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On Friday the 8th of April 2016, I got a call at around 12:50, about another local snake catcher that has gone out to go and catch a supposed black mamba. The snake in question was in the garage of a local resident, and they needed help getting it out. His wife/girlfriend had contacted me to ask if I could perhaps go and help out with the capture and release. I was unfortunately busy with a client, and asked her to get her man to phone me back in a few minutes, and I could possibly go and help, as I would be on lunch by then, and even if it was a genuine black mamba, it wouldn’t just disappear from the caller’s garage if monitored for a few minutes longer, and I have no pains about moving entire houses to search for snakes, as long as they are confirmed to be there…
The mamba moments after it was shot, note how the lower jaw is lying in relation to the head position
The "heroes" with their prize, faces have been blurred as I do not have written permission to show their faces
No call came, so I had to track the chap’s number down myself, and called him… No answer… Tried immediately again, and he answered. His first words were that they have just shot the snake twice through the head, and it is now dead. Besides the feeling of utter disappointment in this person, I asked calmly if they could bring me the carcass, so that I can get data on it, and see if it really was a black mamba, or just a large, old grass snake or other, as is normally the case here. Black mambas do not occur naturally within the immediate vicinity of Vryheid… I waited for about 10 minutes, and a car pulled up with the “hero of the day” sitting in the front passenger seat. He got out of the car, and pulled out a black bag from the floor where his feet were. I could immediately see there was a very large snake in the bag, and proceeded to open the bag, and view what was a beautiful black mamba of around 2m, curled into a large circular fashion…
I assumed by the amount of blood and lack of movement that the snake was well and truly dead… I did check where the head was, and it was covered in blood… Mistake number 1.
I grabbed the body around the middle of the length and pulled it out of the bag onto the pavement… Mistake number 2.
I saw some head and tail movement, but put it down to the nervous system and muscles just giving their last twitches… Mistake number 3.
The “hero” stated quite gallantly that it had been shot twice in the head with a .22 caliber firearm, and I also doubted that anything would survive two headshots at close range (although in the “hero’s” defense, he stated categorically that he tried to call everyone he knew, but no one was willing to help him capture the snake, I never received the call, and if he had positively identified the snake as a mamba, I could have taken an early lunch to help seeing as it is a life-threatening animal in a strange place, and probably extremely agitated, nervous and scared)… Mistake 4.
I again grabbed it mid body, placed it back in the bag, to go and store in the freezer for later, as I had to get back to work… Mistake number 5.
The “hero” said that another chap wanted to come and take photos of the snake, so I again free handled the mamba out the bag onto the grass… Mistake number 6.
This time I knew something was up when it came out of the bag… The whole neck and head lifted up, and it gave a gape as best it could with what was left of the mouth and face… No more mistakes… I quickly ran to grab a box, while the “hero” got his trophy shots, and then boxed the snake, before any more harm could be done to it. I used a thick, pitch black addis tub, to keep it from getting more stressed. I put it in the quarantine room, at room temp (24-28 degrees), and left for the last part of my work day, which was pretty much ruined now because of this atrocity that had been meted out on such a majestic animal.
Moments after I realized it was still alive, and boxed it
During the rest of my day at work, I was hoping that the poor thing would still be alive when I got home, would I have to euthanize an otherwise spotless snake, would it be dead when I got home, and all those types of thoughts were running through my mind constantly until the end of the day. I went to go pick up the missus, and we rushed off home to the quarantine room… I was still opening the gate locks and door when I could already hear an amplified hollow hiss coming from inside the room, which became a seriously heavy hissing by the time I was actually in the room… I knew exactly where that hiss was coming from immediately, and my heart leapt for joy, but only for a second… My brain kicked in almost instantly, and I thought, “Ok… Now I have a badly injured sub adult mamba that needs medical attention, and operations… How the fudge am I going to do this?!” I haven’t handled a mamba in around 9 years…
I carefully opened the tub, and the beasty was reared up, neck flattened, and mouth gaping as best as it could, so I gently closed the tub again, and vacated the room. Now we have a new problem… The immediately visible extend of the damage was a hole to the top of the skull, between the eyes, the right eye was hanging out of the socket, with a mass of muscle tissue also protruding, the right fang sheath was extremely swollen, and the lower left jaw was shattered and protruding from the gum line, about half way down the jawline.
I started contacting close reptile friends, and the prognosis was all bad. Put the animal out of its misery. It is in pain, and suffering badly. Now, what I am about to say may sound extremely selfish, and heartless…
*+* I COULD NOT PUT DOWN ANOTHER ANIMAL BECAUSE OF WHAT AN IMPATIENT STUPID, IMBECILIC, HEARTLESS HUMAN HAD DONE. NOT AGAIN.
I have had to put down more snakes than I care to remember for less than this, and something in me just snapped when the poor beasty was moving up the grab stick, looking pleadingly at me with the one good eye. I just didn’t have the heart to “finish the job” on an animal that was obviously putting all its effort into surviving. The look on what was left of the snake’s face is something I cannot describe, and my heart melted completely. I had to do what I could for the snake, no matter the cost to myself, and I’m sure that I would want the same, if the roles were reversed… *+*
The full extent of the damage was not known as there was so much blood all over the head, and everything was out of place. From what I could make out there was severe damage to the right eye, and the left lower jaw seemed to be broken around half way, with some mouth tissue sticking out the back left of the mouth. Swelling all over the head was extremely severe, and the top down view showed major misshaping due to the swelling. I decided to leave it in the tub for another 24 hours, to see if it was going to survive or not, plus I had to do a kiddie reptile party on the Saturday morning, and didn’t feel like cancelling due to a mamba bite induced death… That would have ruined the party for everyone, and my weekend in general…
Saturday morning, I grabbed some snakes for the show, the mamba was still hissing away to the vibrations of my feet, and I left it just as it was.
After the party, I sorted out the animals, and then cleared out the quarantine room for the task at hand… I had to now move the mamba into a small enclosure that has heat, and this was not going to be easy…
Grabbed the 1.8m tongs, and my hook stick, and carefully opened the lid of the tub to get enough space to get the hook stick in, so my hands were not near the openings for obvious reasons. The mamba was more relaxed, and I managed to grab it about a meter from the head, and lift it out, and into the new sterile enclosure. It immediately threw its weight around, and started coming up the grab stick with gusto, but showing no signs of aggression, no flattened neck, no gaping, and no hissing. It seemed almost inquisitive about what was happening, instead of angry and hurt, I could have sworn there was nothing wrong with the beasty…
I quickly transferred it to the new tub, closed it off, snapped some shots quickly, and put it into a rack that stands at around 26 degrees day and night. Now to find out what I can do for the poor thing before I bump up temps and get the metabolism going properly.
Some of the damage caused by the two bullets
Side shot showing the damaged eye
Contacted a few people, and the prognosis was still the same. Euthanize the snake, put it out of its misery… (See paragraphs marked *+* above)
So, Sunday came and went, the snake had now evacuated its bowels, and I needed to disinfect the enclosure again. The snake has now calmed down by now, and was rarely hissing at all anymore. The swap, clean and replace took around 10 minutes, where the actual contact with the snake was less than 20 seconds total time.
Sunday night was uneventful, and on Monday morning, I started to contact the vets in the area, and some further afield, to see if anyone would be willing to try and save the life of this poor beasty, and I was prepared to drive through straight after work as far as needed to be driven. The local vet eventually got back to me in the afternoon, just before closing, and said that he couldn’t help, but he might know someone who could near Mathubathuba. I waited patiently for the call, and when he did call, the news was not good. No one was willing to help beyond the usual “euthanize it”… No, that was not the answer I, or the snake, was looking for yet.
I contacted Arno about what would need to happen for the snake, as well as one or two other good reptile friends who I thought might be able to help. After a short discussion on the operation side of the job, I got down to prepping for what was going to be a first for me…
Tuesday after work, I managed to get to the vet, and obtained long tweezers, feeding tubes, F10 anti bacterial cream (had been using a very dilute F10 disinfectant till then just to stave off infections), and then off to the local Spar for sossatti sticks, superglue, and home for the surgical (medical) tape, and a few other items…
Let the operation begin… Hands sterilized and washed with anti-bacterials/virals, the sossatti sticks were cut to the lower jaw length, and placed on a sterile plastic bowl along with the superglue. I wrapped some surgical gauze around two sossatti sticks, for giant buds, and placed some F10 cream onto the buds, and a sterile plastic tray. I split a thin strip of surgical/medical tape and made a “banner” out of the cut tape, and two sossatti sticks. Two of these banners were made, and put onto the sterile plastic tray. Tweezers, on loan from the vet, were sterilized, and put on the tray… Grab stick was sterilized, as well as the hook stick, and the entire carpeted (although carpets are not recommended for this type of work, it allowed me some traction to prevent the snake from moving during the operation) area that I was going to work on was also sterilized.
So, the operation is almost underway. My lovely assistant and I sterilized out hands with an anti-biotic soap, then F10, and got ready to operate. Everything was placed in order previously, and the operation steps were discussed several times, with emphasis on safety, and slow steady movements. The missus repeated the steps back to me, and we then discussed pinning pressure, and movements, and what the snake might try to do during the operation, and once we had that down, we went in and got the job started…
I grabbed the mamba about 10cm from the head, and maneuvered the front part of the body out of the shallow box it was in, the body came out of its own accord. I positioned the head on the previously sterilized carpet, and proceeded to carefully pin the neck behind the head, so as not to put on unnecessary pressure on the already hurt head (this is dangerous as the snake was allowed more movement with the head than a normal pinning). Total time thus far, 3 minutes into operation. Once the snake was positioned properly, my assistant took over on the pinning for me, and I started to grab the equipment, and start the work. Lying down in front of the mamba, face to face at about 30cm from the head, I grabbed the tweezers and a sossatti stick. A quick check in the mouth for any unwanted objects, all clear and removed some thick mucous with coagulating blood in from the mouth. Breathing tube clear and whole, and tongue moving as well, all good signs. Put superglue on the pre cut splints, and carefully glued one to each underside of the jaw on the outside. This took about 2 minutes to do. Now, the hard part. Putting the lower jaw back into place, so that any breaks can heal correctly. The medical/surgical tape banners were now required… Unrolling the banners, sticky side up, I maneuvered the first one under the lower jaw, and pulled up on the sticks, and it stuck to the lower jaw. Unravelling one side at a time, I pulled it over the snout, making sure to miss the good eye, and as much of the damaged eye as possible, as well as the nostrils, but leaving enough room for the swelling inside the mouth, and not closing it completely (that would be endless pain for the poor thing by having constant pressure on the swollen parts). Deciding against a second band around the head, I called it at 3 minutes. It took less than 1 minute after that to use the home-made giant buds (swabs and sossatti sticks) to pick up the F10 anti-everything cream, and smear a good layer of it on and around the damaged eye, around the mouth where there was open tissue, and on the top of the head, where the entry wound for the bullet was (entry dead centre on the head, just in front of the eyes (The brain was probably missed by mm’s).
Splints in place, halfway there, put more F10 cream on
Closing it all up for now, more F10 cream
During the whole 9 minutes of the operation, the snake had three coils around my leg, and was squeezing the good squeeze. It had life in it still, and was fighting to survive, and not to kill me for a change. My missus felt the squeeze as well, when I had to move, and had to move the tail from my leg, and searching for something to grip, it found her leg for a few moments, before I gave it mine to use again (the missus was a bit edgy about having a large mamba wrapped around her ankles…).
The worst side, after carefully avoiding the damage with the medical tape, final layers of F10 cream
Loosely closed mouth to allow for the swelling
Now, the tricky part… Releasing the pinner, without anyone getting hurt/bitten, or damaging the snake. I grabbed the snake about 50 cm behind the head with the tongs, and once I felt they were secure, on my command, my assistant removed the pinner, while moving back away from the now free head. I quickly lifted it up, and placed it in a dark holding container, and cleaned out the enclosure it is recuperating in as quickly as possible with F10 disinfectant spray. Replaced new newspaper, and a flat hide that it can just fit into in one corner, with a large bowl of fresh filtered water on the cool side, weighed the snake in the holding container (snake is at 2.155Kg), and replaced it into the enclosure, and locked it. Total time of operation now at 14 minutes.
Closed up the quarantine room, and went and scrubbed off, and had a cuppa joe. A job well done. A snake on its way to healing, and no one got bitten. The operation ended on Tuesday evening at around 7pm. The next 24 hours would be the deciding factor, and the waiting would probably kill me, but I had to leave the snake alone completely now.
Wednesday after work, I stopped in to check on the snake, and how it was recovering, to find that it had removed both splints, and the medical tape holding them in place. Also defecating in one corner of the enclosure… Deciding that I had to put the splints on, and clean the mess up, to keep the enclosure hygienic, I got to work, and prepped for tube feeding as well. My lovely assistant was asked to help again, and after I got the snake into position, and pinned it, she took over the pinning. I got the water into the syringe, and I started to work the tube carefully down the throat. The snake hissed at us the whole time, and fought to prevent the tube going down. This was by no means an easy task, as I had to work extremely close to the head of the snake, and the slightest mistake could spell disaster for us and the snake. I decided to start pushing some water down the feeding tube, while I pushed it down the throat. This was immediately received with a relaxation of the muscles, and the hissing stopped. I managed to get around 20-30ml of water down the throat, and then switched over to Hills A/D science tin food, and pushed about 10-15ml of that down the gullet. Carefully removing the tube, I was glad to see no regurgitation occurring, and no blood on the tube. All good signs. I replaced the splints next, as quickly as could be, and re applied the medical tape with a fresh dose of F10 cream and a gauze with some cream onto the eye. I then wrapped the head again gently to position the splints, and jaw. My assistant stood back, and I released the pinner, and I hook and tailed the mamba off the ground to go into a holding box. Time spent so far, around 10 minutes. Cleaned the enclosure, replaced all the hides and paper with fresh ones, and f10ed the entire enclosure. I hook and tailed the mamba out of the holding box, and it seemed to be more alive now. It could hold its entire body pretty well on the hook, and kept the head right. The food and water seemed to be welcoming. The snake came up the hook towards me, slowly, and with patience. I shook it off, and placed it into the now clean enclosure, and locked up for the night.
Moving the mamba to clean it's enclosure, behaving more like a snake every day (hat backwards only to keep hair out of my eyes)
On Thursday (14/04/2016), the snake was still alive when inspected, and seems to be convalescing nicely, even though it has removed the medical tape (the splints are still in place). It is not going to be an easy road from here, and I will have to tube in nutrients and water regularly until everything has healed up nicely, as it won’t be able to eat on it’s own for a while, and probably won’t want to either.
Looking much better than what it was
Mouth is still not hundreds, and right eye is completely scabbed over, but now only time will tell
I have gotten more flack than praise for doing this, and all from knowledgeable people that I can and do call my friends. They have extensive knowledge on reptiles, and I value their input, although seemingly not enough to listen to them in this regard, which may well prove to be a good thing for the snake’s sake. I understand that the snake is/was in pain, and that stress amongst other factors is playing against me at this point, but I can see that the snake seems more comfortable now, is in a nearly stress-free environment, where it can recover without incident or fear of predators or more gun-toting humans. I might just put my life on the line in saying that the snake doesn’t hold any of this against me personally, but I won’t be testing the theory any time soon with kisses to the face or such. After working this mamba to this point, I can clearly say that these are highly intelligent creatures that can think, remember, and associate very quickly.
Time for the snake to heal, and the next step is to get nutrients and liquids down its throat, and get the body healing from within. That is going to be hard on the snake, and hard for me, as it requires working in the swollen and sore parts of the head, and I know the snake will not like it very much, but we have to do the best we can, and hopefully it will receive it with the strength that it has been fighting with, and be up and around sooner than we all hope for.
I checked on the snake this morning (Tuesday, 19/04/2016), and it was lying in a very relaxed circular position, loosely coiled, and head up in typical mamba fashion, save for the extra cheeky, open mouthed smile due to the swelling, and it seems to be doing wonderfully, and is more alert and active every day now.
Thanks for reading this lengthy post, and I will update when necessary on the snake's recovery progress.
