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Has anyone noticed that there seems to be an increase in human/snake conflict these past few months. I just read this article about someone who was bitten my a mozzie in KZN:
http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/Man-bitten-by-snake-in-lodge-shower-20120316

A friend of mine owns a farm in Mpumalanga and he also told me that lately there have been an increase in snake sightings (especially rinkals) near human dwellings.

I dont mean to scare anyone but it does seem like an interesting phenomena.

Hi Canis,

I remember a herpatologist being interveiwed recently about the African Rock Python that seems to be moving south. Given the reality of global warming, snakes might well be a barometer of change.

Interesting Canis Lupus
An opportunity for Hitchcock to make another movie

Climate change may have to do with it indeed. We are seeing species here, plant, insect and animal, that are not really supposed to be here.

But! We are planning / hoping to do a snake handling course when we are over in December. With our intended trips to all kinds of places (not just Kruger and such) we may run into a situation with a snake. And knowing what to do or how to handle may be very handy. Especially with the increased human/snake conflicts.
And looks totally fun to do as well.

Saw a Black Mamba on the S36 this month. (that's out in the wild so not relevant)
Juevenile Boomslang in Skukuza camp by the bathroom by the pool




but I don't know if that builds the case that they are becoming more common in human dwellings I have seen snakes in camps throughout the years in the summer months in Kruger

WOW, Cheetah, stunning photo.

Boomslang have the reputation of not being aggresive snakes, but someone nearly died as a result of a bite about 18 months ago. It happened at Talamati and he was gravely ill for some time. For the life of me, I cannot remember his name, but I think that he might well have been a herpatologist. I do know that he was quite a well know field scientist.

Hi all

I think we can look at the continous loss of habitat for all creatures that will cause an increase in human/reptile conflict. As the increase in human settlement occurs there is an increase in rodent life which attracts their predators.

The high rainfall would also have caused an increase as they move to higher grounds to escape the deluge.
As the dry season moves in they will move back.

As always we need to keep our eyes open when walking around so that we do not have a nasty encounter.
remember the snakes want the confrontation even less than we do!!!

PS nice photos cheetah and a good siting!

Enjoy the parks!!

Hi guys,

Snakes are becoming a major problem at our home in Rustenburg lately. We had 3x Mozzies and 1x Bushveld Cobra together with about 5x non-venomous ones in the last few months.

Both of my Jack Russels has got eye damage due to confrontation with the mozzies but we have two less snakes in our garden!

I will post some pics later.

Interesting... Global warming could be to blame here.

Also, snakes move to high and dry places when its rainy so one will also see more snakes in human dwellings during summer months.

Cheetah2111, you got some really nice shots of the snake at the Skukuza pool, but I unfortunately have to inform you that it is not a boomslang

It is an Olive grass snake (Psammophis mossambicus). Thy are similar to boomslang, but the head shape is slightly different, they eyes a little bit smalle, and boomslang (even the females) are rarely,if ever, that colour brown. They tend to be a darker brown and because of the keeled scales they are not as shiny as the grass snakes.

Juvenile boomslang up to about 80cm long also have bright green eyes which makes it easy to differentiated between them when they are small.

Cheetah2111, if you do have more pics of the snake please post. I would like to see the side-view of the snake as well as the eye! Just to convince myself!

Thanks for your feedback! i could easily be wrong on the snake ID!
But I saw it in the tree the next day and its movements seemed boomslang-like to me.
I don't have more shots unfortunately
I can't find any useful google images of a juvenile olive grass snake.

Cheetah there is an easier way to make an ID next time. Let the snake bite you - if you become seriously ill it is probably a boomslang, otherwise you can safely ID olive grass snake.

Roughly how big was the snake?

Unfortunately I've only photographed dead olive grass snakes, but I'll post a photo of a boomslang that I photographed last week near Skukuza. Just need to sort through the 1000 photographs first...

Geoff Lockwood, the well-known ornithologist, was at the Talamati bush camp when he saw a barred owl chick in a tree. As he moved to photograph it, he stepped on a Boomslang in the grass and it struck. His wife drove him to Johannesburg where he was treated and admitted to hospital where he spent quite some time and by all accounts, has had a full, albeit slow, recovery.