"Professional Snake": Man Tries to Pick Up Puff Adder on SA Roadside

• A South African man spotted a puff adder on a rural roadside and decided to move it himself using his bare hands
• The clip, posted by Slangboere on 27 August 2026, quickly caught fire online for all the obvious reasons
• Viewers could not believe what they were watching as the snake refused to cooperate

Some things simply have to be seen to be believed. A South African man came across a puff adder on a rural roadside on 27 August 2026 and made a decision that had the internet in stitches. He decided to pick it up himself.

The clip was shared by Facebook page Slangboere and showed the man crouching near dry grassland and trees, attempting to grab the snake and carry it off the road. His technique was shaky from the start. Each attempt sent the snake into a defensive position, and the man narrowly avoided a very bad outcome more than once.

Read also

BI Phakathi steps in to help young mother with money troubles

What made it funnier was that he did not give up after the first failed grab. He reset, composed himself, and went back for a second round, much to the horror and delight of the onlookers filming nearby.

The puff adder is one of southern Africa's most dangerous snakes and is responsible for a significant number of snakebite fatalities on the continent each year. A bite delivers a powerful cytotoxic venom that destroys tissue rapidly. It is not a reptile anyone should be handling without proper training or equipment.

The man in the video by Slangboere had neither, which is exactly what made the whole thing so nerve-wracking to watch. Watch the clip that has South Africa talking:

SA stunned by snake capture fail

Viewers flooded the comments with a mix of laughter and disbelief:

Malesela Segodi wrote:

"When you were told 'if you get bitten by a Gaboon viper, you have 10 minutes to live' so you allow it to bite you again to get 10 more minutes 😂"

Sakhile Macktronic Gule said:

"You see, it's all that KlipDrift and Coke 🙆🙆"

Read also

SA funeral send-off with car burnout leaves Mzansi divided

Ashley Ash warned:

"Puff adder, very venomous one hour to shut down all organs in the body after one bite that makes the ❤️ stop and breathing like an asthma attack and then is of how much venom was injected 💉 yes play more"

Jkdrafting Marroq summed it up perfectly:

"'Don't worry, I'm a professional,' said the snake"

Other Briefly News stories about snakes

• A Cape Town snake handler demonstrated an extraordinary bond with a black spitting cobra while safely relocating it from a roadside embankment.
• South Africans were stunned by a man who went viral for his astonishing ability to handle three mole snakes with remarkable ease and no visible fear.
• An incident in Hartenbos where a woman was bitten on the foot by a puff adder led to crucial safety warnings from local snake rescue group Slangboere.

Source: Briefly News