Scaly visitors at Jackal’s Den

This morning Cleo chased this fellow up a tree just outside my bedroom cottage.

The rock monitor (Varanus albigularis), also called the legavaan or white-throated monitor, is a species of monitor lizard found in southern Africa. It is the second longest lizard found on the continent of Africa and the heaviest bodied. They reach 2 meters  in length, although this fellow was only about 1 meter long.  I love seeing them so I need to find a way to stop Cleo going a little berserk when they come to visit.

On another scaly matter, we have a resident black mamba that has decided to become our gate guard.  It has been spotted on quite a few occasions now, about 5 meters outside of our main reserve gate. We are being very, very careful now when we alight from our vehicles to open and close the gate.  Although we use torches at night, it does feel a little creepy when it’s dark and I try to get back in my car quite fast.

I snapped a picture of his tail yesterday afternoon.

My apologies for the poor quality of the picture – I had to take it fast before he/she moved off and it was taken through my dirty windscreen.

Here is some information from Wikipedia which may explain why we get a little nervous of him.

The black mamba (Dendroaspis polylepis), also called the common black mamba or black-mouthed mamba, is the longest venomous snake in Africa, averaging around 2.5 to 3.2 meters (8.2 to 10 ft) in length, and sometimes growing to lengths of 4.45 meters (14.6 ft). Its name is derived from the black colouration inside the mouth rather than the actual colour of its scales which varies from dull yellowish-green to a gun-metal grey. It is the fastest snake in the world, capable of moving at 4.32 to 5.4 metres per second (16–20 km/h, 10–12 mph). It is a notorious snake that’s feared throughout the world. It has a reputation for being very aggressive and highly venomous. Many herpetologists have cited this species as both the world’s deadliest and most aggressive, noting a tendency to attack without provocation. They are among the world’s ten most venomous land snakes, and when threatened or cornered they become fiercely aggressive, which is why they are given mythical status.

Although it would much rather avoid confrontation and flee from any perceived threat, the black mamba can be extremely aggressive if badgered long and hard enough, during breeding season, when defending territory or an egg nest, or if cornered with no escape, it will stand its ground and display fearsome tenacity and explosive aggression while hissing loudly and striking repeatedly. No other snake in the continent is as loathed, and yet respected and feared at the same time.

The black mamba is known to be capable of reaching speeds of around 20 kilometers per hour (12 mph), traveling with up to a third of its body raised off the ground.

Although only 10 to 15 mg of it’s venom is deadly to a human adult, its bite delivers about 100–120 mg of venom on average,but they can deliver up to over 400 mg of venom in a single bite. Its bite is often called “the kiss of death” because before antivenom was widely available, the mortality rate from a bite was 100%. Severe black mamba envenomation can potentially kill a human within 20 minutes or less depending on the nature of the bite and the area bitten, but death usually occurs after 30–60 minutes on average, sometimes taking up to three hours. British wildlife enthusiast Nathan Layton was bitten in Hoedspruit, a small town near Kruger National Park, by a juvenile black mamba and died in less than 30 minutes after being bitten.

 

If he does not move away in the next few weeks we will probably have him relocated to a more remote area of the farm.

Related articles

• Black mamba bite ‘killed student’ (bbc.co.uk)

Answering your questions

A few days ago I asked you if you had any questions about my life in the bush, and today I will be answering them.

The first question came from Jocelyn from O Mighty Crisis (and from Quin)

What foods do you wish you could have easy access to…but don’t?  What do you crave?

Although our home is quite isolated, we are about 23 km’s from the nearest town. In town there are two national chain supermarkets which carry most products that we need on a daily basis although sometimes our choice is limited. For instance, it took us some persuading to get the supermarket to stock my daughters favorite breakfast cereal.  Before that, we got people to bring some to us when they came to visit.  She still wants another variety too but I’m not sure if it is still being sold in South Africa (Fruit Loops?)

Things like tahini, that I need to make my own humus, is not available, so a couple of us from our town place orders when someone is going to a city.  Other things we crave sometimes are Kentucky Fried Chicken and Sushi (we can get a limited amount at one of our restaurants on a Friday evening only – and then you have no choice).

 

 (drool!)

I think because there are quite a few luxury international safari lodges in the area, the shops tend to stock most of what we need.  Besides food though, we have a very limited choice when buying shoes and clothes and prefer to drive a few hours to do that kind of shopping.  There are also no fabric stores, movie cinemas, home decor stores, or book stores, and we don’t have a functioning fire station (a few homes burned to the ground recently) or a decent hospital.

The second question came from Greg from Greg’s World

What is a legavaan?

Well Greg, it’s kinda like a huge lizard. (rock monitor)

(image from here)

(Varanus albigularis),  the legavaan or white-throated monitor, is a species of monitor lizard found in southern Africa. It is the second longest lizard found on the continent of Africa and the heaviest bodied.

Last week Cleo, my dog, had a run in with one at the pool. She barked at it and grabbed it in  her mouth and tossed it into the air until I called her off.  The legavaan didn’t seem to care much but moved off eventually.  Cleo is very lucky that it did not hurt her.

Question 3 comes from Sweffling from Stopping by woods

Which animal/s do you have the most difficulty keeping out of the house and allied to that, which animals wish to come in and share your house during the winter?

Luckily, because we have extremely mild winters, most animals are quite happy to stay away from human habitation in our area.  The creatures that give me most problems are squirrels because they like to make their homes in our thatch roofs. We have to regularly rescue birds that have flown inside and release them and on a couple of occasions have had to remove snakes from our cottages and relocate them. So far we have not had any inquisitive mammals who would like to move in (thank goodness).  On the insect front, it’s really another story. They ALL want to live with us and it’s an ongoing battle to keep our cottages reasonably insect free without resorting to poisons.  I must admit that even although I am considered a greenie, and I save and release spiders,  - cockroaches, flies, mosquitos and ants get sprayed.

My veggie garden on the other hand gets many visits from all types of buck, porcupines and hippos.

Question 4 is from Mark of The Idiot Speaketh

What is the strangest ANIMAL or creature that you have found taking a secret dip in your pool?

Now I know Mark is longing to hear about gorillas, and constantly teases me about them, we DO NOT have gorillas running wild in South Africa.  The strangest thing I have found in the pool is a long extremely thin worm like creature that wriggles and squirms its way across the surface of the pool. It is so thin that it almost looks like a hair and is a few inches in length.  I have yet to find out what it is.

Other creatures we fish out of the pool are bees, frogs (lots of frogs), huge beetles, grasshoppers and unfortunately once a drowned snake.  The larger animals on the game reserve don’t even come to drink the water from our pool.  They are fussy and I think prefer chlorine-free that they get from the river and watering holes.

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I hope you have all learned a little more about us and our home.  If you have any more questions, please post them in the comments and I’ll do another post like this if necessary.