Black mamba pictures

Here are some pictures of my black mamba.
I changed the old topic to spare space in the Dendroaspis category









Feeding







And for the bonus ( D.angusticeps ) Hide and seek, this shows how perfectly camouflaged they are

Hi Torben
what a great snake ...... respect
Regards from Germany
Mike

Thanks Mike, Appreciate that

Do yourself a favor and incorporate provisions for a shift box into your enclosure, or, as an alternative, build a trap box with access from outside of the cage and use it as a hide box. Handling a Mamba in a small, enclosed space, (your snake room,) should be minimized as much as possible for your safety. When you offer a hook to a Mamba, it sees a branch, and considerable skill and experience is required to work a Mamba without having a problem. It requires more than being confident.

A problem can be defined as a situation where the snake does something you don't want it to do, like gliding onto the floor or cruising around your shoulders! Mambas can move faster than the eye can see and can be spooked by unexpected motions. I had a D. polylepsis that would often spook when my husband would enter the snake room...he walked heavier than myself, and the snake would pick up the vibrations. The enclosure weighed over 200 pounds; as solid as it was, it was unable to eliminate the vibrations from the floor, and the snake would race around the cage in a panic. This was a CB specimen.

Fast moving species like Dendroaspis are best maintained in large enclosures with some kind of trap box system to allow the snake to be physically isolated during basic maintenance such as cleaning and changing water dishes. What would you do if the snake was loose and on the floor? What would you do if the snake was racing on top of your cages?

I will, being busy with a hidebox at this moment.
I will place it at the top of the enclosure, as that may be more likely for a black to escape.
And yes I understand your story line about the unpredictable movements of the snake.
I always have a giant gentle thong in close range, in case of a emergency.
Tailing is the first handling method, but this ain't easy with a tempered mamba like I have.
I'll keep you updated about the hidebox.

Thanks for the advice

In another thread, http://www.venomland.net/t8p25-who-keeps-mambas, I posted a few photos of a few of my Mambas, and you can see the shift/trap box I used. There was a locked, sliding door on the outside of the cage which was constructed to allow access with a small cage hook so I could slide the door to the trap box open or closed. If I needed to chase the snake into the box, I blew a puff of cigarette smoke into the cage, and the snake would retreat into the box.

The water bowl was enclosed in a box built into the bottom front corner with a lid that was hinged. An attached cord allowed the lid to be raised or lowered from the outside, protecting my hands while the bowl was removed through a side door. Feeding was accomplished by removing the dish, placing several dead mice or rats into this area, and the lid raised. The snake would take the mice at its leisure. I trained the snake to taking mice at this location by using a few small, live mice for a few feedings. An intelligent species, both D. angusticeps and D. polylepsis soon learned that food could be found at this location. When training with live rodents, either mamba species would slowly descend from their branch, inspect the rodent, and a quick nip, and the rodent would drop instantly.

This was a good system that worked well for me for many years. I used similar set-ups for all large, fast moving species that were maintained for many years...the same system allowed me to keep a Gold's Tree Cobra for over 20 years without ever having a problem of any kind. My snake room was never as large as I'd have wanted it to be, and absolute safety at all times was my first priority. Good technique and sound practice adhered to each and every time must be adhered to. Lord only knows how many people have been bitten due to keepers being in a hurry or being distracted. A friend of mine with far more experience than myself was bitten by a rattlesnake that was in its hide box when he was in a rush to get to a party, not paying attention, and thinking he was safe when he used the cage lid as a barrier when he reached in to remove a dirty water bowl. Fortunately, it was a dry bite.

Thanks again April,

This is some serious usefull information, and your trapbox idea is something to remember.
And your part about the learning method in feeding is really interesting i did not know they really could remember were to get their food, by teaching them.

When I'm not alone at home I share the information not want to be disturbed at this moment, when being busy with my snakes. The room is almost soundless, and my wife is afraid of snakes so she wouldn't dare entering when she knows the enclocures would probably be open.

kind regards,

Torben

I've added some new photo's

can you take some better pics of the enclosure your describing especially the extra doors and water bowl enclosure pls i maintain 6 mambas a pair of polylepis and 2 pair of agusticeps all of witch were snakes that were taken off a venom line from a extraction lab so safety is always number one and if theres a style of cage or ad ons that would make interactions easier/safer i am all for it

April Mandel wrote:

Do yourself a favor and incorporate provisions for a shift box into your enclosure, or, as an alternative, build a trap box with access from outside of the cage and use it as a hide box. Handling a Mamba in a small, enclosed space, (your snake room,) should be minimized as much as possible for your safety. When you offer a hook to a Mamba, it sees a branch, and considerable skill and experience is required to work a Mamba without having a problem. It requires more than being confident.

A problem can be defined as a situation where the snake does something you don't want it to do, like gliding onto the floor or cruising around your shoulders! Mambas can move faster than the eye can see and can be spooked by unexpected motions. I had a D. polylepsis that would often spook when my husband would enter the snake room...he walked heavier than myself, and the snake would pick up the vibrations. The enclosure weighed over 200 pounds; as solid as it was, it was unable to eliminate the vibrations from the floor, and the snake would race around the cage in a panic. This was a CB specimen.

Fast moving species like Dendroaspis are best maintained in large enclosures with some kind of trap box system to allow the snake to be physically isolated during basic maintenance such as cleaning and changing water dishes.

Totally agree with you, Mrs Mandel. Especially with fast moving Elapids, I find shift/trapboxen undispencible. It add's so much more safety and relaxt working overall... I have to admit, I learned this "almost" the hard way, with a female Forrest Cobra Naja melanoleuca (WC Uganda), I had temporally housed in a quarantine cage without shift/trap boxen.
During that period, I wanted to add some water in its waterbowl, with the cagedoor slightly ajar for service, the beast raced upon to my arm and halted upon to my shoulder, where it raised up and hooded, while looking around with its head about a foot high above my head. However, I succeeded in remaining calm, and allowed it to crawl further upon the cage where I could recapture it and reintroducing it back into its cage.
I'm relaizing that I was very, very, very... lucky that day and I'm thankfull upon this day, to walk away from that incident, with my life and limbs intact. It was a horrific experience and hard lesson to learn indeed. I hope I'm not gonna be trashed by any one for "sharing" this experience here, I just believe, negative experiences have to be shared also. I want to add Dendroaspis jamesonii to my collection in the future, however its NOT going to happen WITHOUT shift/trap boxes!!!

April Mandel wrote:

What would you do if the snake was loose and on the floor? What would you do if the snake was racing on top of your cages?

What I learned, listening from other peoples experiences and reading some bite report cases... NEVER chase after a large, fast moving Elapid (Mamba, Forest cobra a.o.) in a configned space (eg. snakeroom) while its still on the move (run). Let it settle down first and then recapture it, when the snake and you (the keeper/handler) is calmed down.

Enjoy you're Black Mamba's!!!
Regards Tom...

guys the animal is not in torben his collection any more. all his snakes are removed.. soo the animal are in better hands now..