REPTILES

An Uroplatus phantasticus - watercolour

and a snake - watercolour

South Africa's King - Maree

Rinkhals in my garden

In the past couple of weeks I've had to temporarily give up my sojourns into our Blue gum forest at the bottom of our property where I go to sketch and paint, due to all the rain we've had, which has resulted in a larger than normal number of snakes that I encounter while trying to settle in to sketch.

While you're concentrating on a specific tree, it's rather disconcerting hearing the leaves rustle and then seeing a Rinkhals (Spitting Cobra) nonchalantly sailing in your direction. It means either sitting dead still, hoping he's not going to notice you, or it's a mad scramble trying to get out of the way (and then alerting him to your presence), sending easel or sketchbooks and water flying through the air!

In the past 2 weeks I have already rescued and evicted two Rankhalses from my garden (the pleasure of my garden only to be enjoyed by Mollie, my resident Mole Snake or the Brown House Snake - all others like the Rinkhals and the various Adders are summarily evicted!). Chrissie, my gardener, immediately takes a short-cut home when she sees I'm busy catching a snake for safe delivery to a dam nearby us.


Rinkhals - Hemachatus haemachatus

The Rinkhals is a member of the Cobra family and is also a spitting cobra. It is the smallest of the cobras reaching only about 1.2m or about 4 ft in length. It is a venomous elapid species found in parts of southern Africa. It is one of a group of cobras that has developed the ability to spit venom as a defense mechanism. Rinkhals are unique amongst African cobras in being ovoviviparous. They give birth to 20-35 young, but as many as 65 babies have been recorded. The Rinkhals is unique also, compared to cobras, as it has keeled scales.

If you would like to read more about the Rinkhals and how he feigns death when faced by danger, you can go to my NATURE JOURNAL.


One of the sketches I did of our blue gum forest in my Moleskine watercolour Sketch-book

You Rat! - Maree Clarkson

"Risk! Risk anything! Care no more for the opinions of others, for those voices. Do the hardest thing on earth for you. Act for yourself. Face the truth."
~ Katherine Mansfield


"Rat" pencil sketch and watercolour in Moleskine watercolour sketch-book

This rat is another one of Jacko's 'friends'. Like the visiting Tabby, he does regular excursions at night through the open door of the lounge to the kitchen, where he also snacks on Jacko's Eukanuba food. I can just imagine how he must juggle his activities to stay clear of the Tabby and the dog to get any meaningful sustenance out of the whole journey...

I might just mention that we live on an 8.5ha smallholding and have regular nightly visitors through that open lounge door (the reason for the door being open is for Jacko to go to toilet at night). We regularly get visits from a Brown House Snake, quite a large chap, and once again it was Jacko who alerted us to his presence and I had to catch it and put it back in the garden, and a Mole Snake, whom I called Mollie - she actually lives permanently at my wildlife pond - and who, unlike the Brown house snake, is a very feisty gal - she doesn't take kindly to being disturbed, as can be seen in the photograph below when I approached her for the photo.


Mollie - a snake in the grass - checking out what I'm up to

The brown house snake is harmless and very docile, and an economically valuable snake as it preys primarily on rodents. This snake has become popular in the South African pet market because it is harmless, settles and breeds well in captivity. As with all other South African snakes, permits are required for possession. It lays six to 12 eggs which hatch after two and a half to three months.


Brown House snake