs hatch of late from gravid (pregnant) females he caught earlier in the season.
He said the picture was one of the nine green mamba babies going free.
The image showed the snake looking blue, to which Evans said the snake was not blue, it was the lighting and camera that made it look that way.
“Baby mambas, black and green, are very, very rarely seen, so it’s nice to see a whole bunch, and even better watch them slither off into their new homes,” Evans said.
Last Wednesday Evans collected the snakes from uShaka for release and said he would check the weather so he can release them.
On Tuesday, Ann Kunz of uShaka Sea World said the ball started rolling in December last year when Evans brought the green mamba to them after he removed it from a home on the KZN North Coast.
Kunz said it was obvious to the staff at Dangerous Creatures that the snake was heavily gravid (pregnant) when it arrived. The team was therefore not surprised when they discovered 11 healthy eggs the following morning.
She said it appeared that the snake had slithered into the North Coast home looking for a place to lay her eggs. Understandably, the residents were not very comfortable sharing their home with this unauthorised summer visitor and contacted a local snake expert to remove the beautiful bright green mom to be.
“The unauthorised visitor was released the following day leaving behind her eggs which were placed in a specialised substrate and monitored for the next 68 days,” Kunz said.
“Some of the young green mambas had already started the slow and cautious emergence from their eggs by the time the staff arrived at work. The process of fully emerging from the safety of their eggs takes green mambas roughly 18 hours. They seem to take an awful lot of “peeps” into their new environment before they muster enough courage to emerge fully from their eggs,” Kunz said.
She said the juveniles, which are independent from the time they hatch, will all be released in a few days at a suitable site.
Daily News