Cobra gets comfy in Umhlanga family home

A Mozambican spitting cobra became an unwelcome houseguest for an Umhlanga family‚ with the scaled intruder standing its ground in their lounge on Monday.

The snake took up residence in the corner of the room behind a chair‚ just inches from where someone had been sitting in the Portland Drive home.

Durban snake handler Tyrone Ping said that the family’s dogs alerted them to the snake when it slithered into the corner.

“I get loads of calls for snakes in homes every day and most of them are harmless. Up to fifteen calls a day. Most are small and harmless but [Mozambican spitting cobras] account for the majority of human bites across South Africa‚” he said.

“The lady who phoned me said she was sure it was a cobra and she said it was standing up with its hood open. The snake was still in the same position when I got there. They had been sitting in the lounge and it had come out from behind some dog beds. The dogs' barking alerted the people to the snake."

Ping said that someone had been sitting in the chair the snake used for cover‚ so it was “quite dangerous”.

He said the irate cobra was captured and relocated to the Umhlanga Nature Reserve‚ one kilometre from the place where it was captured.

“Snake activity is picking up dramatically with the hot spells and the rain. The rain brings the frogs out and that is the primary food source for these cobras‚” Ping added.