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“… she reassured me that it was most likely a Corn snake, which isn’t harmful …” Photo: 123RF

An Araglin woman got the fright of her life when she went out to her clothesline one evening last week. The woman, who has asked not to be named, was collecting her washing from the line at around 8pm on Wednesday last when she heard something move in the long grass beside the line on the edge of the family farm.

She looked and to her horror saw a snake slithering through the grass. "It was only about a foot and a half away," she says. She dropped her laundry basket and ran screaming into the house. Her son and his girlfriend heard her but, she says, they found it hard at first to believe that she had actually seen a snake.

They accompanied her back out to where she'd seen it and, after a time, they too saw it move and all three bolted for the house. She told The Avondhu this week that the snake was, from what she could see, about three feet long, gray in colour and "a bit fatter than the handle of a brush."

The home owner rang Cahir Garda Station, who, while bemused by the reported sighting as they said they'd never before dealt with such a matter, were "extremely helpful" the woman said. In the meantime another of the woman's sons saw the snake.

The next afternoon three men from the Tipperary branch of the ISPCA arrived out to the farm. After looking for a time they agreed a trap needed to be set to capture the reptile. They left, but didn't return. In desperation then, because she has a fear of reptiles, the woman contacted the Cork branch of the ISPCA. She says "a lovely women" came out with another person to investigate the matter.

"She was really helpful and while she couldn't find the snake she reassured me that it was most likely a Corn snake, which isn't harmful and was a pet which had escaped from somewhere."

She returned to the property but again couldn't find the snake, leading her to conclude that, as it had been disturbed it had moved on somewhere else.

The ISPCA person rang the woman again to see if there'd been any more sightings. She says a local neighbour who used to keep snakes himself was also very helpful.

The family would like to hear from anyone who may be missing a pet snake. It's understood a radio report recently suggested that in hot weather such as we are experiencing snakes are more likely, unless caged, to move away in search of a cooler environment.

Corn snakes are not venomous and don't tend to be aggressive. They are carnivores. In the wild they would normally hunt small mammals and birds. They are most active at dawn and dusk, preferring to sleep during daylight. They come mostly from America and are popular as pets.

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