The Black Mamba

The Greater Durban Area has become famous for being home to one of the most infamous and feared snakes on the planet – the Black Mamba! While they may be infamous and feared, they are also very misunderstood. Here’s what you need to know about this iconic animal.

Identifying a Black Mamba

If you see a large, dark snake in your garden, that’s over two meters long, it’s a Black Mamba. Size! Size is the easiest way to identify a Black Mamba. As someone who is called to remove mambas, I very rarely see mambas less than a meter long. We don’t even get many under 2m in length. The majority are 2.1-2.5m in length. They have been recorded to grow to over 3m in length, but this is rare. At these lengths, they’re about wrist thickness, sometimes even more. They’re impressive beasts. The longest I have captured was 3.05m, the only one I have seen at the 3m mark.

My record catch, in Queensburgh

If you see a dark snake less than a ruler’s length, then it is not a Black Mamba. When a Black Mamba hatches out the egg, it is already 50-60cm. They’re big babies! They grow quickly too. They’re shy, and hide away a lot, so we really don’t see many at all. However, when cornered, juveniles can be quite aggressive.

Juvenile Mamba

From a distance, Black Mambas may look black. However, should you be ‘lucky’ enough to see one relatively close-up, you’ll notice they’re a grey/brown colour. Some snakes are shiny when the sun or a torch light hits them. Mambas don’t have this shiny appearance. They have a matt appearance. Their face is a whitish/grey colour, and their belly is white.

Where do Black Mambas live?

While Durban is famous for its Black Mambas, they are not found all over Durban as such. The homes they are generally caught in, are homes that border certain reserves, valleys, greenbelts etc. They’re too big to venture far into suburbia. But not every reserve or valley has them.

Black Mambas, in Durban at least, aren’t as coastal as their green relatives, the Green Mamba. We don’t see them on the Bluff or in Umhlanga. We don’t see much of them in Gillitts, Everton, or Hillcrest. Although in many surrounding areas, they’re abundant such as in Shongweni and Inanda. They’re occasionally seen around Crestholme as well. Westville is famous for them too particularly near or in Palmiet and Roosfontein Nature Reserves.

They most definitely do occur in the Krantzkloof Nature Reserve where they are common. So homes bordering the reserve and the gorge (Kloof, Wyebank, Waterfall), are occasionally visited by mambas. Occasionally, not daily, weekly or even monthly. Sometimes they’re only encountered by homeowners in such areas every few years. Or never. If you live bordering on a reserve, it does not mean you will get mambas. Don’t panic.

Black Mamba surveying the lay of the land

Many of the mambas I catch, are in messy storerooms, sheds, those sort of places as well as in ceilings. These places provide shelter, warmth, and a source of food – rats. If you’re thinking about chopping down every shrub and tree to keep snakes away, don’t waste your time. I’ve caught mambas in some fancy, plant-less homes. They pass through from time to time.

I get a number of calls for mambas in ceilings, as it’s safe, warm, and there’s usually rats up there!

Messy rooms/sheds are another prime spot for mambas.

What time of year are Black Mambas active?

That’s the great thing about this snake, if you like snakes – they’re active all year round! In the warmer months, they’re cruising around, looking for food etc. But winter is when things get exciting. Winter is mamba mating season.

Female mambas leave a scent trail behind, to attract males. Males pick up this scent, which we can’t smell, remarkably well. The best example I can use to explain this, happened in Reservoir Hills. We caught a pair of mambas in a large pile of garden refuse. To avoid having another mamba visit, the homeowners burnt the garden refuse, and most of their back yard. One would think this burnt the scent too. It didn’t. Over the next two weeks, 3 more male mambas came looking for the female. They were seen moving through the ash, flickering the forked tongues, smelling, exactly where we caught her. I could not believe it.

If males bump into each other during this time, it’s game on. They’ll fight for the prospective girlfriend. It’s a truly spectacular sight, one I have been lucky enough to witness a few times. Their bodies intertwine, and they wrestle. They don’t fight to the death, just until one surrenders. They don’t usually bite each other, but if they do, it has no effect. They’re immune to their own venom. Then, the winner claims the mating rights.

My friend Colin Jennings, in Queensburgh, photographed these two male Mambas fighting in his garden. What a lucky find!

Photos: Colin Jennings

Mambas, and pretty much all snakes, don’t stay together permanently. Snakes are solitary creatures. So they go their separate ways. About three to four months later, mother mamba will lay her eggs in a safe and secluded spot. Again, like with almost all snakes, she leaves them. She does not protect them. Instincts are for her to go and hunt, after losing weight following the egg-laying process. She never comes back to them.

I captured this mamba while she was heavily gravid/pregnant. I kept her for a few days in an enclosure with a lay box, to give her a safe place to lay, which she did. Afterwards, she was released.

Two-three months later, the young mambas hatch out of their eggs, and go their separate ways. They have the same venom as the parents do, needed for killing prey, not people. So no, when you see a baby snake, you don’t need to worry about the parents!

A Black Mamba hatching

What do mambas eat?

Don’t want rats around the house? Don’t buy rat poison – inviting a mamba over would be a free, environmentally-friendly option! (kidding, sort of). Black Mambas are excellent for rodent control. If you have a messy yard, cluttered storeroom, providing breeding grounds for rats, mambas may visit. They also enjoy birds, bats, young Dassies, and they absolutely love feral kittens.

Black Mamba feeding on a Dark-backed Weaver

What eats mambas?

Juvenile mambas will likely be eaten by birds, Monitor Lizards, Mongoose and Genets. Mozambique Spitting Cobras would eat them too. A 2.5m mamba in Durban doesn’t have many naturally occurring predators to fear. However, we lose loads of adult mambas each year. People burn them, chop them, beat them, they get run over often, and dogs kill a lot too. Dogs and snakes, don’t mix!

Banded Mongoose, enemy of snakes

Are they really aggressive?

Aggression is supposedly synonymous with Black Mambas. I am forever hearing people say things like, “If you encounter a Black Mamba, you better start running.” Or, “If you corner a Black Mamba, it will actually attack you”. Then there’s the many stories of them chasing gardeners, hikers and cyclists.

Thanks to my snake removal work, I have had the privilege of working with a few hundred Black Mambas. Only once has one come towards me, and that’s because it’s hiding hole was behind me, at the bottom of the stairs I was on. I’m confident that had I kept still, it would have gone straight through my legs. I didn’t have the courage to try that though.

I have had to catch Black Mambas in the most cramped, small areas. In storerooms, bedrooms, bathrooms, inside of cars etc. I have chased a few around ceilings as well. Note that I said ‘chased’- it was me that did the chasing. In all of these confined spaces, I have never had a Black Mamba charge me. All I’ve seen them do, is try to get away from me, even when they’re cornered and there’s no escape.

When cornered, they will often gape at the threat, opening their mouth, exposing the pitch black interior. It’s intimidating, and that’s what it’s meant for. It’s also where they get their name. In such instances, they may also spread a narrow hood, like a cobra. They then hope it works, and hope the attacker backs off.

Showing you why it’s called a Black Mamba

Going on calls, I’ve seen how mambas could have bitten people very easily, but didn’t. On a few occasions, they’ve slithered past the feet of people who are sitting down (a good few security guards, inside and outside of their huts). Or people have been walking right past them in a garage. Those kind of scenarios have all shown me, along with my experiences, that mambas do not want to bite.

Going back into nature. When I release mambas, they just want freedom, not to attack.

Then when do mambas bite?

Firstly, something to think about. The Greater Durban Area’s population is almost four million people now. Yet each year, we see approximately 1 to 3 Black Mamba bites. Yes, there could be some we don’t hear about. I try to network with hospitals, to keep records. Perhaps there’s up to 10 or so. That is an astonishingly low number of bites, considering how many people there are, and how many mambas there are. We don’t know how many mambas we have, that would be near impossible to say, but we know we have a healthy population. If it was as aggressive as sometimes made out to be, we’d see far more bites.

Accidents do happen. Someone could step onto or next to a mamba, put their hand next to, or on, where one is sleeping, or bump into one in a messy room. That can happen. The chance of it happening to you is extremely small, but it can happen. Thanks to the fact that mambas are so alert and shy, they usually get away from you before you can surprise them.

However, a lot of the bites we see from all venomous snakes, are when people go looking for trouble. Snake handlers are of course at high risk of being bitten. But that’s because we’re capturing the mambas, and unfortunately, the mambas don’t know we’re trying to help. Occasionally members of the public try to catch mambas, and this has often ended badly in the past. Many people kill snakes. Beating a baby Brown House Snake is one thing, beating a 2.5m Black Mamba is another. People have tried, and have been bitten doing so. The snake is fearing for its life, and if you cause it pain, it will want to bite you, and not just once.

Nervous, shy and intelligent, these snakes are best left alone.

Kiss of Death?

A nickname for mambas. A common belief is that if a mamba bites you, you have ten to twenty minutes before you die. That is not entirely true.

Of course, Black Mambas do have a potentially deadly bite. I certainly do not want to be bitten by one. They have a potent neurotoxic venom, which basically just shuts the body down fairly rapidly. It’s the fastest acting venom here. Believe it or not, though, most people survive Black Mamba bites unless the patient is hours from medical help. It is impossible to say how long the venom takes to kill someone. It depends how the person’s body reacts, it depends how much venom is injected, it depends where on the body the bite occurred. There’s many factors.

If one can get to hospital within an hour, you should survive. In saying that, some people only get to hospital 2-3 hours after a bite, and still survive. So while death within 20 minutes is possible, it is extremely unlikely.

Sometimes, they don’t. Basically, get to hospital as quickly as possible, and you should be okay.

“Leave me alone”

It is also possible for a Black Mamba to bite someone, and not inject any venom. A warning bite. This is known as a dry bite. I have experienced two from Green Mambas, and a friend has experienced one from a Black Mamba.

What to do in the event of a mamba bite

In the rare event of a mamba bite, get the patient into a car, and drive them to hospital ASAP. The patient should not attempt to drive themselves. Someone needs to drive them. Or an ambulance should be called. The patient shouldn’t move much. A long hike would not be good. So for a bite to happen in the Kloof gorge, being airlifted would be first prize.

One needs to try and keep the patient calm, although this can be easier said than done. But panicking never helps a situation.

DO NOT:

• Cut around the bite site (some believe this will bleed the venom out).
• Attempt to suck the venom out
• Rub special plants on the bite site
• Use electrical treatment

A tourniquet is a controversial topic. It is considered a ‘no-no’ for most snakebites, especially those with cytotoxic venom (adders, cobras), as it will cause a lot of damage. For mamba bites (neurotoxic venom), it may be life-saving IF someone is bitten by a mamba hours away from hospital. If you are within an hour’s drive from a hospital, as you would be in the Greater Durban Area, just get to hospital.

A pressure/crepe bandage is considered a better option for mamba bites. They do not stop the spread of the venom, but they slow the spread of it, and buy precious time. The issue is that if they’re not applied correctly, they’re a waste of time. Again, if you’re close to a hospital, just go without wasting time. If you’re an avid hiker/outdoorsman, learning how to correctly apply a pressure bandage would be a good idea.

A vial of anti-venom. Patients who experience severe envenomation may need 10-20 vials.

Dogs vs Mambas

One of the most unpleasant aspects of my job, is dealing with mamba/dog conflict. Cats aren’t a worry. They know to steer clear of a big mamba. Dogs do not. Instincts kick in. I’m sure they also want to protect their turf and family. Unfortunately, dogs usually find the mamba before homeowners do. If you do happen to discover a mamba, or any snake, before your dogs, IMMEDIATELY get your dogs locked away. If you see your dog attacking a snake, do not take a photo or video. Do not get in-between the two animals, but do whatever you can to get your dog away. Spray it with a hosepipe, throw a shoe, do whatever you can to get your dog away (obviously without causing severe harm to your dog).

A screenshot from a horrific video in which a family filmed their dog attacking a Black Mamba, while they stood indoors. Unsurprisingly, the dog died, as did the snake. This is not something one should do, at all, but at the same time, one should not get between them. Do something, though.

When dogs attack mambas, they usually kill the snake. Unfortunately for the dog and its owners, the dog almost always gets bitten in return. I’ve only seen one or two dogs which have killed a mamba, avoid being bitten. And when a dog is bitten by a mamba, time is of the essence.

A Black Mamba killed by dogs

The first symptom, which occurs quickly, is vomiting. The dog then starts to become clumsy, and cannot control its bowels or bladder. Death in dogs can occur within twenty minutes. Sometimes they don’t make it to the vet. But, encouragingly, I’ve seen a number now survive mamba bites, thanks to antivenom, or in some cases, because the snake didn’t manage to inject much venom. In the case of one dog, symptoms only kicked in after an hour, which was remarkable.

A drip connected up to a terrier named Jasper, who killed a juvenile Mamba. He needed about 3 or 4 vials to save his life.

If your dog has killed a mamba, but nothing is wrong with it, yet, start getting it to the vet. Most Vets in Hillcrest and Westville are open 24/7 and have antivenom. Waste no time. You will likely not see a bite, as mamba fangs are tiny. Be safe rather than sorry. At the time of writing this article, we’ve just had a Chihuahua survive a bite from a juvenile mamba (which I don’t think got much venom in).

Diesel, from Westville, who survived a Black Mamba bite. He required about 8 vials, more than most dogs need.

The Black Mamba is not a snake we need to live in fear of, but rather one that we should respect.

About the author

Nick Evans runs KZN Amphibian & Reptile Conservation. He spends most of his time teaching people about snakes across the province, and removing unwanted snakes from homes in the Greater Durban Area. But he has always had a love for chameleons, and spends many evenings looking for them, whether it’s just for ‘fun’ or whether its to survey populations. You can also watch Nick in the series “Snake Season” on People’s Weather (DStv 180 and Openview 115).

Website: KwaZulu-Natal Amphibian & Reptile Conservation

Facebook: @KZNHerpConservation

Instagram: @nickevanskzn

Twitter: @nickevanskzn

Youtube: Nick Evans – Snake rescuer