Terrified mother wakes up to neighbour's 4FT SNAKE sinking its fangs into her breast after she startled the sleeping beast which had slithered in under her duvet

CAROLINE Griffin from Fife says she thought she was going to die after waking to find the 4ft reptile beneath her duvet. Her neighbour's pet 'Hiss' had made its way into her bedroom after escaping six months ago.

Alan Richardson

Caroline Griffin from Guardbridge who was bitten by a snake.

A MUM has described her terror after she was bitten by a snake which had snuggled up on her chest as she slept.
Caroline Griffin woke up to find the 4ft reptile beneath her duvet.
When she screamed, the brown and cream creature sank its fangs into her breast – leaving bruising and angry puncture marks.
Caroline, 49, feared she might be seriously injured – or even that she might die – because she didn’t know if the snake was poisonous.
But she was put at ease when a neighbour from five doors away arrived to claim the reptile – which had escaped SIX MONTHS earlier.
Mum-of-four Caroline said: “The snake was lying on top of me when I opened my eyes in the morning.
“I was about to get up to get the kids ready to go to school when I threw the duvet back and saw it sitting on my chest.
“I thought the kids were playing some sort of trick on me, at first. Then I saw it move and I got the fright of my life.
“As soon as I started to scream, it bit me on the breast. It was quite sore.
“I thought I was going to die.”
The nonpoisonous Brown Belly California kingsnake called Hiss belongs to Gareth Niven, 21, who lives on Caroline’s street in Guardbridge, Fife.

Gareth Niven from Guardbridge with his pet hiss who escaped and bit a neighbour.

 He had not seen his pet reptile since it pushed its way out of its tank six months previously.
Gareth said Hiss had escaped once before – and it was two years until he was caught.
He added: “Hiss is kept in a tank in my room but he is able to get the lid off himself. We call him Houdini because he is so good at escaping.
“He is around four feet long but has lost a fair amount of weight since I last saw him.
“I raised him from an egg and he does sometimes hiss at people. But he has never bitten anyone before. He probably reacted to Caroline screaming.
“I am just glad she is OK and I am delighted to have Hiss back safe and sound.
“He was a bit aggressive when I got him back.
“But we don’t know what he has been through in the last six months, so its understandable he could be a bit grumpy.
“There was a derelict house between Caroline’s house and ours and we think he may have been holed up in there. There were council workers round recently carrying out work in the property, so it’s possible he could have been disturbed and made his way to Caroline’s.
“He will probably be hungry from his time away. I will be keeping a closer eye on him in the future.”
All kingsnakes are nonvenomous. But they are powerful constrictors and generally kill their prey by squeezing the life out of them.
They are considered harmless to humans but have been known to bite if handled too much.
Single parent Caroline’s kids took photographs of the snake on their mobile phones while she called the Scottish SPCA for help.
But the animal welfare charity’s inspector turned back after Gareth arrived to claim Hiss.
He scooped the snake up in a pillow case and took him home.
Caroline, who is mum to Laura, 24, Michael, 21, Emily, 16 and 13-year-old DJ, said: “I recognised Gareth as staying in my street.
“He had heard about the snake through the grapevine and turned up to claim it.
“He said it was a constrictor of some sort and that he hadn’t seen it since it escaped from his house.
“He took it away in a pillowcase I leant him.
“Gareth gave me the pillowcase back but I am going to burn it as I can’t bear the thought of putting my head back on it now I know there was a snake slithering around inside it.”
Caroline is still getting over the shock of finding Hiss on her chest.
She said: “It was the biggest fright of my life. I don’t think I will be able to sleep in my own bed now for weeks.
“It was the most bizarre thing ever.
“But I am just glad it is not in my home anymore.”