Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello,

Firstly, I am not a herp hobbyist. I am merely fascinated by deadly venomous snakes and the people who keep them.

Secondly, I am fiercly in favor the rights of responsible people to safely pursue this hobby. I assure you, that I will always vote against measures or laws that would diminish or destroy the rights of individuals to pursue this hobby. It saddens me when I read news stories, or posts in these forums, of irresponsible keepers or tragic accidents and incidents that could prompt knee-jerk reactions in public officials.

Thirdly, I would never, EVER, want to set foot inside the home of any of you insane fools! ;^)

Now, my reason for posting: Of all the venomous snakes that I have read about, it is the Black Mamba that fascinates me the most. When I lived in Alaska there was a book, sold widely to tourists, entitled "Alaska Bear Tales". The book is a collection of true, mostly horrifying, stories about human encounters with the Alaskan Brown Bear (a.k.a. Grizzly Bear). I am curious to learn if there is a similar book or collection of tales about Black Mambas.

Finally, I would be thrilled to read posts from Black Mamba keepers relating any interesting anecdotes about Black Mambas they keep. I am especially keen to read anything related to Black Mamba intelligence and agressivness.

TIA & Regards,
thistlewait

There was a very interesting story posted here some time ago about a native african woman who was kidnapped by guerilla militia people and took her to a remote location to basically butcher her and sell her body parts. At the point where they were going to start dismembering her, she prayed when all of a sudden a black mamba can darting out from behind the tree she was tied to and struck and bit one of the intruders. In their state of panic, they fled the scene and the woman was able to free herself and get to safety....perhaps you can find the full story from Wes who contributes regularly with his many interesting articles.

My wildlife center has a jameson's mamba that came to us from Tannith Tyre (aka MsTT) who apparently was a product of a botched, and very crude, devenomization procedure. This snake endured profound pain and major mouth and jaw trauma. Tannith did an incredible job in giving this snake a chance to live and once strong enough, the snake was shipped to our facility where we worked day in and day out in bringing this poor snake back to its old beautiful self. Within the past 12 weeks, we have seen this snake go through several sheds and each time she gets prettier and prettier. She required on going medical attention including antibiotics, mouthswabs, etc. In ALL of our interactions with this snake, a species usually noted to be somewhat aggressive, this particular animal NEVER showed one ounce of aggression towards me (MsTT has observed that mambas being rehabbed like this, due to their constant interaction with people, tend to mellow out quite a bit). In fact, this is one of the nicest snakes I have ever worked with and I have to force myself to remember that this is a deadly snake. Her response to me is incredible; almost gentle and she is a real joy to work with. It has been a wonderfully positive experience to rehab this cunningly intelligent (by snake standards) animal. Anyway, just thought i would throw a few comments out to get the thread rolling.

Rob Carmichael, Curator
The Wildlife Discovery Center, Lake Forest, IL

Thanks for the reply. I hope your little lady does well. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that you still use extreme care with a venomoid snake, but in a way I am. I can remember reading a few threads here over the last couple of years debating the ability of venomoid snakes to 're-grow' their venom glands. I don't recall any consensus about that, though. Anyway, thank you very much for the reply.

I realize that there are probably not that many private Black Mamba keepers and that those who do may not be too willing to go public with stories. Oh well.

I did Google for Black Mamba stories before posting here, but most of what was returned was basic educational info that can be obtained from encyclopedias. I also found a lot of statistical information on venom potency, and private websites that seemed to be done by school-age kids as science projects or book reports.

But, I haven't found any stories per se. I would have expected to find African folk-lore and religious mythology related to the Black Mamba, but I haven't. Like-wise, in the modern era where so many venomous snakes are kept for anti-venin milking and medical research I would think that there must be a few Black Mamba related accidents or close-calls worthy of re-telling.

Anyway, thanks again for the reply. I just continue to lurk and hope for the occasional story to pop up.

Regards,
thistlewait

I use extreme caution because this mamba is NOT a venomoid; not by a long shot. She's fully armed and loaded. It was a botched venomoid procedure. And even if she was a true "venomoid" I would still exercise the same caution...for many obviousl reasons.

Oh, I misunderstood your original post. Thanks for elucidating. Though I would never want to be in the same room with a Black Mamba, caged or not, I must admit to a certain amount of envy for those of you who can control you fear in the presence of those awe-inspiring animals.

Regards,
thistlewait

as far as mythology goes-
i wrote a paper on the significance of "naga's" (generally referring to cobra's)in asain culture, in soph year of high school. i'd be glad to e-mail it to you if you're interested.
lmk
james

There was a famous herper in Florida whose name escapes me for the time being..

Among his other animals was a black mamba which he had owned for many, many years, and felt he had a certain gestalt with. One day he entered its cage, satisfied that it was in no mood to screw with him as it was lounging on some branches on the opposite side of the pen. He spent a minute or two cleaning the bottom of the cage, put down fresh paper, left, locked it back up, and felt his lips tingling about 5 minutes later.

The mamba had nailed him so delicately on the back of his upper arm that he didnt notice it. He didnt notice the snake move, he didnt feel the fangs. The mamba waited for the 2 second window of opportunity when his back was turned and his head was down to tag him.

He immediately called an ambulance and made a full recovery.

Some years later, his daughter found him on the floor of his herp room, convulsing with foam coming out of his mouth. As he was epileptic, his daughter proceeded with the stock responses to a seizure, but he went into full arrest and died shortly thereafter.

A post-mortem revealed that the seizure was brought on by another mamba bite, not epilepsy.

This guy was seriously a living legend, I had actually seen him tell the story about that first mamba hit on some documentary on the Science Channel or NG or something. It can happen to anyone. Its like riding a motorcycle; it doesnt matter how good you are, the odds are that sooner or later youre going to take a spill.

A final and fitting note; the daughter felt obligated to point out that her father died among animals he loved and admired with all his heart, and there wasnt the slightest doubt in her mind that he died quite satisfied with the life he had lived and the choices he had made.

Wow! Now that you mention it, I vaguely recall seeing that story on television. IIRC the man was somewhat elderly with white hair. I had forgotten about that one. Thanks for reminding me. It's too bad he was tagged again and succumbed to the bite. But, as you point out, it was his life, his hobby, and I'd venture to say that he probably passed with no regrets.

Regards,
thistlewait