Woman Spots Deadly Black Mamba Peeking Through Ceiling

A woman in South Africa spotted a deadly black mamba peeking through a hole in her ceiling.

The homeowner, who lives in Moseley, spotted the snake when she heard something moving above her, Nick Evans, a snake catcher who works in the Greater Durban area, said in a Facebook post. When she looked up to see what was causing the commotion, she saw the snake's body lurking through a gap in a ceiling board.

Black mambas are an extremely venomous snake species native to Southern Africa. Their bite has a fatality rate of 100 percent if left untreated. The snakes are also extremely fast—they can slither at speeds of 12 miles per hour.

After the homeowner called Evans for help, he arrived shortly afterward and went up into the ceiling. There, he could hear the snake rummaging through some plastic below the roof tiles, he said.

"Usually, this can be a tricky situation, and one either needs to cut holes in the plastic or get on the roof and remove tiles," he said.

However, this turned out to be one of Evan's easier catches in a ceiling. "Fortunately, this turned out to be one of my quickest ceiling captures," he said.

When the snake slithered across a hole in the plastic, he was able to reach in with his tongs and grab the snake, carefully pulling it out of its hiding place.

"I couldn't believe my luck!" Evans said.

But the hardest part was yet to come. The snake catcher still had to transport the reptile out of the ceiling while climbing over the beams of the ceiling.

Once he carefully maneuvered to the trapdoor of the ceiling, the homeowner passed him a bucket, which he placed the mamba in.

It is not uncommon for snakes to slither into properties, particularly during the warmer summer months when they may be looking for shelter. Often, snakes can stay in ceilings and roofs for an extended amount of time, with the homeowners completely unaware.

"I found some very old, disintegrated shed skin, indicating it had been residing in the ceiling for some time, undetected," Evans said.

Although South Africa is now out of its snake season with the arrival of cooler weather, black mambas can be spotted all year round.

They are often attracted to populated areas when they smell prey, such as small rodents or feral kittens.

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