Having decorated the tree just hours before, they discovered their cats staring at its branches.
Rob Wild, a British stock market trader who moved with his Costa Rican wife to South Africa 18 years ago, told CNN on Tuesday: “The cats were staring at the tree and my wife said that ‘there might be a rat somewhere'”.
However, they soon spot another rather different animal looking back – a boomslang.
“I didn’t know what it was at the time but then I Googled what kind of snakes were in our area and it popped up immediately like a bang. I thought ‘Holy Moses, this is it. King of all venomous snakes'”, 55-year-old said.
The boomslang is known to be a shy species, but it is one of the most venomous in Africa. Animal venom causes bleeding and can be fatal to humans in small amounts.
Snake catcher Gerrie Heyns confirmed the identity of the animal when he arrived at the family property in Robertson, Western Cape, shortly after. Heyns told CNN on Tuesday that the snake was female and was between 1.3 meters (4.3 feet) and 1.5 meters (4.9 feet) long.
He said he instructed his family to stay away from the tree, but “keep an eye on the snake” until he arrived.
“The snake was in the tree for two hours until I got there,” Heyns said. He used “snake tongs” to place it on the floor, where it was “easier to handle”, he added.
“Once I got it under control, the family came right in to see the snake. It didn’t try to bite or defend because I didn’t give it a reason. A terrifying moment turned into an amusing moment for him. the kids,” Heyns said.
Then he held it behind his neck and placed it in a “snake tube.” As it got dark, Heyns took the reptile home, where he temporarily locked it in a snake enclosure before releasing it back into the wild on Sunday.
Heyns said the snake may have entered the property in search of food, water and shelter.
He said: ‘Perhaps when it first saw movement, it tried to hide in the nearest hiding place, a tree.
Heyns, who has removed hundreds of snakes from homes in South Africa, says bites from cobras are rare.
Heyns says that in his eight years as a professional hunter, he’s only been bitten once – and that’s because he didn’t realize the animal had been shot and was acting in self-defense.
He added: “They (snakes) are very reluctant to bite but are demonized too much.
