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Hi Jumbo,

Not to worry, I have taken many snake handling courses but would never take any chances. I would offer my snake hook to the guy who's job it is!!!

Bushmans was great last week with lots of rhinos as usual. And the impala lambs had started arriving!! lovely to see them. Great birds too. But a couple of the summer visitors had not arrived yet (carmine bee eater, woodlands kingfisher). We even had nice cool weather.

Back to reality now.
ciao for now,
Free Spirit

A Black Mamba in a confined space It is better not to have a hookstick or "anything" unless you really know your stuff when it comes to Black Mambas

It might just save your life

Yip!!
These guys are flippen fast, and always seem agrivated, so rather not go and poke it with a hookstick or anything else

I can remember we use to have a problem with these guys on the farm, especially in the winter when they were looking for some heat on top or under the freezers! Not a nice experience when you are thirsty, and looking for a long cold one......

As we live on the coast with dense coastal bush around, we have snakes in our garden (thankfully not yet in the house) frequently. Most of them are Natal green snakes (green grass/bush snakes?) Yesterday our dogs bit one in half. The tail part was left behind, wriggling, while the front part (I'll say about the front 2/3 of the snake, at least 1/2 metre long) slithered back up the tree. We could not see the snake again. Now we are curious to know whether it will survive, maybe even grow back its tail?

Hi there,

Sorry to hear about the dog vs snake incident.

Its impossible to say if it might survive but as far as I know snakes do not grow their tails back to any extent.
The best that we can hope is that no internal organs were damaged and that it will manage to heal.

They are beautiful snakes arent they?

cheers,
Free Spirit

If the last third was bitten off the snake (above the cloaca) It would surely not survive. The kidney would have been damaged as well as some intestines.

If only the tail part was damaged (Below the cloaca it might stand a chance)
Unfortunally snake can't regenerate their tails

The snake has virtually no chance of surviving. It has severe damage to its body. It would be like losing your legs without anybody giving any medical help. And yes they do not grow back what they may have lost.

I've seen a few snakes in KNP.

Black mamba that was a few inches short of being the width of an S-road in length. Phenomenal. (Satara area.)

Ranger walking out of 'old' Lower Sabie (before the new shop / restaurant / deck arrangement) with a snake on a stick, as we were driving in. Predomonantly grey, lean, and fairly long, and there was no doubt in our minds what it was (mamba). However the ranger told us it was a Cape wolf snake. Harmless. Doesn't even have teeth IIRC. But flippin' scary to look at! :eek:

Mfezi just south of LS. Had just left camp, and saw an unusual looking piece of 'branch', just off the road. Snake had crawled out of his hidey hole, and had found a nice sunny patch to warm up. As we pulled up adjacent, he stood up and hooded, but settled down almost immediately. Didn't move off, so I guess he didn't feel particularly threatened. I lost the roll of film the pic was on. Kept the windows up - take no chances!

But overall, snake sighting is exception rather than the norm, particularly in camp. I make a point of scraping / scuffing my feet on the ground when walking after dark... snakes feel the vibrations and tend to move off.

Must say, I'm not fond of snakes at all. On December holidays, our last night at Trennery's on the Wild Coast, I put my foot down next to a grass / bush snake of sorts. Around 60cm in length, and feisty. Saw it out the corner of my eye. Yelled 'Snake!' and the SO jumped two feet! That was me finished. SO picked up a rock, but I asked her to please not kill it. That's when I twigged as long as I could see the snake, and know what it was doing, I was okay with it. In the end my boet did the Steve Irwin and popped it into a jug, for release down at the bowling green.

Nothing in comparison with our digs in Durban... something like 14 snakes on the property in our three years there. Worst was a night adder. Scariest for length and sheer ugliness was the molesnake on the steps.

You don't like cricket?

I am afraid of snakes.

I nearly missed our forum magic snake moment

I trust DQ, Imberbe and Pilane.

so in terms of what is here, is there a problem

OK, here's a question to the Snake experts around here. I saw a snake over the Easter weekend at Victoria Falls. I know very little about snakes and have no idea how to go about identifying them.

From surfing the net I get the impression that the snake I saw will have been either a Crossarked Grass Snake (Psammophis crucifer) or Dwarf Sand Snake (Psammophis angolensis). Could someone tell me how to distinguish between these two perhaps and also what their distribution ranges are?

The snake I saw was about 20cm in length and no thicker than a pencil so it was really a small critter. Down the entire length of the body it had a brown stripe with a cream stripe on either side. Below the cream stripes the snake was brown again but perhaps not quite as dark brown as the stripe down the back. The snake's belly was a very pale greenish colour. Immediately behind the head (it could have been the neck or it could have been the back half of the head) the brown stripe changed to black and made and interesting zig-zag pattern. The head itself was brown again.

As luck would have it I did not have my camera with me so unfortunately no pictures.

Any ideas?

I saw a Mosambiquan Spitting Cobra and Stripe-bellied Sand Snake on my recent trip. I'll tell you the story of the Stripe-bellied Sand Snake when I've finished it in my trip report.

Hi

After the story of the Natal green snake (still want to post a photo too, to make sure that we are identifying it correctly!)that was bitten in half by our dogs, but still managed to get away with 2/3 of its lenght three weeks ago, we are still curious to learn more about these snakes....

That snake was never seen again, but we had a smaller one yesterday, and again today, in our garden. (Can't say for sure whether it is the same one, but saw both on same garden wall). The smaller snake(s) are about 30-35cm long.

Having a two year old playing in the garden every day, we want to know a few things:

Do these snakes stay in the same area? (The 2/3 one -or similar- was seen in the same hollow tree three times over about three months)? And do we now have a new smaller resident one?

Where do they nest? (Hollow trees?) And when do the babies hatch - they hatch from eggs?
How long is a baby snake?
Will we have a whole lot of the next generation around now - how many in a batch?

Will appreciate feedback from all the experts here - or even a link to where we can find this info.

Thanks
Rooikat

They will stay in an area if undisturbed.
Chances are good that you have a resident one
They live mainly in trees as you thought as they are aboreal, but they may also livein cracks in the wall as this make a goog shelter.
They lay an Ave of 5-6 eggs (More has been recorded)
Hatch in the summer months after about 4 months
Hatchlings are 12- 15 cm's long

Remember there are 2 spesies of Natal green snake ,The Eastern and the Western natal green snake.
With a 2 year old around you must be very sure of what you have. Natal green snakes are harmless but small green mambas are not and most people would not be able to tell the difference.
With some good pic's I will be able to tell.

I've never seen a snake down south, only up north.
The first snake we saw was a dead one in the road, that was just terrible, I immediately fought it must have been someone speeding cause how can you not see the snake. (Maybe it was another reason.)

Then about 4 days into our holiday we came across this one on the H1-8. I dont think I have ever jumped so fast to take a photo like that day. There wasnt even time to focus.

Dont know what snake it is. Also came across this one just in time to take a photo before he disappeared.