SANParks.org Forums

For sure a snake that is quite abundant in the Free State or at least when we stayed in the Free State quite a couple of years ago.

Hi Guys,

I hope that you can help me on my "problem" that I seem to have.
About 2 weeks ago my dogs cornered a snake by the front door, when we had someone come and remove it, he said that it was a Rinkhals. The snake was about 1m in length.

On Tuesday when I got home, I found a baby snake in our back yard by our lapa. It looked like it was dead (but I could see that it had recently eaten), I turned it over onto its back and saw that it was shiny black with a white/cream band on its belly. So natrually I presumed that it was a baby Rinkhals.

We got rid of it. But now what I cant seem to find on the net is what type of habitat is it found in, does is make a nest, etc. I am really worried that there might be a nest somewhere in our yard and just now something happens to my dogs .

If anyone can give any info/advice on this snake it would be grateful.

Thank you so so much

A very warm welcome to you Nads.

The Rinkhals is found in grassland over most of the country up to 2500 metres. It does sound as if you could have had a baby rinkhals as the belly is dark with very conspicious crossbands on the throat in juveniles. The bands are less apparent in adults. The babies of Rinkhals are born live, about 20-30 of them, so if an adult was found there might well be babies. These are usually born in late summer, December to March.

The snakes are nocturnal, which should give some protection to pets if they are house pets sleeping indoors. They also comeout in very overcast weather though.

They often defend themselves by spitting, aiming for the eyes. Their venom is neurotoxic, attacking the nervous sytem, but they are not as dangerous as the true Cobra. My book by Bill Branch states that fatalaties are rare.

The most important thing to remember about Rinkals is that they can sham death, lying in a strange posture with mouth agape. Be careful when approaching a snake that looks dead. Hope your snake was really dead. I have a picture in my book and it looked very dead, but it was very much alive.]

I hope this gives a bit more insight. I am not a snake expert and am using Bill Branch's book, "Field Guide to Snakes".

I am soon going to be moving to an area where Rinkhals are very common and I have been told that if you have cats, the Rinkhals tend to keep their distance.

There have been snake repallants developed and are available at certain camping/outdoor stores it might well be worthwhile looking into getting some.

Thank you Meandering Mouse.

I live in Kempton JHB. And this is the first time that I have come across a Rinkhals. My dogs are always inside when I am at home (which I make a point to be lately at night) So it is just in the day that they are outside. Many people have said that I must get a cat but my dogs are not use to cats and if one comes into the yard they chase it. Maybe I should get a kitten.

His head was twitching a bit and his mouth was open, I thought it was maybe like a muscle spasm or something. So he must have been well alive. I hope that there is not a nest in the yard. But will keep my eyes open for any other babies.

Thanks again for your insight

Oh dear, Nads, its sounds as if you were completely scammed by a Rinkhals no more picking up of dead snakes, please

I am going to be looking around for possible snake deterent plants. I remember being told as a child that snakes did not like tomato plants. I begged my mother to plant them under my window. I'm not sure whether that is an old wives tale, or not.

Maybe some of our clever mites can give us some more advice here.

I hope they can

And no I will def not try and pick up anymore "dead" snakes.

Thank you so much for all your advice

Will keep this updated about any new things that happen.

have a wonderful evening.

Yup a rinkhals probably tricked you,strange that it played dead before the other defences.
I work with many rinkhals at the snake park I volunteer at and it takes quite a bit of spitting,striking and running away before the snake plays dead.

Rinkhals dont really have a "nest" as sorts,but a female will give birth to her babies somewhere hidden in the garden and they will wanter off from there,so there is no area in your garden where you will find a few together very close.



This is an old wives tale,at the snake park I volunteer at we got a list of some plants and even spices and apparently chase snakes away.including tomato plants(and tomatoes).

The plants were put on the side of the snake cage that the snakes normally lie at(their favourite spot) and nothing changes,the snakes simply sat on or hid in the plants.
Note we did this with over 20 different species of indigenous snakes.


Was that possibly Clive from Snake City,in Edenvale?

We also live in Kempton, right next to OR Tambo and we've had a Rinkhals in our garden on more than one occasion. The last one was about 3 weeks ago when I accidently cut through one with the brushcutter where it was hiding in the tall grass. Was luckily only about 25cm long and obviously still very young. Was a bit sorry that it got killed as I would've preferred to release it safely in the veld again.
We assume that they come from the grasslands on the airport grounds.

Thanks for the info, Ales. I'd also heard this in the past, so did, at one stage, plant tomatoes where we used to live. At least, though, we had a steady supply of fresh, delicious tomatoes to keep us healthy.

The product “Snake Repel” works.
We have seen it work with our own eyes. Hubby sprayed around our house and stoep in Marloth (does so once a month)…the next day we had a Black Mamba that wanted to go onto the stoep. It continuously turned around exactly on the line where hubby sprayed the previous day. However, when the snake got agitated after hubby tried to persuade it to return to the bush, it did cross the line and chased hubby.

Thanks Jumbo

I am going to be moving to the Rhenosterspruit concervacy area soon, close to the cradle. I believe that Rinkhals are very comm on in the area. I also worry about my dogs.

Thanks for all the info guys.

Ales - It was a friend of my mother-in-law Jan. He use to breed with snakes. It had eaten awhile before we found it as part of his body was "fat" our dogs are outside during the day when we not here so maybe the dogs did try and "play" with it or kill it, when it was just lying there they didnt pay any interest in it.

I spoke to a neighbour yesterday, and she said that about a year ago she had alot in her yard, and her neighbour killed a big one about a month ago. They say it is something to do with the airport and the vibrations or something, and where I stay there is a lot of long grass.

We moving end April to another part of kempton. So hopefully till then we wont have any more slithering visitors.

Meandering Mouse - Be careful
Thanks again to everyone who has commented.

As Ales has said in the topic of Snake ID this is a "Nice size Rinkhals" :-


..........


One can just see part of the belly colouring that is a sure ID!

MacAdder, that is a very scary snake.

Why do your first and second snake look so different?