A nine-month-old baby from Eshowe was bitten by a Mozambique spitting cobra yesterday, one of three people bitten over the weekend.
Pretoria herpetologist Johan Marais said the warm and wet weather in KwaZulu-Natal had encouraged reptile activity, with the creatures sometimes making their way into houses.
Marais characterised the past summer as a “very busy” snake-bite period.
The baby was in a stable condition in Ngwelezana Hospital, near Empangeni, and was being kept overnight for observation. Staff at the hospital said they treated snake bites almost daily.
Marais said cobras were responsible for most of the serious bites, and that several victims had been bitten while sleeping.
“As a rule, snakes don’t bite stationary objects. That’s why you’re told to stand still if one is nearby.
‘I suspect that they’ve accidentally got into these houses and bitten them in the dark, mistaking them for prey.”
The spitting cobra, Marais said, was commonly found in areas including Queensburgh, Sydenham, Chatsworth and Phoenix.
“They will try to go in a certain direction, and then bump into a wall, and then try to find where to move next, often finding that space under the front or back door.”
Mark Robertson, who runs the St. Lucia Crocodile Centre, was bitten by a green mamba on Saturday. He was in the process of removing the snake from inside the roof of the centre’s restaurant.
Robertson drove to hospital in Richards Bay, a 45-minute drive, and was placed in ICU with nausea, pain, swelling and difficulty in breathing.
Marais said that aside from the weather, urban development which encroached on the green mamba’s natural habitat – coastal bush – meant that people would come across the creatures more often.
“Their habitat is being destroyed by shopping centres and golf courses, and where coastal bush is removed to plant sugar cane,” he said.
A staff member of the Umgeni Bird Park was bitten by a stiletto snake and taken to St Augustine’s hospital. This snake has an extremely potent cytotoxic venom that causes severe pain, swelling and in many instances necrosis and even the loss of a fingertip. It is not considered a potentially deadly bite.
