Snake goes along for 170km ride
03/03/2009 22:48 - (SA)


Virginia Keppler, Beeld


Pretoria - The guardian angels of a Pretoria man "were working overtime" as he and his wife drove 170km with a dangerous Mozambique spitting cobra in their car.

Gordon Parratt, 69, remained calm while the undesirable 85cm-long passenger wound itself around his leg on several occasions.

He and his 65-year-old wife, Ilda, of Moreleta Park east of Pretoria, left the Biyamiti rest camp in the Kruger National Park on Friday.

After several kilometres Gordon felt something like an insect brush against his leg and foot and wiped it away.

As he was doing so again, he looked down and saw a snake next to his left foot. It looked like a Mozambique spitting cobra.

Although he was rattled, he remained calm and told his wife they had a "passenger".

"Fortunately I'm not the panicky type. My wife immediately put her feet up on the dashboard."

Thought car would be stolen

In Hazyview they stopped at a taxi rank but "I didn't want to get out there and leave my car because I was scared it would be stolen".

The couple then drove to the reptile park in Hazyview. They removed "everything that could move" from the car, but couldn't find the snake.

Ilda said the staff wanted them to leave the car and arrange other transport home, but her husband wouldn't have it.

An official at the reptile park gave them two rolls of stretch plaster.

If the snake should strike, they could use it to make a tourniquet to prevent the poison from spreading.

"I also asked them to alert all the medical centres along the way so that I could stop there, if need be," Gordon said.

Later on he once again noticed the snake near his foot. At that point he couldn't stop because they were in a pass.

Snake winds up leg in heavy traffic

"At Sabie we stopped, but couldn't find the snake.

"About 15km from Lydenburg the snake wound itself around my left leg and ankle. Its head came up to my knee.

"The traffic was heavy and it was raining hard, but I kept calm," he said.

Just before Lydenburg the couple stopped and enquired about a snake expert. Hein Geldenhuys, 49, was called.

After dropping his wife off at a guesthouse, Gordon drove to Geldenhuys's house.

Geldenhuys caught the cobra. "All you could see was venom flying," Gordon said.

Geldenhuys said a snake in a car is a nightmare. "Fortunately I managed to catch the snake without injuring it."

He was surprised to see "how calm the oom was".

He said these snakes are very dangerous because their venom attacks the nervous system and the body's soft tissues.

"The oom was very lucky. The Lord protected him and his guardian angels were definitely working overtime."

- Beeld

I would prefer to loose my car than exposing my wife or myself at such stupid and unecessary risk....

And if someone stole the car it would not go far away....

L

My thoughts exactly. How could that snake keep finding him and winding itself up his leg and then at the next stop no one could find it? Maybe it was up his pants and he didn't know it, or his wife just thought he was happy to see her.

quote:

"Fortunately I managed to catch the snake without injuring it."

i do believe i'd have poopied my drawers

I'd have let someone steal the car! I mean, hey, there's Trunk Monkey's and now there's the upgrade - the Trunk Cobra!

And, for those who don't know, allow me to introduce the Trunk Monkey...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8avOiTUcD4Y

Me? I'd have nuked the car - I don't like snakes!

Thats because none of you guys above understand a old boer.They think they bullet proof and nothing scares them.Stuborn is a understatment.

rnovi, thanks for the "trunk monkey" link! best I've seen in a while.
Now, this may be a dumb question, but do spitting cobras bite?
"They think they bullet proof". I would have thought they learned otherwise, or do 303s bounce off them?!!!! (No offense intended!)
Peter.

Yip they do bite.They only use spitting as a defence when they have been cornerd.In fact the venom that they spray at you is the same as what will go in you if he bites you.Spitting might not be the corrct term.The snake squirts the venom through his fangs.

Thanks jimmara! I knew that they sprayed the venom through their fangs, that's why I thought that capability may hinder their ability to bite eg. fangs shorter etc. One thing that has always puzzled me: How do they know where the eyes are, on all the different species that may be threats to them?
Peter.

I would not even get into a car containing a venomous snake, much less drive it.

The oom was calm?

The oom was lucky?

No. Not even by half.

The oom willingly drove a care containing a snake full of neurotoxic venom for 170 km!

The oom is nuts!

quote:

The oom is nuts!

And that is an understatement.

quote:

The oom is nuts!

I don't even know what an oom is, but I agree!
Peter.

You can't fix stupid...

I used to work with Mister Gordon Parratt.

He is in fact an English man and I have the utmost respect for him....

STUPID is not how I would describe him.

He would have had specific reasons why he acted the way he did.

And I do believe the report in the news paper is more written to get sensation than anything else...

quote:

He is in fact an English man

NOW I understand!
Peter.

Darwin Award candidates?

dogcat +1!!!!!!!!