Helping hands in snake safety

[bark snake ]

HELPING HANDS

In Snake Safety[ WRITER / PHOTOS: Marcel van Driel ]

[brown house snake ]

Zambia is home to 99 species of snake. This is a dynamic number, as new species are discovered now and then, such as recently the beautiful Shaba bush viper in the north-western part of the country. In addition, sometimes one snake species is split up in to a new species. This happened with the house snakes. In Zambia we have the brown house snake, the sooty house snake and, since 2020, the Frade’s house snake. They all look and behave similar, apart from their main colour and distribution.

Of the 99 snake species, 71 are harmless to human beings. This means that either they have no venom or that their venom is not potent enough to harm a human being. The remaining 28 snakes are considered dangerous to humans. Let’s look at this group of snakes. 12 of the 28 have a venom that can seriously harm a human, especially a child. Their venom is not deadly to humans but can be very painful, lead to swelling and, without medical treatment, could lead to infections or necrosis and in some cases amputation of a digit.

Then there are the 15 so called very dangerous snakes. They are the six species of cobra, the black mamba, three boomslang species, the three species of twig snakes, the puff adder and the Gaboon adder. A bite from any of these snakes could, without medical treatment, lead to death. Finally, there is one snake that is considered dangerous but is not venomous: the Southern African python. This is a large (up to 5.50 meter!), powerful snake with a big mouth filled with sharp teeth. A bite from a python leads to many deep lacerations which may require stitching. In addition, the teeth can hit a blood vessel which could lead to severe blood loss.

Fortunately, as said: most snakes in Zambia are harmless. They are usually smaller than the dangerous snakes and form an important part of Zambia’s ecological system. In addition: like the dangerous snakes, they eat animals we consider as pests, such as rodents, but also ants and termites.

There are even snakes that specialise in only one type of prey. The centipede eaters are an example. Their venom has no effect on us, but they eat the centipedes which have, for us, a very painful venom. Another example is the slug eater which only feeds on slugs.

Zambia is also home to some record-breaking snakes. The largest blind snake, the Zambezi giant blind snake, lives in Zambia as well as the very common olive sand snake which is the largest member of the sand snake family, while the less common dwarf sand snake is the smallest. It is also assumed that the olive sand snake may be the fastest snake in Africa. The snake with the largest fangs of any snake worldwide also lives in Zambia: the Gaboon adder. Its fangs can grow up to five centimetres! The boomslang is the snake with the largest eyes in the snake kingdom. Finally: the infamous black mamba, with a maximum of four meters, is the longest venomous snake in Africa and the second longest in the world, after the king cobra of Asia.

Many people are quite surprised when they find that some snake species are in fact very beautiful. They can have pretty colours and attractive patterns, such as the dwarf whip snake or the common bark snake. Both are very small and mostly eat lizards and frogs. But being pretty means nothing to snakes. The colours and patterns serve mainly as camouflage which helps snakes such as the puff adder not to be detected by its prey, or by would-be predators.

[South African python ]

[boomslang ] [ rhombic egg eater ]

A special snake is the rhombic egg eater. This snake puts up an impressive display, coiling its body in a horse-shoe shape and moving its rough scales along each other, making a rasping sound, like that of the rattle snakes of America. It will also open its mouth to show the black inside and will lash out ferociously. All to intimidate and deter would-be predators. The interesting part is: not only is this snake harmless to humans and animals, it doesn’t even have teeth! It only eats bird eggs which are swallowed whole. Inside the body, the egg is cracked, the yolk and white sucked out after which the flat eggshell is regurgitated.

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