4-Year-Old Can't Use Fire Escape, Horror as Mom Sees What the Problem Is
Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content.
A mother-of-two was left squirming after discovering an unexpected guest blocking the fire exits by her son's bedroom window.
In a video posted to TikTok under the handle @midwestmillennialmomma, the mom, who has yet to share her full name with Newsweek, can be heard audibly reacting to the sight of the unwanted guest.
"Get it out," her 4-year-old son is heard to ask repeatedly on the clip. Unfortunately, his mom is powerless to help: it's a snake and she really hates snakes.
"He saw the snake in his bedroom window well, when playing with his Legos and ran to tell me there is a snake in his fire escape because we taught him that window may need to be used for a fire exit if ever a fire," the mom told Newsweek.
"I've always been afraid of snakes so I was nervous to go see it."
She's not alone in being fearful of snakes. In 2016, a study published in the journal Psychiatry Research concluded that around half the population feels "anxious" about snakes while 3 percent meet the criteria for having a phobia of snakes.
The mom behind the @midwestmillennialmomma undoubtedly falls into the latter category, which made dealing with the predicament presented by her son challenging to say the least. The only real positive was that the snake itself was not a large or venomous one.
"It was a garter snake which is harmless besides the fear it creates," the mom said.
The mom had been planning on enlisting the help of her better half in dealing with the serpent intruder. Unfortunately, that didn't quite work out.
"I was hoping my husband would get it out and move it somewhere far away from our property; however, after a few days of it being there and him also not wanting to try get it out, I asked a friend if I could borrow their grabber claw to try get it out," the mom said.
It looked like the mom was going to have to face her fear if she wanted to evict the family's new reptile roommate. Thankfully, the friend she was borrowing the grabber from stepped up.
"She knew how afraid I was and ended up coming over and getting it out herself which I was immensely thankful to her for doing," the mom said.
The situation has improved immensely since then with the mom pleased to report that the snake has yet to return to the spot by her son's fire exit.
"Every day, I peak in his window well to see if any new critters are there," the mom said. "A few days after we got the snake out a gopher was in there."
She added:"It seems the gopher can get in and out on its on with the ladder though because I haven't seen it since."
Decidedly cuddlier and cuter, the arrival of the gopher has helped the mom and son to view the fire escape in an altogether different way. "I've decided his window well is like our own version of National Geographic as we've had frogs and a mole in there before," the mom said.
As long as the snakes stay away, she's fine with that.
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