From snakes to lizards: the inspiring story of a reptile rescuer

It’s midday, I am in a cramped ceiling space, sweating profusely and the already oppressive 87% humidity is being amplified by the intense heat radiating from the galvanised steel roof. From below I hear Presha insisting in a tense, high-pitched voice “make sure he catches it, or I am not sleeping in this house again”. Not quite sure what Arvind is going to do about that, I’m the one stuck in this baking ceiling trying to find what they say had been slithering through their house a few hours earlier. The sweat is beginning to blur my vision as I try to squeeze my way through umpteen boxes filled with who knows what. I think to myself, ‘why on earth do people keep so much junk?’ I see a flicker of movement to my right just beyond what looks like a box full of old shoes. Rattus norvegicus or common rat – I ignore it but it does confirm what I am looking for. I keep telling people ‘if you leave food lying around in an untidy space you are going to attract rats. If you have rats, you are going to invite Black Mambas’. Why can’t people in Durban understand that?

“Concentrate Nick!” an admonishing shout from just behind me – that’s Tyrone, my camera man. We’ve done so many of these rescues that he seems to be able to read my mind. I listen to him as right now is not the time to judge peoples housekeeping habits. I wipe my brow and spot it! It’s staring at me, two meters, straight in front, head up between two large cardboard boxes. I focus intensely and take a moment to admire the steely dark and intense eyes, the subtle sheen and almost iridescent hues of dark and light grey on its body and its beautifully shaped hear all combining to exude a sense not only of power but also immense elegance and beauty. It’s a thrilling moment and one that never ceases to amaze me no matter how often I experience it.

Although it has good eyesight it uses its flickering tongue to size me up and work out exactly who I am and where I am. The tongue samples the air and picks up the plentiful pheromones which I am releasing right now and transfers them to the Jacobson’s Organ via the mouth floor, a complex and amazing process which makes reptiles so special. I know that right now, the snake is more scared of me than I am of him, ll it wants is for me to back off, or for it to find an escape route. But I’m aware that once I grab it with the tongs, in a cramped ceiling, I need to be on top of my game to avoid a defensive bite”.

If the Chetty’s are to be believed this fella is over 2m long. People do tend to exaggerate size but for now I will give them the benefit of the doubt! I cautiously balance on the narrow roof trusses and edge forwards gently extending my tongs in its direction.

I can’t recall how many I have rescued but I have got to know them fairly well and I bet on it moving to the left as its much darker there. In a flash it moves, to the left, and I release the tongs which grip the wrist-thick body about 15cm from the head. Not a perfect catch but I can work with that. I soon have the head-secured in my hand I stretch to grab its tail as it starts to writhe at first wrapping its muscular body around the tongs and then onto my arm. I grab it by the tail-end and get a firm hold, but I now need to extricate myself from the cramped ceiling. My knee has gone numb on the narrow wooden truss and my head feels as though it’s beginning to boil as I have been pressing it against the hot roof sheeting to stay balanced. I cautiously juggle my way backwards towards the trapdoor and climb down a makeshift ladder into the passage area of the house.

The shrieks and howls are deafening, it seems like the whole neighbourhood has suddenly appeared. Most keep a safe distance but one or two approach cautiously, asking if they can touch the mamba, now that the head is secured in my hand. The Chetty’s were right, it’s about 2,5m, a truly beautiful specimen.

As we drive off I know the Chetty’s are happy and hopefully Presha will have a peaceful sleep tonight, I am happy, I have rescued another beauty from what would most likely have been a messy end, it’s what makes me look forward to tomorrow. What about the Black Mamba? It’s had a cushy time with lots of easy to catch rats so it’s going to have to work a bit harder for its next meal, but I’d like to think he will also be happy when I release him in the wild.

Born and raised in Durban, Nick Evans spent most of his childhood looking for snakes and other critters, most often in his grandparent’s jungle-like garden. His reputation for catching snakes was well-known and I recall Jean Senogles, chairperson of Westville Conservancy describing to me, in 2011, “there is a young chap here, he is truly passionate about snakes and not a bad photographer to boot!”. Nick was 17 years old then and gladly contributed a stunning photo of a Vine snake which was used on the Kloof Conservancy website for several years. But Nicks passion for reptiles started much earlier than that.

His Mom, whilst wary of snakes provided constant encouragement and gave him space to pursue his passion. “I remember being obsessed with dinosaurs, and animals in general. Then, when I was around three, there was a Brown House Snake in the garage which my mum and I captured. I was hooked! I kept a few Brown House Snakes as a child, and still do. I learned so much about them. I remember taking a day off school to document one laying eggs!”

When asked how his early passion started Nick explained: “The House Snake in the garage, and Steve Irwin, the late ‘Crocodile Hunter, first appearing on T.V, really sparked my interest in snakes. I was captivated by Steve Irwin’s work and was so inspired by his passion for conservation. I’ll never forget waking up to the news, on the 4th of September 2006, and hearing that he had been killed in a freak accident. I was absolutely devastated. I remember, later that day, promising I would continue honouring his work and legacy.

I owe a lot to my mum and grandparents too. They always encouraged my love of snakes and wildlife. They did everything they could to support my passion, even though they weren’t, at first, particularly fond of snakes.”

“Throughout high school, I was focused on becoming a game ranger. I spent far more time studying field guides than schoolbooks.”

Nick matriculated at Westville Boys’ High in 2012 – “After that, I wasn’t keen to continue studying. I wanted to work and gain experience.”

Off course the work and experience was inevitably linked to his passion for all things wild and reptiles in particular.

“I had a very lucky break and managed to get a job at Dangerous Creatures at Ushaka Sea World (SAAMBR). I learnt so much there and am very grateful for the opportunity they provided me. I was mentored by my boss, Carl Schloms, who taught me how to catch Black Mambas, which proved to be a skill I use to this day, far more often than I ever imagined. I also learnt about the treatment of sick or injured reptiles, caring for reptiles. Overall, this was a foundational and important experience for me giving me a very good understanding not only of reptile behaviour but also of their physiological characteristics. I left there, on good terms, after almost two years.

I worked under Carl for almost two years and still work very closely with the Dangerous Creatures and veterinary team at SAAMBR, as they kindly treat and care for my injured rescues.

At that stage I felt a lot of work was being done for domestic dogs & cats, and and other wildlife (which is all important work). However, I felt needed in Durban, although changing to work in conserving those other animals has always been tempting.

I love all animals, and while I try to learn about all aspects of nature, I’m not a vulture or rhino expert. Snakes was always my passion. While we don’t have endangered snakes in Durban (we have a protected species, a protected lizard species, and a critically Endangered skink), I thought that my purpose was here, helping to conserve Durban’s reptiles. So many people hate snakes, know nothing about them, are scared of them, and will kill them. The same goes for monitor lizards. Killing snakes can be dangerous for people too. I wanted to help reptiles and people co-exist better, in as peaceful a manner as possible.”

Whilst Nick is primarily known as a Snake Rescuer he is also very well known for his knowledge of frogs and has spent many hours wading in streams and ponds looking for the slippery amphibians.

“I have a keen interest in frogs and have spent a lot of time searching for them, either for fun, or as surveys for endangered species. I spent six months working for the Endangered Wildlife Trust’s Threatened Amphibian Programme which really taught me an enormous amount about the value of frogs to the environment”

After his stints in formal employment Nick started venturing out on his own.

“At the beginning of 2015, I started doing snake removals, attending to calls which other removers couldn’t get to, and would refer to me. In February that year, I started KZN Amphibian & Reptile Conservation, to be more formal (long name – but says what I do!), as a chapter of the late Lawrence Anthony’s Earth Organization.

Initially I carried out removals, or rescues as I prefer to call them in the Greater Durban Area. I’d go anywhere I was called to, traveling long distances. Nowadays, with the cost of diesel, I don’t venture out of Durban and refer calls to others who are closer.

I then started doing snake awareness and identification talks at schools and companies, to earn extra money. Snake education was a passion of mine, but mostly through writing on social media or in the print media. I knew that public education on reptiles was desperately needed, and still is. I then started getting requests to do talks. I tentatively agreed to do a few and surprised myself at how well they were received and how much I enjoyed them. I was incredibly shy growing up, and there was nothing I dreaded more than a school oral! I was terrible at them. But I needed to survive financially, and snakes was a topic I knew well and loved, so it was a lot easier.”

Nick explained that his snake rescue work is not always fast and furious!

“Most people think I’m out catching snakes all day every day. But it isn’t always like that. Some days can be utter chaos, when weather conditions are good. Some days, either when it’s cold & rainy, or hot & very windy, my phone can be very quiet. My time is also spent on a lot of administration, particularly updating my data sheets, for my various research projects. I do a lot of writing about snakes for my Facebook page, or for online magazines, newspapers etc. Or I may do one or a few talks a week. In winter, I spend a lot of time doing python surveys, at my study site. Winter is mating season for them, and they’ll bask all day, unlike in summer, when it is too hot. Releasing reptiles, away from people, also takes up a lot of time (and fuel!).

I can plan a day to do certain things, but then it gets turned upside down with calls, some of which take up a lot of time (e.g., a mamba in a ceiling). Well, I obviously don’t cancel talks for that. But on days when I don’t have talks, one never knows how the day will go.”

And sometimes the day does go haywire!

“There have been countless amusing or just plain bizarre situations I’ve found myself on calls.

There are the embarrassing calls – embarrassing for callers that is, where I’m called to remove a snake, which can turn out to be a cat’s tail hanging out a tree, a toy snake, a plastic bag, or a shoe. One of my favourites was a call my colleague Dr Cormac Price went on. He received a call for a python. You’ll never guess what it was – a line of caterpillars! Those which turn into processionary moths. How one confuses tiny, hairy creatures for a python, I’m not sure. The homeowner begged him to pick them all up!

One embarrassing moment for me, was when I was sitting on a wall, reaching over, downwards, to grab a basking Black Mamba in the property next door. I was stretched out as far as possible. Just as I was about to grab it, the mamba started moving into the pile of garden refuse it was on, and I fell over and almost on top of the stunned reptile! It was moving down into the refuse pile, fortunately, but I instantly leapt back, and straight back into rows of barbed wire, which hooked me properly.

I managed to get a few barbs out, but my legs were in thick bush, and I couldn’t see the ones hooked in my legs. I could feel one of the barbs had gone right in, both points behind my skin. I tried angling it out, but each time I did, I’d almost pass out. It was painful, obviously. But it was frustrating as I felt it wasn’t the worst pain I’ve felt. Yet each time I tried to get that one, and others out, I’d immediately start passing out.

Eventually, Westville’s super cop (he has since left the force), Wynand Laatz, came to unhook me, while a paramedic came to give me morphine while he did so.

On another crazy occasion I was contacted in the early hours of the morning by a water treatment plant manager near Tongaat asking me to help remove a crocodile. By this point, I’d received plenty of calls for crocodiles, which were never crocodiles – they were always monitor lizards. I told them not to worry, but then he sent a photo. To my surprise, it was a croc. It didn’t look big, maybe 1.5m, so my wife and I eagerly went out to catch it.

Well, when we arrived, I quickly realized the photo did not show the true size of the croc. It was close to the 3m mark. A crocodile at that size is a powerful beast, more than you can imagine. The flimsy ropes I had, which I tried getting around the top jaw with my snake hook, were snapped with ease.

I jumped on it at one point, and got thrown off with ease, into some barbed wire (barbed wire and I aren’t friends!).

Eventually, with the help of fellow snake remover, Shane Pike, and some policemen, we managed to get ropes around the jaw, and restrain the beast.”

On another painful occasion Cormac and I were chasing a mamba under and around a Wendy house, among some chickens. In the process, the mamba got close to me, and I stepped back into an electric fence. I cannot repeat the language, but yes, I was demanding the owner turn the fence off immediately. Cormac panicked, thinking I got bitten. We ended up catching the 2.5m+ mamba, and had a great laugh afterwards.”

Another exciting phase for Nick has been the television series “Snake Season” which featured on DSTV’s, the People’s Weather channel. Nick explained:

“The owner of the People’s Weather channel had seen articles and videos of me in the news, and seemed quite keen on creating a show for his channel. He contacted Julie Laurenz, a producer, who then contacted me. We met, chatted about the concept. I was immediately keen when they said they were not after drama and over-exaggeration, because I wasn’t going to be doing that! Yes, some calls turn out to be dramatic, inevitably, but I wasn’t prepared to tell the camera that the mamba is going to kill this family etc, because that’s just the stuff of movies.

For season one, I was nervous. On calls, you don’t focus on anyone but the snake. Filming a show, you have to ensure you’re involving the camera, explaining what’s happening, trying to ensure they get footage of the snake before I capture it.

Fortunately, we had the best cameraman/partner for me, Tyrone Marcus, who was also a co-presenter. He loves and knows snakes, so his experience made a massive difference. I didn’t need to tell him where to stand, or move etc. He knew, and was always cool, calm and collected. We had so much fun driving around to calls, creating that show.

The hardest part was the ‘after action’ interviews. That’s where one is required to say some scripted lines (nothing fake!). Having someone read a sentence, expecting you to repeat it – not so easy! It took many, many takes.

When we filmed season two, I was obviously more experienced. We had a second producer, Kirsten Horne, with added ideas. As a team, I think we did a good job, and I was proud of how it turned out.

We had great feedback from the public. At the time, if I’m not mistaken, it was the most viewed show on the channel, either at the time, or in its history, I can’t quite recall. It even aired in Germany! We almost did a third season, but unfortunately it didn’t work out. Hoping Tyrone and I get to film together again. There is talk of a third season. I would be really excited to do another.”

In recent years Nick has started taking on more science-based work as his practical work was highlighting research opportunities.

“In 2016, I met Cormac Price, an Irishman and PhD student at UKZN (Pietermaritzburg Campus under the supervision of Prof. Colleen Downs) Cormac was studying terrapin behaviour but was intrigued that I was catching so many Black Mambas in suburban areas, as well as the fact that bites on people were so rare. One thing led to another and that’s when my research career began and is something I find enormously rewarding.

We started studying various aspects of Durban’s Black Mambas. Then venomous snake/pet conflict. Snake breeding behaviour in Durban. The ideas kept coming in. I am now assisting a UKZN student, Euan Genevier, on a Nile Monitor Lizard project, microchipping these lizards in Durban, and recording sightings. There are a few other projects too.

I also started, with herpetologist, Professor Graham Alexander (Wits University), and Richard Mckibbin, an exciting study on Southern African Pythons, in a protected area. This included microchipping any pythons found, and fitting ten of those with transmitters, which I would go out and track once a week with a VHF receiver. We also started a Green Mamba microchipping project in the area.

The mountain of data we’ve collected, on the various projects, has been incredible and fascinating. We haven’t written any of it up yet, but we plan to start later this year.

If anyone would like to contribute to these research projects, please feel free to share details of sightings of Black Mambas or Monitor Lizards in Durban (exact location, date, time), or let me know of a venomous snake/pet conflict case (horrible, but important to document), and we’re trying to keep records of snakebites in the Durban area, so please feel free to share info (no private patient info, just species, how bite happened, area etc). I can be contacted nickevanskzn@gmail.com.”

The research work has exposed Nick to a wealth of expertise, and he relishes the opportunity to engage and pick the brains of experts in the field.

“There’s quite a list of people I call on for help and advice, it all depends on the subject and species. Due to the fact he supervises many of my projects, and is a wealth of information, I often turn to Professor Graham Alexander. Or my Black Mamba research partner, Dr.Cormac Price, regarding that work. Johan Marais of the African Snakebite Institute, an author of a lot of snake books, has decades of experience and knowledge when it comes to snakes, as well as business. A friend of mine, who works at Dangerous Creatures (SAAMBR), Dylan Leonard, is an experienced, knowledgeable field herpetologist, who helps me confirm identifications. I call on Dr. Carla Goede, who recently moved to Durban for any veterinary questions I have about injured reptiles etc. But there are many others, from other snake removers, more vets to doctors.”

Reflecting on his work, the impact it has made and what it means to him Nick commented.

“I like to think I have educated a fair number of people about snakes and changed their perceptions about snakes for the good. I have spoken to thousands of people across KZN, of all ages, since 2015. I know I couldn’t convince many to believe the facts I was stating. Some people don’t want to learn. Some aren’t too interested. Many are captivated. I have been called by loads of people, for snakes, who said they used to kill snakes until they attended one of my talks or followed my media writings. So, yes, I think these have all helped create a better environment for wildlife and humans!

I hope that my research work can be used as a blueprint of sorts, for suburban snake conservation around the country, and maybe around the world, once published. The world is constantly developing, natural areas are shrinking, and snake/human conflict will always be an issue. So, I hope that my research helps snakes, snake conservationists, and the public.

Rescuing and relocating a few thousand snakes, from homes, I think is important work, because while on calls, we get to educate families and neighbours.”

Taking a look into the future I asked Nick about his plans.

“Short-term, nothing too exciting really. For over a year now I’ve struggled with mental health issues, depression, anxiety, Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (an unfortunate legacy from my early days living with alcohol fuelled outbursts from my father). These are challenges that hits me every now and then, and the current wave has been particularly crippling.

Finances (it’s a low income, high expense line of work) for the last few months have been a major stress, and at an all-time low. I have had to get stricter with charging for calls and talks, although I still help plenty of underprivileged people for free when they have a venomous snake in their home.

So, for now, I’m just taking life day by day. I keep at my rescues, research, and snake awareness talks. I would like to start writing up some of the many research projects I am working on, this year. It would be nice to have a paper or two finally published after years of data collection.

For the longer term, I do have some goals in mind that I’m slowly working towards. Although you never know what life throws at you, or in our case, what will happen in this beautiful country of ours.

At some point, I’d like to have written up all my research work into scientific papers. It would be great for my C.V, sure, but most importantly, it would give scientists and conservationists more insight on the behaviour of species I’ve studied, and how to best conserve them. I’d love to continue the projects, even after writing them up, as I believe they’re important. I’d be keen to start new ones too.

I’ve always wanted to open up a reptile education, rehab and research centre. That’s still a dream, although the priority would be a dedicated reptile rehabilitation centre for KZN, particularly for venomous snakes and monitor lizards. I have vets that help me treat the animals, homing them is occasionally the issue.

Apart from that, I would like to keep doing what I’m doing for as long as I can. Conservation was and is still something I am extremely passionate about. I can’t see myself doing anything but work for wildlife conservation.”

As with all my interviews I ask Nick an overarching question trying to understand his perception of the health of the broader environment. His response highlights his general positive outlook to life and suggests there is hope for an improvement in the health of the planet.

“I think things may look bleak but there are so many people doing good work out there that there must be hope for a better future. It’s amazing to see how people respond positively once they have knowledge and understanding. I see this all the time where people I meet are unrepentant ‘snake killers’ but after some discussion they understand and accept the role snakes play in our biodiversity. If this is replicated across all species, I am sure we can only improve the health of the planet.”

Words, thoughts, and actions of a true member of the Eco-Impi¹.

Notes

Eco-Impi¹

An Impi is defined as “an armed band of Zulu warriors involved in urban or rural conflict”. In our context we refer to an Eco-Impi as those conservationists armed with knowledge and experience who are fighting to help protect our biodiversity and have made a significant impact in our area.

Editor’s note

Nick has also published a book on his experiences: “Life of a Snake Rescuer”. The book is available online or by contacting Nick directly nickevanskzn@gmail.com.

Web: KZN Amphibian & Reptile Conservation
Facebook: @KZNHerpConservation
Instagram: @nickevanskzn
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Youtube: Nick Evans – Snake rescuer