Snake catcher on the mend after being bitten twice by black mamba

A Limpopo snake catcher is recuperating after being bitten by a black mamba while trying to retrieve it from a ceiling.

Gideon Vorster, from Tzaneen, was helping to remove the snake which was shedding its skin — a process that makes them violent and territorial — and it bit him twice on his hand.

“I’m much better. Hopefully soon I will be able to catch [snakes] again. This is normal in our work. It’s not my actual job, I do it as a hobby. We’re aware that they are wild animals and people shouldn’t handle them without training.

“It was an unfortunate incident. I’m continuing with [this] work as soon as I’m healed,” Vorster told TimesLIVE about the incident which occurred a week ago.

He said he was careful during the incident. “I did not play with the snake. It was caught in a ceiling at Nkowankowa town. We noticed that the snake was in its shedding process and had marks on it. We were not sure if he got hurt while in the roof.

“We had to check before releasing it. It was after this that I was bitten. It was only at the hospital that we realised he bit me twice on the hand. I’m unable to catch snakes for a while, but can help with identifications,” he said in a post on Facebook.

Meanwhile, a family in Potchefstroom is living with 18 indigenous and exotic serpents freely slithering on couches and in enclosures in the house.

Collen Lengwasa, 40, shocked his wife Lidia Pina, 36, when he and their 11-year-old son came home in 2017 from a reptile expo with a snake.

“I packed my bags and wanted to leave our marriage. I couldn’t understand why he let me fall in love with him and have a family before he decided to let snakes into the home. I knew he was fascinated by them because at work he does a lot of conservation and deals with reptiles.

“He promised to keep it in the garage and eventually my two boys were spending all their time in a home-made ‘man-cave’, cleaning, petting and feeding the snake. Eventually I started joining them and learning about the reptiles. I have a favourite, Lucy [an albino Burmese python],” said Pina.

They own about 60, some of which are homed with breeders and keepers in their circle until they have more space.

TimesLIVE