Why the heck did he tell me this?

[Newbie5542]

I can’t sleep and feel really terrified. My idiot neighbour this evening told me there are huge snakes where we live (in uk). I didn’t believe him and he showed me pictures on his phone. We live near a lake and I’ve been here for 2 years but not seen one. I’m terrified and can’t sleep, I know I sound crazy but please help me. I kept checking under my bed and I keep checking in on my kids. I’m a single parent and have no one in my life to help me out of this fear, I’m so afraid to sleep.

@SquashedMallow thank you for the odds. I like that!

@User478 I was planning to out cinnamon outside to stop ants coming in so that brilliant! I don’t want to google it right now as images of them will come up but thank you

Grass snakes are completely non venomous, generally terrified of humans and incredibly unlikely to come anywhere near your house where there is no food for them. They eat small rodents, amphibians and small birds. Unless your house is knee deep in any of those things then why would they even bother coming in your house?

Grass snakes weigh less than a IPhone so there is precisely zero chance they could strangle anyone even a child.

Adders are even rarer; I'm 40 years old, have lived in a protected wildlife area for about 20 years and have never ever seen a wild snake at all.

i just want to move back to my old house. I hate this wildlife

@Elliania thank you

‘It’s very green and lots of places for wildlife to hide away’. You’ve said it yourself OP. Wildlife generally wants nothing to do with us because we’re comparatively huge, generally violent, and definitely worth staying away from. I’m sorry you have this awful phobia: it must be pretty stressful not being able to happily co-exist with nature. Having said that, I’ve been here for 53 years and have never seen a snake.

No worries. Snakes are actually really good for the wildlife balance; they eat things like mice and rats that can spread diseases. They 100% will not attack a dog or cat, in fact dogs, cats and foxes are amongst the predators that can kill snakes. So don't worry about your pets (if you have any!)

They’d be afraid of you so you probably won’t ever see them. The adder I saw was basking on a mountainside, the grass snake was playing dead when I came across it, the grass snakes are completely harmless to humans. Far scarier and more dangerous things in the city!

Thank you everyone for being here with me! I really appreciate the support. I’m going to try listening to an audiobook to help me sleep and scroll on my phone. I know it’s irrational and I hope the fear will die down as time goes by. Right now I am terrified but I’m hoping this fear will go away,

Grass snakes are the largest UK snake, and they're non-venomous. All UK snakes are rare and very shy - they would never seek out proximity to humans and would keep well out of your way if they found themselves anywhere near you. Definitely not something you need to worry about!

Grass snakes are not constrictors. They would not and could not strangle you if they tried. They rarely even bite. They're very shy and actively avoid humans.

Perhaps you should go on one of those phobia courses, teach you a bit about them and would allay your fears, which are pretty unrealistic.

Move to Ireland! Better safe than sorry 😉

Non of the snakes in the uk are constrictors so there is no chance of any of them strangling anyone.
I have actually seen quite a few adders, but I have done biological surveys on moorland far from houses. They are not at all aggressive they just sit there.

You need medical help by the sound of it OP before this starts to affect your children.

Can you have a word with your GP?

We live in the middle of the countryside with rivers and ponds and woods. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a snake, maybe one dead one years ago.

Your fear sounds phobic level. You need psychiatric help to rationalise it. Moving away won’t help. There’s always going to be wildlife.

@JustCopyeditorsAnnie thank you.

If your fear is so bad it’s stopping you from sleeping you need to see a doctor OP.

Seeing snakes is very rare here. I live in the countryside, next to a canal and the most “wildlife” I see are ducks, pheasants and squirrels.

I promise adders and grass snakes will not harm you.

Please don’t pass this fear onto your children.

Two Brown Snakes lived in my compost bin where it was nice and warm compared with the ambient temperature of a windswept Welsh mountain. They were quite chunky, maybe 1 metre long, very peaceful.

I’ve never seen a snake in the wild. I used to have two pet snakes, only corn snakes, one grew to be 5ft exactly (I’m 5ft 4) but it’s width was maybe 1.5inches around, wasn’t strong enough to hurt me or mark me when it would coil around my arm (it only did that when it was comfortable with me after months).
They’re shy creatures so would mostly retreat away somewhere to hide (probably why they’re rarely seen in the wild).
We don’t have venomous snakes in the UK and we don’t have big snakes or large constrictors so nothing to worry about in terms of your children.
I fully understand the fear though as I’m terrified of spiders. x

Have you never seen a fully grown (harmless!) grass snake? They are very long!

Yes we do have a venomous snake in the U.K. It’s called an adder. I have seen quite a few but I live in an area where they are very common.

I’ve lived in the countryside for nearly 40 years , and I’ve seen two snakes . One was a grass snake in my horse’s field , which was tiny , and an adder which we actually disturbed asleep in our woodpile because it was warm .
I suspect many many more have heard us coming and buggered off as fast as they can slither . They have no interest in meeting us , let alone attacking us .

Apologies, I meant dangerously so (as in fatal etc.)

Someone is enjoying tormenting you!

Myfluffyblanket the 2 brown snakes in your compost bin were likely slow worms. They are legless lizards and they are harmless they eat slugs and snails so good to have in the garden.