Snakes in a house: Mumbai couple find 14 baby cobras in Chembur flat

Imagine finding not one, not two but more than 10 snakes in your home. How creepy would it be! That is exactly what happened with a Mumbai couple who found around 14 cobra hatchlings in their home in Chembur. Kailash and Poonam Mane, who moved in the apartment at RCF Colony staff quarters in April this year, discovered the tiny snakes over a period of few days and asked animal activists to take them away, according to a report by Mumbai Mirror. [caption id=“attachment_2354520” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. AFP[/caption] It all started when Poonam found a snake in their kitchen near the gas cylinder. The couple called in a snake rescuer from Maharashtra Animal Rescue Association (MARA) and had it removed. But that was the not the end of it. She found another snake in the bathroom a few hours later, the report continues. The rescuer, Sunil Kadam, was asked to return and along with four other conservationists they searched the apartment to find 12 cobras all over the house. The Manes moved to another house next door then but the ordeal was still not over as they found one more snake in the bedroom. The MARA volunteers found four more cobras in the other house as per the Mirror report.  Their mother, the female cobra, has not been found as yet. Sunil Kadam, a member of MARA was quoted by DNA as saying, “We rescued 14 cobras and will be releasing them in a forest. We got a call at 8 am and the rescue operation went on till 2 pm. Our appeal to the people is to not kill the reptiles if they spot them in and around their surroundings. They must instead be rescued and released in the forest.” Mumbai Mirror says that the snakes discovered were of the species binocellate cobra, named for the spectacled pattern that spans its hood. On being asked about the reason for snakes being found in a residential complex, Kadam told  DNA, “These days forest area is being indiscriminately trimmed down due to the large scale construction activity taking place in the city. This is the reason why the animals get displaced from their original habitat.”  On the habits of the cobra, Kadam said, “The mating period of cobras from January to April and between the months of April to May. The female cobra lays around 20 eggs without taking care of them. These eggs then start hatching within 60 days.” This could mean that the the eggs were laid around the house almost two months before the snakes were discovered and possibly after the Manes moved in.