Red lipped Herald Snake

Yes I know it is a sad day to come home and find the dogs yet alone the cats have caught and killed a harmless snake.

Today started unlike any other with my wallet along with the drivers licence was left in the car which went off to Rivonia this morning and I only found out when it is nearly halfway there and I had to ride out to fetch it without getting stopped by the traffic police before setting off to work.

As I was leaving our neighbour Abi stopped me and asked for help to cut his grass on his plot as he had a close encounter with a large cobra over the weekend in his garden. He described the cobra similar to an Egyptian Cobra but we don’t have those down here in South Africa, surely not. I asked him if it wasn’t a Rinkhas as we have many in the area but he said no, he knows what a Rinkhas looks like and this one had what looked like a Chinese symbol on the back of the hood. Uhmmm after some research the closest snake which could be in the area near the river, is a sub species of the Egyptian Cobra, the Snouted Cobra, or it could have been a Mozambican Spitting Cobra. Not having seen the snake and thrown by that is described as a Chinese symbol, well your guess is as good as mine.

And now coming home, I went over to my other neighbour, Gerhardis to speak to him about the cobra issue only to be told that the dogs had killed a baby Black Mamba. Regretfully it turned out to be a Red Lipped Herald that was killed. I remember having one as a pet way back in high school. Tragic day indeed as this is one dead snake that doesn't need to be dead.