[imagesource:researchgate]

A Garden Route couple were unsure where to look when they happened upon two puff adders getting jiggy with it in their laundry room.

Alison Bibb and her husband, Div de Villiers, live on a farm in Ruiterbos, about 30 kilometres from Mossel Bay, where snakes have been known to make themselves at home in human houses.

However, two puff adders made themselves a bit too comfortable last Sunday. Hidden and warm beneath the (dirty) covers in the laundry, the two sexy slitherers got it on.

Bibi was the first to spot them, she recalls via News24, as she was checking her husband’s pants:

“I moved the pants… and saw these two puff adders mating on the floor. Both of them lifted their heads when they realised I’d made some movements.

“I jumped back so quickly and started shouting for my husband to come see what is happening in our house,” said Bibb.

She said that at first glance, it looked like the reptiles were slowly trying to get out of the house, but when she looked more carefully, she realised the two were “engaged in sexual activities”.

“One could clearly see the female snake was trying to get away, but the one on top of her did not want her to move, and he just kept doing his thing,” said Bibb.

That seems to be a trend in the animal kingdom. 

She recounted how the couple had resided on the farm for over 15 years, experiencing numerous encounters with snakes infiltrating their home. However, witnessing the puff adders mating right before her eyes was truly something to behold.

Renowned reptile handler Tyrone Ping said witnessing snakes mating in the wild was “incredibly rare” and “quite extraordinary”.

Bibi said she posted on the local WhatsApp group asking if anyone could help catch them and a woman from a nearby farm responded, coming within 15 minutes to collect the snakes.

“A nearby farmer asked if we could release them on his farm to help control his rat problem, so the woman took the snakes there,” Bibb told News24.

“We are all battling a rat problem in the area due to the high rainfall we had last year, which leads to ideal breeding conditions for rats,” she said.

As shocked as Bibi was by the mating reptiles, she said that just days before she actually had a “horrific” encounter with a puff adder that landed on her lap while she sat on the stairs watching a video.

“It slithered behind me and suddenly fell onto my lap.

“That thing was so heavy. I don’t know where I got the strength from, but the minute its body slipped off my lap and fell next to me, I got up so fast and accidentally fell onto the floor,” Bibb said.

Ping said that while snakes don’t attack, the puff adder is well known as one of the fastest-striking snakes in Africa, so you don’t want to agitate the thing.

Bibi thinks the reptiles are beautiful but would really prefer to admire them from afar.

“I think I’ve had enough snakes entering my home. Enough is enough now,” she said.

[source:news24]