Snakes of Tokai Park – A guide
A short, illustrated, up-to-date guide to nine of the most popular snakes of Lower and Upper Tokai Park
Reading Time: 60 minutes
By Vard Aman
Hello again!
So, you went for a walk today in Tokai Park and you saw a snake. You quickly whipped out your phone to get a picture, but the snake was too quick and disappeared before you could get a pic. But you’re pretty sure you got a good enough look at it.
Was it a cobra? A puff adder? Or a mole snake? Or perhaps you haven’t been for a walk yet and you’re wondering what snakes you may encounter, if any. Luckily or unluckily.
Or maybe you read a comment somewhere on social media that you just can’t put your foot down anywhere in Lower Tokai Park these days without stepping on a puff adder; or that you’ll be hunted down by a hungry Cape cobra looking for a (somewhat ambitious) meal the moment you take a short post-picnic nap; and you’re wondering if these and many other such stories could possibly be true.
So here’s a list of the nine most common snakes you may find while out and about in Tokai Park, as well as a little bit about each of them. There are others that are likely there too but you’ll be really lucky to see them: skaapstekers, whip snakes, flowerpot snakes, egg eaters, many-spotted reed snakes and worm snakes. I haven’t found any of these yet in Tokai Park, but I’m pretty sure that some of them are there…so we’ll get to them at a later date.
For now, we’ll stick to “The Known Nine”. Here goes:
Slug eater (Duberria lutrix)
What do they look like?
Small, brown and cute! They’re around 10cm when they’re born and may grow to around 40cm. Their colour is variable, from a dark reddish-brown to light brown on top; often with a darker, more greyish brown on the flanks and a light yellow belly, sometimes with silvery-grey borders. Many specimens have a dark line, with varying levels of interruption, down the spine. Their scales are smooth.
The insides of their mouths are black, but that doesn’t make them baby black mambas.
How common are they?
Very! One of the most common snakes in both Tokai Park and in the surrounding residential areas.
Where do they live?
They generally prefer damp locations, mainly because that is what their food likes too. For obvious reasons, they have adapted well to suburban gardens. If you find one in your garden you should just leave them there because
- they’re likely very happy there, and…
- they’ll be providing an excellent service for you, especially if you’re trying to grow vegetables.
But remember, going out into the bush, finding slug eaters and taking them back to your garden is a very strict “NO!”
That’s poaching and poaching is bad!
What do they do?
You might find them out and about during the day, if they’re not hiding – which is most of the time. They’re rather slow moving and tend to mind their own business. After all, if your main diet is slugs and snails you don’t really need to be Usain Bolt, do you? Life can be lived at a leisurely pace!
What do they eat?
Slugs and snails. They prefer slugs to snails, mainly because they’re easier to eat. They grab them and gobble them down like oysters. Snails are more difficult for them because they have to get inside the shell and detach the escargot from the packaging. They then have to get their heads out again, which can sometimes be harder than getting them in. This also leaves them temporarily vulnerable because they’ve been effectively blindfolded by their supper, while also looking a bit like a character from Silent Hill. But still, snails are good to eat so, if they are there to eat and there are no slug alternatives, they shall be eaten!
How do they defend themselves?
Mostly by hoping that just being a snake is good enough. I’ve never seen one even try to bite and the chances of piercing human skin if they did are zero. Their best defence is to release a strong smelling musk, but usually you have to try to pick it up first. Not always a good idea because
- are you sure it’s a slug eater? And…
- is it necessary to pick something up if you don’t have to?
Once you have the musk on your fingers, your fingers will be smelling of slug eater for a day or two. Three if you want the smell on your fingers be a good conversation starter during a romantic dinner date. Sometimes they’ll hide their heads and roll up into a little ball, or into a spiral shape (this had given them their common Afrikaans name of “Tabakrolletjie”). They might also try to play dead.
Do I have anything to say about them that might be considered controversial and get me followed home one evening?
No. But the day is young…
Brown water snake (Lycodonomorphus rufulus)
What do they look like?
Small, brown and cute! But bigger than slug eaters. They’re around 15cm when they hatch and may grow to around 80cm, although anything above 50cm is big for a brown water snake. They are quite thin snakes with long tails. The dorsal colouration ranges from grey to brown to olive green. The underside is usually light in colour, often with an orange or pink tinge, while others are creamy white. The lighter belly colouration extends to the lower and upper lips where the lower part of the eye forms an indentation in the colour scheme. Their eyes are relatively large and usually orange to orange-brown in colour. They may be confused with olive house snakes (Lycodonomorphus inornatus), but the nose of the olive house snake is blunter, the eyes are smaller and lack the orange colouration, and the lighter ventral colouration does not extend to the upper lip. Olive House Snakes also lack the orange to pinkish colouration on the belly. Their scales are smooth.
How common are they?
Very! One of the most common snakes in both Tokai Park and in the surrounding residential areas. (Did I just copy and paste that? Yes, I did!)
Where do they live?
They like to live near wetlands, streams, rivers or any other suitable water source. The pond in your garden will do just fine too, thank you!
What do they do?
You’re mostly likely to find them out and about hunting in the late evening and night. If you’re really lucky, you might see them in or around a river or pond during the day too. They are fast and agile, and excellent swimmers. They’re also very shy and nervous snakes, and very docile.
What do they eat?
Frogs is the number one item on the menu. They’ll also take tadpoles and fish. Maybe small rodents too when times are tough.
How do they defend themselves?
I don’t think they’ve really figured out how to yet. They might try to make a few sudden, jerky movements that could pass for a strike, but it isn’t very convincing. They’re not really able to pierce human skin even if they do one day figure out how to strike. They mostly just try to get away, and they can move quite fast. If not, they curl themselves up and try to hide their heads under their bodies.
Do I have anything to say about them that might be considered controversial and get me followed home one evening?
I know you’re only coming here to read this bit, so: If you have a fish pond and lose the occasional goldfish to a brown water snake, just get some more fish – they’re not expensive. And having a brown water snake in your garden is seriously cool!
Olive house snake or olive snake (Lycodonomorphus inornatus)
What do they look like?
Generally a bit bigger and bulkier than their cousins, the brown water snakes. They start out at around 20cm and can grow to 120cm, although anything over 70cm is big. (You might have to go to KZN to seen an olive house snake 120cm long). They’re mostly plain olive-coloured snakes with creamy bellies (dorsal shades may vary, and some may even be brown to dark brown). The cream colouration of the ventrals often extends to the lower jaw – probably the most distinctive feature of this snake. The eyes are of average size and the pupils are round. They may be confused with their brown water snake cousin but the nose is blunter, the eyes are smaller and lack the orange to orange-brown colouration, and the lighter ventrals seldom extend to the upper lip. Their scales are smooth.
How common are they?
Very! One of the most common snakes in both Tokai Park and in the surrounding residential areas.
Where do they live?
Pretty much anywhere they like. They’re generalists. They’re quite fond of any pile of debris and are very happy under stones and logs. As the name would suggest, they’ve adapted well to human habitation and are as happy in your garden or your garage as they are in the wild. They’re excellent at rodent control. (But hey! No poaching please!)
What do they do?
They’re mostly nocturnal and you may find them out and about foraging in the late evening. You might also find them out and about on cool, overcast days. They’re very docile and just chill out and mind their own business. They’re not overly fast snakes, unlike their cousins, and are a lot less nervous and a lot more carefree. But, holy cow, can these snakes climb!
What do they eat?
Food. They’re opportunistic generalists: so rodents, frogs, lizards and other snakes (including sometimes other olive house snakes). They’re also nest raiders, so they can hunt down a mouse’s nest within walls of your kitchen and help themselves to all the children. This will help keep the nasty hantaviruses out of your corn flakes. (But hey! No poaching please!)
How do they defend themselves?
They’ll try their best to get away, but beyond that they don’t seem to care that much. They hardly ever try to bite and can’t do much if they do. A large one is able to pierce human skin, but the question one really has to ask is: how did you get into the position of being bitten in the first place?
Do I have anything to say about them that might be considered controversial and get me followed home one evening?
“Olive house snakes”? Or “olive snakes” or “olive ground snakes” or “olive night snakes” or any of the other common names they’ve gone by recently or in the past? Recently, they changed their scientific name from Lamprophis inornatus (with the other house snakes) to Lycodonomorphus inornatus (same genus as the brown water snake).
This change makes sense and is supported by evidence. According to the laws of taxonomy, one species cannot have two different names, and one name cannot be shared by two different species. It is also universal: meaning I can talk to a herpetologist from a small village in Mongolia who does not speak any English but will know what I’m talking about when I say that the imaginary girlfriend I had in high school had a pet Lycodonomorphus inornatus. Well, he’ll know what Lycodonomorphus inornatus is at least. Because when I said “Lycodonomorphus inornatus” his eyes suddenly suggested something other than boredom. But if I say “olive night snake”, he might not.
Common names work differently to scientific names – the only rules are that:
- the common name vaguely describes the animal you’re talking about, in theory at least (which it certainly does in the case of “olive house snake”), and…
- people who aren’t fluent in “Nerdy Sciency Talk” will know what you’re talking about. Especially when the scientific names changes and the people who feel like they’ve had to learn a new language don’t have to start again.
To get to the point: if a common name works, leave it be. “King cobras” (Ophiophagus hannah) are not cobras. “Copperhead” means something different if you live in the USA (Agkistrodon contortrix) or if you live in Australia (Austrelaps sp.). But we all know what they mean: if you’re going to try applying scientific naming conventions to common names; trust me, this is going to be a lo-o-o-o-ong battle.
But is it a battle that is even worth fighting in the first place? Surely there are more important things to do? It’s the same as the “poisonous” vs “venomous” debate… because you know, like, literally no one will understand you when you ask if a snake is “poisonous” rather than “venomous”…. Right?
And their actual question and its context is far less important than a lesson in lexical semantics, right…? Or if someone asks you if a black mamba is poisonous, you’re just going to say “no”… because, technically, it isn’t… Right? Anyway, I’m going to make a sudden left turn at this intersection – after indicating right – because I think someone might be following me…
Mole snake (Pseudaspis cana)
What do they look like?
They start out small: 20cm, but may eventually get to 210cm: the largest indigenous snake you’ll find in the Cape Town Metro. Their colours also change dramatically from birth to adulthood. The young ones are grey to light brown with distinct dark rhombic zig-zag markings down the back. There are white spots down the flanks. As they get older these markings gradually fade. Adults can vary from light brown to black. Their pupils are round. They have small heads for a snake of their size, ending in a sharp nose, and the scales behind the eyes are small (compared with a Cape Cobra – which they are sometimes confused with – which has a blunt nose and large scales behind the eyes). Their bodies are strong and cylindrical. Their scales are smooth, but there have been one or two that have turned up with slightly keeled scales. A big, powerful snake!
How common are they?
Very! One of the most common snakes in Tokai Park and in other areas of the Cape Flats. They are also common in the surrounding residential areas, but somewhat (and only somewhat) less so than the more cosmopolitan counterparts mentioned above.
Where do they live?
They like sandy areas where they can use the burrows of mole rats and other rodents to hide and/or move around. They spend most of their time underground, but like to come out to bask, which is most often when they’re seen.
What do they do?
They’re mostly diurnal. They generally mind their own business, but they will let you know if you are too close. They will either flee down their burrow, or they will coil and give you a hiss. They can move quickly when they want to, but mostly they don’t want to.
What do they eat?
Rodents, especially rats and mole rats, and they are excellent rodent controllers. They are powerful constrictors, but if they are underground and don’t have room to constrict, they use a slicing technique using the razor-sharp cutting edges on the backs of some of their teeth. They may sometimes eat birds’ eggs, but this is mostly opportunistic.
How do they defend themselves?
Mostly by having people on social media exaggerate the danger they pose – way beyond the actual danger the animal poses in all but the most extreme situations.
Yes, mole snakes will let you know when they’re not happy with you. If they cannot flee, they will coil and hiss, and then, if you get too close, they will mock strike. If a strike happens to land, the teeth are sharp and they can draw blood. If you pull your hand away while the snake is biting you, the teeth will slice, and that could leave you with quite a deep cut. And then, as you pull away from the snake in fright, the momentum could make you stumble backwards and you could trip over an old tree branch, fall and bash the back of your head against a sharp rock and die.
Do I have anything to say about them that might be considered controversial and get me followed home one evening?
If I do, you can read Learning to Love the Mole Snake.
Herald snake (Crotaphopeltis hotamboeia)
What do they look like?
They start at around 15cm and may eventually reach 80cm, but anything above 50cm is rare in our part of the world. They are usually an olive to brownish-green with fairly random white flecks on the body. The head has a distinctive black patch on either side, extending from the temporal area behind the eyes to the neck (behind the parietal scales). It may join at this point. The extent of this black marking is variable between individuals, but it is almost always present in this species. The scales on the upper lip are sometimes orange to red in colour, giving this snake one of its common names, but this is not always present. In many cases, the upper lip is pale in colour, as is the case with many of the Herald snakes found in the City of Cape Town (CoCT) metro area. The eyes are large and have slit pupils. Their scales are smooth.
How common are they?
Quite common. You’ll certainly find them in and around the Tokai area.
Where do they live?
They prefer to live in damper areas, near to wetlands and streams. And fishponds.
What do they do?
They’re mostly nocturnal, but they can sometimes be found out and about on cool, overcast mornings. Pretty much like olive house snakes.
What do they eat?
They love frogs and toads.
How do they defend themselves?
Mostly by bluff. They might coil up and flatten their heads into an adder-like arrow shape (which sometimes gets them confused with adders or even cobras – which is the whole point). They might then mock strike. It can be quite an impressive display!
If the display doesn’t work and you still try to tamper with the snake, it might bite you. They are “rear-fanged”, but the venom is very mild. It may require a large specimen to chew for a while to produce any notable symptoms, and those symptoms may include slight swelling and pain around the bite site with bleeding (more than would be expected from such a bite – which would suggest haemotoxic properties). But, if you have a gelatin foam capsule on you, you can bite it and make foam come out of your mouth if the people who called you to remove a snake completely unnecessarily at 2am won’t pay you for your trouble.
- Do I have anything to say about them that might be considered controversial and get me followed home one evening?
If you’ve ever experienced the black-and-white world of social media, you may have noticed there are two camps:
- those that say that Herald snake venom can give you a headache, and…
- those that say that it can’t.
(To elaborate on that second one, there are those that say that there is nothing in the venom that can give you a headache.)
Let’s address all three, but let’s start with the third. Snake venom is complicated and made up of many different components, and not every specimen has the same components in its venom, just to complicate things even further.
And Herald snake venom has barely been studied at all, so to claim that “there is nothing in the venom that can give you a headache” is irresponsible at best and belittling to the complexity of the subject at worst.
People who have been bitten by Herald snakes will sometimes tell you that the bite bled a lot more than they would have expected from such a wound. This would suggest the possible presence of haemorrhagic components, and/or other components affecting haemostasis in the venom. And such components are certainly capable of giving someone a headache – just ask your local boomslang.
Does that mean that it happens, though?
Well, it is often said that 100% of people who think that correlation implies causation will eventually die. If haemorrhagic metalloproteinases in the venom (and I’m not saying that they are present, just that they might be) are causing people to get headaches after being bitten, there will likely be other symptoms that are also caused by such haemorrhagic components. Again, just ask your local boomslang.
This means that, if you do get a headache after being bitten by a Herald snake, it most likely really is all in your head.
So, to sum up:
3) An irresponsible statement that requires a much more thorough investigation to be able to make
2) Most likely true; and…
1) I’m not going to rubbish your statement. After all, you’re the one with the symptoms, not me.
But, unless you’re also bleeding from the nose, I’m probably just going to give you a sugar pill and a band-aid and send you home. And if you are bleeding from the nose, I’m going to suspect something else. I might even suspect that your ID skills aren’t entirely up to scratch and ask your local boomslang.
Harlequin snake (Homoroselaps lacteus)
What do they look like?
Quite small, thin snakes, starting out at around 15cm and possibly eventually reaching 60cm or so. They have a rough black-and-yellow banding with a broad, broken orange stripe running down the spine. The head is usually black with the orange stripe thinning at the back of the head, and with a yellow wedge behind the eyes. There is a spotted version of this snake which is dark in colour with numerous, fairly evenly spaced yellow or white dots and a dotted yellow line down the spine – the thickness of which depends on the individual specimen.
How common are they?
More common than you think! Their fossorial habits mean they are seen a lot less often. But there are lots of them around.
Where do they live?
Mostly fossorial – i.e. underground. They do like living under logs and under stones and, if there are old termite mounds around, they like those. But please don’t go destroying old termite mounds looking for them; old termite mounds make a great habitat for many creatures. Is it really worth destroying a good home and refuge for many different critters just for a photo?
What do they do?
Mostly, they just hide. They are quite shy and nervous snakes and don’t like being exposed much.
What do they eat?
Mostly other reptiles, particularly blind snakes, worm snakes and fossorial lizards.
How do they defend themselves?
They wriggle and thrash about, making very jerky movements. Or they try to cover their heads with their bodies. It takes a lot of harassment to get one of these snakes to bite you. If they do, and they hold on long enough to inject some venom, their venom appears to be quite mild (though I would take it more seriously than, say, a Herald snake).
Symptoms may include slight pain and swelling around the bite site. In extreme cases, the pain and swelling may extend right up the bitten arm, the lymph nodes may become painful and swollen, and the patient may feel generally lethargic. The symptoms usually abate after a few days, or up to a week in extreme cases.
Do I have anything to say about them that might be considered controversial and get me followed home one evening?
They’re snakes. So I guess they have to be portrayed as worse than they really are.
All a snake needs is an outlier or two at the high end of the sample to tarnish their reputation for good. It’s the same with mole snakes.
Someone else was also bitten but absolutely nothing happened. They’re also an outlier, but at the other end of the scale, so we’re going to ignore them as they have nothing to contribute.
But where is the mean? What can we say are typical symptoms of the venom of this snake? Just like the typical symptoms of a bee sting? Or two bee stings? Or two bees if you’ve been stung on a few occasions previously? Or by a whole swarm? Can certain death within 30 seconds be regarded as a “typical symptom of a bee sting”?
My point is this: if you’re going to let a large harlequin snake chew on you for a good solid five minutes, are the resulting symptoms really going to be regarded as typical of this species? Or should we put a narrower chewing-time window on our sample that is more representative of what could be considered the mean?
I think we need more information before regarding outliers at the high end of the sample as “typical”.
By the way, I need 100 volunteers…
Boomslang (Dispholidus typus typus)
What do they look like?
Generally long and relatively thin: starting out at around 35cm and eventually getting up to as much as 2m. Juveniles are thin-bodied with larger heads, and typically have a two-tone colouration: dark grey/brown on top and light grey/brown below, often with darker spots down the flanks and sometimes with a yellow-orange throat. The eyes are large and green in colour. As they grow, the colours morph into the adult forms. In the Western Cape, the males are dark brown to black on top with bright yellow to yellowish green underneath, while the females are two-tone dark brown on top and light brown underneath. While this is regarded as a general rule of thumb when it comes to distinguishing males from females, this is not always the case and several “egg laying males” have turned up. Males from upcountry are green – and those are a different subspecies: Dispholidus typus viridis. The eyes remain large but darken with age, and the pupils are round and large – this snake has excellent eyesight. The dorsal scales are keeled.
How common are they?
Quite common, both in Tokai Park in in the surrounding areas.
Where do they live?
Boomslang are found in trees. Obviously! …Oh, and in hedges and bushes and shrubs, and in rocky areas. And gabions. And next to rivers. And in attics. They sometimes come down to the ground too. You get where this is going, right?
What do they do?
They are almost entirely diurnal. They are quite habitual snakes that are familiar and comfortable within their home ranges. They are fast and nervous and will seldom allow close approach. And, it should go without saying, they are excellent climbers. They like to pop their heads out from the foliage for a better view of things, and they bob their heads up and down to emulate the wind in the foliage.
Boomslang are very docile and are an easy snake to co-exist with, and should ideally be left in peace to go about their daily business because, if left alone, they present no danger to people or their pets (despite their potent venom).
Incidentally, the black-on-top /light-underneath makes for excellent camouflage: to blend in with the greenery and the sky from below, and blend in with the ground from above. Just like a penguin.
What do they eat?
Lizards and chameleons, birds (especially chicks) as well as occasion birds’ eggs, and sometimes frogs and toads. Small rodents are eaten too, but they are not a boomslang’s favourite meal and will only be taken if the snake is either hungry or if the opportunity presents itself. Some boomslang may become specialist feeders.
How do they defend themselves?
Flee! Fast! When it can’t, a boomslang may inflate its throat and neck to almost double its size as a threat display.
This is a warning that should be heeded, as are the threat displays of any other snake.
Be that as it may, boomslang are actually extremely docile and very reluctant to bite. Which is fortunate, because they could do so quite easily if they really wanted to given their speed and mobility.
Their venom is a very potent haemotoxin, consisting of procoagulants which cause consumptive coagulopathy, haemorrhagins which cause internal haemorrhaging, and disintegrins which cause platelet and fibrinogen degradation.
What happens if you get envenomated by one?
The venom is slow acting as consumptive coagulopathy takes place, taking up to 24 hrs for symptoms to show. The first symptom is often light-headedness followed by an increasingly severe headache. (Oh, btw, your local Herald snake says hi). Bleeding (often watery) from the site of the fang marks will also occur, as well as bleeding from the nose, gums, any scratches or wounds, and other body orifices.
As the blood vessels rupture, large areas of bruising will begin to appear beneath the skin. Internal damage may be extensive, especially to the kidneys, due to massive internal haemorrhaging. If untreated or poorly treated, boomslang envenomation can be fatal, and it is not a pleasant death.
They dry bite quite often, but because the venom is so slow acting, you can’t assume that you have been given a dry bite.
Get to hospital as soon as possible. Even if it appears that there are no symptoms the doctors will test for coagulopathy, and should envenomation be detected, 1-2 vials of monovalent boomslang antivenom may be administered (this may be expensive but it will be effective). In the absence of sufficient early treatment, whole blood transfusions will be required. And you can expect to be in hospital for a while if things progress to that point.
Do I have anything to say about them that might be considered controversial and get me followed home one evening?
Here’s your “fun fact” for the day, brought to you from whatever the modern day equivalent of a Chappies Bubblegum wrapper is: “Drop for drop, the boomslang’s venom is the most potent of any African snake – even more potent than a black mamba.”
I’m sure you’ve heard that, or a version of it, sometime somewhere. But is it really? To answer that question, we’re going to have to use a test called LD50 – this will calculate the dose required to kill 50% of our test subjects within a specified time frame.
Cool beans!
Now let’s throw the first spanner into the works: what test subject are we going to use? Birds, lizards, rats, mice, rabbits, insects, monkeys, people? It’s rather important, because the results will likely be very different. We’ll have to consider, among many other things, the influence and proximity of the predator-prey relationship in our results.
I guess what everyone really wants to know is how potent the venom is for people, but suggesting using human subjects in our LD50 test might just get a raised eyebrow or two from an ethics committee. And from the police. So we’ll have to use the good old white laboratory mouse as it is more or less the most neutral test subject we can find although, naturally, there are still likely to be biases in the results.
This brings us to the next spanner: how are we going to administer the venom? Subcutaneously (under the skin), intravenously (into a vein), intramuscularly (into a muscle), intraperitoneally (into the peritoneal cavity)? All of or some of the above? They’re going to yield different results, especially when comparing venoms with different modes of action.
It is fair to point out that, when a snake bites a person, the injection of venom will more than likely be subcutaneous. Snakes with long fangs, like a puff adder, could possibly achieve an intramuscular injection. A direct intravenous injection of venom from a snake strike may be possible in theory, but requires a level of accuracy that makes it very unlikely to occur in reality.
Right, next spanner: from where are we getting our venom? Different individuals often have slightly different components to their venom, with even more potentially varying degrees between different populations. So the makeup and potency of the venom of different individuals will vary, which will obviously affect the results, so we’re going to need a decent-sized and sufficiently varied sample of venom and average it out over several tests.
This is starting to get time consuming and expensive. So I’m going to stop here and, instead, look for some LD50 results for boomslang and black mambas on the internet.
Here’s what I’ve found: – Boomslang: 12.5mg/kg (subcutaneous), 0.06mg/kg (intravenous), 0.071mg/kg (intravenous), 1.32mg/kg (intraperitoneal), 1.80mg/kg (intraperitoneal). Black mamba: 0.32mg/kg (subcutaneous), 0.55mg/kg (subcutaneous), 0.25mg/kg (intravenous), 0.26mg/kg (intravenous), 0.34mg/kg (intravenous), 0.26mg/kg (intraperitoneal).
All using lab mice. So the boomslang wins the intravenous competition and the black mamba wins the subcutaneous and intraperitoneal competitions.
We appear to be getting nowhere.
Let’s try another approach: let’s look at the potential venom yield and the effects on human patients that have been bitten. The boomslang has a small potential maximum venom yield (again, we’re going to have to look at the internet: 17mg is the largest number I could find for boomslang), while the black mamba has a much larger potential maximum venom yield (400mg being the largest number I could find).
So the black mamba can hit you with a lot more, which can certainly contribute to the speed and severity of the symptoms too, but, oooh, the horrible symptoms that a boomslang can get with so little….
Unfortunately, there is no way that we can really tell how much venom a snake is injecting with a bite. The venom yields are measured during milking and the likelihood that either snake will empty the entire contents of its venom glands into you are extremely unlikely.
Then we have to take into account the complexities of venom components of the individual snakes and the venom susceptibility of the individual patients, which can be hard to determine too, especially seeing as we can’t tell how much venom is injected.
We’re going to have to make a lot of assumptions here while ignoring too many questions. So this is not really going to give us the answer either (though I can see how the thought process is working).
I think, for now, if we’re going to be honest, we’re going to have to concede that we don’t really know the answer to this one. And neither does the Chappies Bubblegum wrapper.
Now to figure out how long I have to stay in order to kill 50% of the parties I go to…
Cape cobra (Naja nivea)
What do they look like?
They start at around 35cm and can eventually grow to 2m. Juveniles are almost always light brown in colour with black specks on the body. There is a dark band on the underside of the neck which fades with age. Adult colouration is highly variable, from almost black to light caramel, plain coloured to mottled and speckled varieties.
The most common colour morphs in the CoCT Metro area are the dark and light speckled varieties, and the light to dark plain brown and copper-coloured varieties. A few yellow, caramel and black ones have also been found, but they appear to be less frequent in the CoCT. Their bodies are round to triangular in shape. Their heads are fairly prominent; they have blunt-ish noses and large scales behind the eyes (compared with a Mole Snake, which has a sharp nose and small scales behind the eyes). The scales are smooth and the eyes have round pupils.
How common are they?
Quite common, both in Tokai Park in in the surrounding areas.
Where do they live?
They’re generalists and opportunists, so they’re happy pretty much anywhere. Rocks. Burrows. Thick bushes. Trees. Wetlands. Wherever they lay their hat. Build them a nice gabion to live in and they’ll happily move in and keep your rodent population in check while occasionally popping out to say “Hi” every now and then. …Which is usually when a snake catcher ends up getting an unnecessary phone call.
What do they do?
They are mostly diurnal snakes that prefer warmer temperatures. They may spend a lot of time basking near their retreats, often with their hoods spread to maximise their surface area. They are active and opportunistic hunters within their home ranges. When on the move, Cape Cobras are inquisitive snakes – a habit which has sometimes ended up with them entering houses or stowing away in car engines, where they are then sometimes transported deep into suburban areas. While this does not happen often, it does tend to occur more with Cape Cobras than with most other snakes in the region.
Once translocated outside of their home ranges, they are particularly vulnerable and may travel long distances. Then you do need to give a snake catcher a call.
What do they eat?
Food. They’re opportunistic generalists, perhaps the most out of all of our local snakes. So: rodents, amphibians, lizards, birds, birds’ eggs, other snakes (they quite like puff adders), each other sometimes. Not people, though (and I should not have had to type that with a serious expression on my face).
How do they defend themselves?
They flee! That is their first and most common reaction to any disturbance. It is only when they can’t flee that they will turn and face their attacker.
Only. When. They. Can’t. Flee.
Then some, and only some, will stand up and spread that impressive cobra hood that makes up most of the cobra photographs you tend to see. They will quickly drop that hood if they think they’re no longer under threat (you can fool them into believing they’re safe by keeping dead still).
If, however, they continue to be harassed, they may open their mouths and make lunges at their attacker. Often this is accompanied by a deep, hollow hiss.
The strike with intent is a very different looking strike: it comes in the form of a quick S-shaped flick, not from a pitiful forward lunge with the hood spread – that is only to intimidate.
I do have to mention that they’re all individuals with individual personalities and some will be more defensive than others. Some require very little provocation, while others will be very difficult to get to respond.
Sometimes it’s about the circumstance the snake is in: corner then and they will put on the full display; once they’re no longer cornered they’re a chilled as can be – same animal, but different circumstances and different threat level.
Juvenile Cape cobras are a lot more defensive and, if they can’t flee, will stand and hood far more willingly.
Cape cobra venom is predominantly a potent neurotoxin, consisting of both post-synaptic (mostly) and pre-synaptic (to a lesser degree) neurotoxic components. Some specimens may also have minor cytotoxic components to their venom.
Like most snakes, the variation between venom components, as well as toxicity, is variable from individual to individual, even within the same populations.
Cape cobras have short, fixed front fangs. They dry bite fairly often.
What happens if you get envenomated by one?
This depends on how much venom you received, the makeup of the venom and how your immune system reacts. But let’s not get overly complicated for the purposed of this article and focus on what one might consider typical. The bite site is not overly painful and there may or may not be a slight swelling.
The first symptom of envenomation is often a metallic taste in the mouth. This may then be followed by a tingling sensation around the lips, increasing paralysis of the tongue, increased salivation and difficulty in swallowing. The patient may experience drowsiness and dizziness, the pupils of the eyes may dilate and the eyelids close (ptosis). Sweating, nausea and vomiting are also possible. The patient may then suffer increasing flaccid paralysis, experience increasing difficulty breathing and may lose consciousness.
Convulsions and coma are also possible and death is usually due to respiratory failure.
Untreated or poorly treated envenomations may be fatal, so envenomations from Cape cobras should be regarded as extreme medical emergencies.
The onset of severe symptoms can be very rapid, occurring in as little as 30 minutes in extreme cases, and death can potentially occur within 8 hours after a bite.
(PS: Journalists, if you’re going to quote me, please include the bits where I say “can potentially” and “possible”).
However, with fast and effective treatment, most patients survive and recover within a few days, as long as there are no complications.
Do I have anything to say about them that might be considered controversial and get me followed home one evening?
The reputation these snakes have for being “aggressive” is beyond ridiculous. Of all the great many Cape cobras I have had the privilege of working with over the years, I can count the ones that behaved with seemingly unprovoked aggression, with unhesitant standing and biting with intent on just one hand, and in all of those cases there were underlying causes that I was not aware of (such as internal trauma not visible externally).
Yet somehow, this is the kind of behaviour that is passed off as “typical” of Cape cobras. Of course, harass them enough and they will react. But that’s not the snake being “aggressive” or “dangerous”, it’s you harassing it, it’s you making the snake scared, and it’s you making the snake feel it needs to warn you that it will defend itself if it has to.
OK, let’s say you didn’t deliberately harass it, you just cornered it or surprised it in a way that made it react. Fine, retreat a bit, give the snake its space and allow it to escape or, at least, not feel threatened anymore, and watch what it does.
But sometimes accidents do happen. Because Cape cobras are so bold and inquisitive, they do sometimes find their way indoors or into suburban gardens where one does not expect to find them and this can cause possible unexpected conflict.
No, you did not think that you brought a Cape cobra home with you under your car after your camping trip and now it’s curled up in a box of toys in the wardrobe in your child’s bedroom. It’s the last thing you were expecting. Or maybe the people from three houses away went camping and now the stowaway is in your house because the cobra went walkabout. You weren’t expecting that either.
Those two incidents really happened, and, to be fair, the people who lived in those houses and who found the snakes and called me were very understanding of what went down – but when these things find their way into the media or social media, the story goes way beyond reality.
Especially when someone actually gets bitten. Then not only does the blame land exclusively on the snake, but the actual motives of the snake come into question, as if the snake were acting out of malice and nothing else.
Yes, accidents do unfortunately happen. But, no, the snake wasn’t waiting for you, the snake wasn’t hunting you, and you are not on the menu. You weren’t even on the menu by accident (this is an animal with a very good sense of taste and smell; it does know the difference), the snake just thought you were a threat and it responded, that’s all.
But I guess the superstitions are still very real or continue to lie just beneath the surface, and the superstitions have helped fuel the fears, and the media and certain companies have exploited those fears for their own ends.
Or maybe some self-appointed knights still feel they need to save the damsels in distress from the dragons, and pointing out that the dragon is actually just a shy and frightened creature, far more afraid of the damsel than the other way around perhaps doesn’t go down too well on the PR front.
Maybe they’re worried that the bards won’t sing any songs about them if they don’t paint the dragon as being far worse than it actually is. Anyway…
Puff adder (Bitis arietans)
And finally, Tokai Park’s icon!
You can read everything you want to know about puff adders at:
Hissy Fits: The Puff Adders of Tokai Park
But we can do a quick summary here:
What do they look like?
Rough and beautifully camouflaged. They have small, keeled scale all over their bodies, including their heads. The eyes have lit pupils. Their most distinctive feature, if you can see it, is a series of light-coloured, backward facing chevrons running down the back until halfway to the tail.
They start at around 20cm and may eventually reach approximately 110cm. They’re bulky snakes with large triangular heads.
How common are they?
Very common, probably the most common snake in the natural areas of Tokai and the mountainous areas of the Cape Peninsula. Also very common in the gardens around those areas, but becoming increasingly less common the deeper you go into suburbia. Because of their beautiful camouflage, you just don’t see them that often. What’s that? You do see them often, you say? No, trust me, relative to how many there are, you don’t!
Where do they live?
Mostly in vegetation, but they do like to come out and bask in more open areas. They like to ambush rodents along their habitual runs.
What do they do?
They are mostly diurnal in the CoCT metro area due to the cooler climate. In warmer areas, they are more crepuscular. They’re ambush predators that rely on their camouflage. They’re not “lazy”, they’re “tactically inactive”.
What do they eat?
Nothing beats a nice big juicy rat!
How do they defend themselves?
They keep dead still and hope you won’t see them. If they think they’ve definitely been spotted and are in imminent danger, and they can’t flee, they will emit a series of deep, low hisses, escalating into a loud, high hisses if the threat increases. They may then draw their heads back, nose pointing down. This is an impressive warning. Failure to heed it may induce a mock strike in which the puff adder will show you the inside of its mouth, including its weaponry. If you still don’t get the message after that, and you are close enough, it may just use it.
The venom is predominantly a potent cytotoxin.
What happens if you get envenomated by one?
Immediate and increasing burning pain followed by gradual swelling and blistering of the skin, increasing in severity. Extensive tissue damage is likely to occur around the bitten area, with possible necrosis if treatment is inadequate. Recovery is slow, but fatalities are rare.
Do I have anything to say about them that might be considered controversial and get me followed home one evening?
They belong in Lower Tokai Park. It’s their home.
Snake advice
Vard Aman: 082 539 4452
Snake removal in the Tokai area
Ashley Foster: 072 030 5810
Further reading
- Hahndiek V (2021) Learning to Love the Mole Snake
- Hahndiek V (2023) Hissy Fits: The Puff Adders of Tokai Park
- Hall SR & Casewell N 2024 – Snakebites can destroy skin, muscle, and even bone – exciting progress on drugs to treat them The Conversation
