Mozambique spitting cobra

Identification

The Mozambique spitting cobra is a shiny, light to dark brown snake with black skin showing between its scales⁶. Its belly is salmon pink to yellow, with a distinct dark band and dark blotches on the throat⁶. These throat bands show when it rears up⁷. Like other cobras it has smooth scales⁵. It can spread a hood, but it does not always do so when it spits².

Adults average about 1.2 m long⁷, and the largest reach about 1.8 m³.

Distribution

This cobra lives in south-eastern Africa¹. The Reptile Database lists it from South Africa, Eswatini, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana, north-eastern Namibia and the far south-east of Angola, north to Zambia, Malawi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Tanzania, including Pemba Island¹. The database also lists Somalia¹. In South Africa it occurs on the eastern side of the country, in KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga, Limpopo and North West^2,7.

Habitat

Its favoured habitats are rocky savanna and lowland forest, where it shelters in hollow logs and termite mounds, often close to water⁷. It lives on the ground but also climbs into small shrubs⁷. It is common in most of its range and is often found around homes⁵.

Behaviour

The Mozambique spitting cobra is active on overcast days but mostly at night, and it often ends up inside houses². It is quick to spit its venom, which it can do without raising a hood and even from inside a rock crack⁵. Spitting is only for defence, not for catching prey, and a spitting cobra usually releases only a small amount of venom with each spit, so it can spit several times in a row⁵. When threatened, it may also play dead⁷.

Diet

Its diet consists largely of frogs, small mammals, birds and other snakes, including puff adders². Toads, lizards and poultry are also recorded⁷. Southern African cobras in general eat a broad range of amphibians, reptiles, mammals and, less often, birds⁸.

Reproduction

The Mozambique spitting cobra lays eggs¹. A female lays between 10 and 22 eggs in midsummer⁷. Males grow as large as females in this species⁸.

Venom and medical significance

The venom is mainly cytotoxic, which means it destroys tissue: bites cause severe pain, spreading swelling and blisters, and in some cases severe tissue damage^2,4,10. Venom spat into the eyes causes instant pain and inflammation and, if it is not removed, can cause permanent blindness⁵. In one South African study, 94% of bites happened inside homes, and 81% of those victims were asleep¹⁰. It causes many of the serious snakebites in southern Africa, and in South African records it is second only to the puff adder in the number of bites, although deaths are rare^2,11. The World Health Organization lists it among the snakes of highest medical importance (Category 1) in countries including South Africa, Eswatini, Zimbabwe and Tanzania⁹. Polyvalent antivenom, including South Africa’s SAVP product, which is made partly with this cobra’s venom, works best when given early, so anyone bitten, or spat at in the eyes, should go to hospital immediately^4,10,12.

Conservation

The Mozambique spitting cobra is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List (2022 version of a 2019 assessment)¹³. It is a common species in most of its range⁵.

Similar species

It is easily confused with the snouted cobra (Naja annulifera), which is usually brown to mustard-yellow with a darker or mottled back, often has a dark “tear” mark under the eye and has an off-yellow belly with only faint markings⁶. The black-necked spitting cobra (Naja nigricollis) looks similar too, but it is usually uniform dark olive-brown to black above, and in southern Africa it occurs only in northern Namibia, the Caprivi Strip and the far north of Mozambique⁵.

These differences are not a safe basis for handling any snake. Keep your distance from every snake you cannot identify.

In captivity

The Mozambique spitting cobra is a dangerous venomous snake² and is not suitable as a pet. Snake catchers are often spat at when handling spitting cobras, and some handlers become sensitised to the venom and develop allergic reactions⁵.