Reptile & Amphibian Forums

After doing countless internet searches for photos of Black Mambas I've come to a conclusion:

It's not possible to take a quality, un-compromised photo of a Black Mamba. lol

Seriously....

99% of Black mambas photos are either less-than-perfect headshots, semi-focused (mamba won't sit still for more than a few seconds), or the animal looks mentally-challenged.**

**Slack-jawed, never more than a half-second from a 'gaping' display.

My point: I've heard plenty about the attitude and confrontational dimeanor of Black Mambas, but, it wasn't until I searched through a couple hundred photos that I realized how deserving their reputation is.

IS there a harder snake to photograph??
(I've messed with coachwhips in the field, and they seem like rubber boas compared to with what a Black Mamba offers...haha)

BB

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"Have you hugged your drummer today?" --- Me

I have not had that problem with black mambas.
you must be patient and have guts of steel but you can do it.
most mambas are aware of your fear level and will use it against you!
Once you are trusted by a big mamba they make a very real friend
much more honest than most humans.
one tip also never grab a mambas tail!
They hate it.
here are a few pics of a tame large male mamba

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Bud

You have not seen FLVenom's black mamba shots then. You must move slow and be patient.
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John Light

"Arietans" a.k.a. Martin Smit has also taken some amazing Black Mamba shots!

super close super tame and calm.
B

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Bud

AND THE WINNER IS.
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Archie Bottoms

Did you shrink yourself again and take a pic? I guess your immunity has it's pay-offs. Nice work. Didn't you just start a SI website? Can you please post it?

I agree, as long as you are patient you will get some more laid back shots. Captive mambas also seem to recognize those that handle them gently and remain much calmer. Here are two shots of a 2.5 meter male who had been in captivity for awhile.

Mambas are actually very easy to photograph. If you move slowly they do not get startled.

I do not use a zoom lense

Another one

Here's a shot with one overhead.

Do any of you have pictures of them with some sort of scale like a person, pop can, 5gallon bucket etc?
Preferably in combination with them raising a significant portion of their body off the ground in a posture?

I've heard all the stories of upper torso and even facial bites delivered by large mambas that were at ground level. (Not biting from a branch) I'd love to see a LARGE blk mamba in that pose. (I know some of the tales are tall but it's not undocumented)

Great pics, everyone! Hey, budman, isn't it time for another episode of MambaCam?
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Venomous snakes---best hobby on earth!
Bill Huseth

Bud's a good friend and I fairly recently bought a small collection of Elapids from him. He takes excellent care of his charges and they actually seem to like him. I have a number of pics of Bud and his snakes on my website with his permission. I've labled that category "don't ever do this".....lol..Truthfully it is labled that and I meant it. He gets away with stuff that would kill me immediately...lol

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Tom Crutchfield
www.tomcrutchfield.com