A day out with Dodo the snake charmer – “I can smell snakes, and vice versa”

The domestication of animals dates back to early settlement of man in an organised setting after living as a wanderer for years to fend for food. Although the domestication of animals was among other reasons meant to ensure food security for the household, snakes were not known to be among the animals domesticated by man. […]

The domestication of animals dates back to early settlement of man in an organised setting after living as a wanderer for years to fend for food. Although the domestication of animals was among other reasons meant to ensure food security for the household, snakes were not known to be among the animals domesticated by man. But to 30-year-old Dodo, a resident of NEPA Mile 7 in Jos, Plateau State, the sight of snakes has become a common feature in his domain.

Unknown to this reporter, who was patiently waiting on a one-sitter chair for Dodo to dress up and grant him an interview, there was a small red linen which could have been mistaken for anything except, of course, snakes.

It was when Dodo picked and untied the linen and said as if all was well, “Let’s begin” that the reporter noticed he was sitting a few inches next to three mean-looking cobra snakes which crawled out of the clothing with the spirit of freedom and taking out their razor-sharp tongues.

To Dodo who has been in the job of catching snakes for almost two decades, it was a common sight just as it was extraordinary to many. He told Weekly Trust that he inherited the skill from his father who also inherited it from his own father (Dodo’s grandfather). According to Dodo, “I can catch any snake no matter how big it is”. Asked how he came about his name, he replied thus: “When I was ten back in my village in Sokoto, there was this snake that had been bedevilling residents of the village for some time and had defied the skill of any other snake-charmer in the area, but I was able to singlehandedly catch the snake. When my elder brother learned that I had caught the snake alive, he said, ‘Kai, Dodo ne’ meaning, ‘you are a masquerade’, and that was how I got the name”.

Indeed, Dodo is a dodo for his services are sought, not only in Jos, but in many other places across the country where snakes start to become nuisances to residents. “I go to as far as Taraba, Gombe, Zaria, Kano and any other place where my service is being sought to catch snakes,” Dodo said.

Not only that, Dodo said he can smell the presence of any snake if the snake is within his vicinity. He explains, “I can smell the presence of a snake once I am at close quarters with it and they too can smell my presence”.

What methods does Dodo use to catch snakes? “There is a certain medicine that we use to catch snakes. Once we apply it within where the snake is, the smoke from the medicine will chase out the snake from its hiding place and I will then catch it. Even if it bites me, the venom will not be effective since we have been taking the medicine since we were kids,” he said.

He added, “In most cases, when I catch the snakes, I keep them for sometime and then go to the farthest bush and release it where I know it will not hurt anyone. I don’t eat snakes; I only keep them for some time, especially if I like a particular one. But I also ensure that people that are around me take the medicine,” Dodo stressed when asked about the safety of the people around him.

Muhammad Nura, 25, is Dodo’s roommate. He confirmed thus: “I am a mechanic and I have been living with Dodo, meaning I have been living with snakes and I have never been bitten by the snakes he keeps, because I too have taken the medicine”.

Explaining about the take-home pay after he’s been called upon to tame a snake, Dodo said, “I collect money from people based on their capacity. People do give between N7,000 to even N100,000, depending on one’s capacity”.

Apart from this, Dodo said he also gives antidotes for snakebite to people who have been bitten by snake. He does not only catch snakes, collect his returns and give antidotes, he also entertains people with his heart-stopping play with the much-dreaded reptile where he said people give him some token of appreciation for his spectacular performance.

Asked about any bad experience he’s ever had while attempting to catch a snake, Dodo said, “There was this snake that I wanted to catch about two years ago, but whenever I attempted to catch it, it would disappear. You know there are snakes that are sometimes overtaken by spirits; it took me a whole day before I was finally able to catch it. After catching the snake, I had to use some medicine to remove the spirit from it”.

The snakes Dodo keeps at home have to be fed. He narrated how he feeds them. “I usually put fish inside a rubber bucket half-filled with water. I then immerse the snakes inside the water where they will start to bring out their heads to eat the flesh of the fish. That is the easiest way to feed snakes and that is the way they prefer it,” he said.

Adding that another alternative is “to allow them to roam around the room on their own where they will fend for themselves going thereby going after things like rat, cockroaches and the like.”

From all indications Dodo is enjoying his little kingdom of snakes that fetches him the income he uses to sustain his family of four (a wife and three of his kids who are in faraway Sokoto). Despite the popular saying that people who indulge in such jobs are likely to get killed by the animals they tame, Dodo doesn’t seem to give the idea of quitting his means of livelihood a shred of thought.

He said, “Death is inevitable. Even if one is not killed by what one does, definitely one day, one will die, therefore, even if I die from snakebite, it is the way God has destined it”.

He stressed, “I am going to also pass the antidotes to my children who I’m sure will pass it to their own children. It has become a tradition in the entire family even for my siblings who are not engaged in such act; they do have the antidotes which they pass to their own children,” Dodo concluded.