KNYSNA NEWS - Knysna photographer Ian Fleming just his put foot over the edge of his rock pool at his Knysna Heights home in December and next felt something like a "hot needle of pain" going through his leg.
Despite having lived in Knysna for almost 20 years and being accustomed to seeing snakes in his garden, he had been bitten on his right ankle by a huge 60cm puff adder.
Within 15 minutes his wife Glenda had Fleming at Life Knysna private hospital where he was kept a few hours for observation and told by his doctor that he was extremely lucky the bite was not a bad one, probably as only one fang had lightly penetrated his ankle, as deep puff adder bites can be fatal or cause the loss of a limb.
Despite the bite having happened on Saturday, December 19, Fleming is not over it. "It was a very frightening experience. I am very grateful that it was a 'light' bite, but nevertheless my ankle is still irritatingly sore and I feel different about the way I walk around now. I have hawk eyes and what I would say to everyone after this is, don't go barefoot or in slip-slops. Look at the ground."
After hearing what Knysna fire chief Clinton Manuel has to say about the propensity of puff adders and sheer number of snakes in Knysna, it is a wonder not more people are bitten.
The reason for puff adders liking people's homes are the attractions humans provide them with, like domesticated birds, crumbs which attract rodents and, says Manuel, "an association that where human homes are there is food, safety and warmth".
He says they can be found anywhere and everywhere in Knysna where there is vegetation - along with Knysna's other prolific and venomous boomslang. The only place this rules out is the centre of town, he says.
The only safe news is that the worst of the puff adder siege may be over.
"At the beginning of summer in August and September the puff adders, in particular, come out in the warmer weather, but are hungry and also need to mate and are very sexually active. They thrive in the hot months and in Belvidere, in particular, we were getting our most call-outs, which were at least one a week," says Manuel.
He says snake call-outs drop fortnightly from now on since snakes are now finished mating, have had enough to eat and are pregnant in January and February, which slows them down.
• Keep vegetation around your property clear to avoid boomslang, which live in dense bush and trees;
• Avoid shrubs coming right up to your house, which snakes could hide in;
• Be careful if you have an aviary, and do not have birds nesting in your roof because boomslang are attracted to the birds as they eat the eggs of nesting birds; and
• Cracked peach pips can be bought from local nurseries to spread around door entrances to your home as puff adders do not like sliding over them and this acts as a good deterrent.
Manuel says the fire department are willing to remove snakes from properties, which they then relocate into the wild, but he urges the public to assist them.
"We really encourage anybody who wants a snake removed to take careful note of the position of the snake, be it in the garden or the porch or inside the house. You need to be able to pinpoint where it was and where it went when we get there as accurately as possible. Do not approach it, but try to keep track of it as far as possible in order to help us."
* If you have a snake you want removed from our property, phone 044 302 8911.
Ian Fleming shows where the puff adder bit him on his ankle, which is still sore more than a month later.
ARTICLE: ELAINE KING, KNYSNA-PLETT HERALD EDITOR
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