Call out 2013-02-27

[Nasicornis]

Had a call out referral from Bushbaby last week. Caught this 1.5m beautiful Snouted Cobra (Naja annulifera) in the parking area of Steve Biko hospital in Pretoria. Think it hitced a ride with some patient living on a plot or farm and decided to disembark at the hospital. It was wedged into an open space of a 90 degree angle in the wall amongst some ivy vines. Has the personality of some sadistic exorcist character but I love him even though he wants me dead. Irony of it, should I get bit then and there I just had to walk about 20m to the emergency entrance. Speaking of which, he plays dead better than any Rinkhals (Hemachatus haemachatus) I've had ever kept or seen.

[Davidc]

Nice.

[Nasicornis]

On my way home from my granny in Pretoria North, my trip was interrupted by someone at an intersection uttering the word "rinkhals". Pulled over, ran across the street and found a 1.3m male Snouted Cobra slithering towards a house on the corner. Grabbed it as there had been a gathering of many people and children getting way too close. Unfortunatley, it was evidently run over by a car as it's intestines were spilling out of it's side so I reluctantly had to decapitate it. That sucked! 2nd Snoutie in one week, not too bad.

[Shamrock]

Caught a nice banded one last night, estimate it is +- 1.5m. I catch quite a few of them but have never seen one that was this psycho! He would actually chase me for about 2-3 meters before he would try to get away again, instead of the mock charge I normally get with the snouties. Once on the hook, he coiled around the hook stick and started biting it.

Sorry about the poor quality photos my DSLR's battery was dead.