A gardener has issued a warning to others after he found a snake struggling to free itself from netting surrounding his flower beds – and was forced to step in to help
Alan Johnson Social News Reporter
14:43, 27 Oct 2025
A gardener has shed light into a worrying yet growing trend outdoors (stock)(Image: jacquesdurocher via Getty Images)
A gardener has expressed his concerns about a worrying trend he believes is becoming more common in the hobby. Posting on Reddit, he uploaded video footage showing a snake desperately trying to free itself from netting wrapped around his flower beds.
“Came home to a gardner snake entangled in our raised garden bed bird netting,” the gardener wrote in his post. He described the serpent’s misery, adding: “He clearly tried to death-roll his way out. We will have to reconsider our bird defence.” The snake was identified as a gopher snake, which although not indigenous to Britain, can be purchased from various reptile retailers and breeders across the country.
Fortunately, however, the gardener’s video concluded with him liberating the snake after carefully cutting away the mesh that had become twisted around its head using scissors.
Following praise for his actions, he confessed: “I am terrified of snakes. When I was very young, I was bitten by a rattler on a ranch I grew up on. But, I have a healthy respect for nature and really don’t want to destroy it for selfish reasons.
The gardener went on to explain: “I always check the tail first, and when I recognised this as a gopher snake, I knew I have to try. I initially thought I saw exposed insides of the snake, but as I slowly freed him (there was several minutes before this video), I realised he was good. And, honestly, after that first strike that hit me, I think he realised I was trying to help… With the few brain cells it has. In any case, I wish this snake a long, happy life, and many meals of gophers around here.”
“Thank you for taking care of him!” one snake lover responded warmly. “I get people who are saying they are terrified of snakes and it is just such an unfortunate conditioning. I was very lucky as a child to have a guy who came to our school every year to teach us about snakes.”
Meanwhile, a second Reddit user shared a comparable encounter. “Same thing happened to me many years ago, bird netting around our blueberries and a snake got tangled, I think a rat snake,” they revealed.
“Big/long one too, it died trying to get out. I ended up having to cut it out in pieces so I wouldn’t ruin the rest of the netting ‘setup’ that had taken so long to put up.”
They continued: “We ended up burying all those pieces of snake in a hole that we’d dug for a fig tree, figured it would decompose at become a fertiliser one day? All I know is that fig tree is SO healthy (figs are already such vigorous growers right?) and we always attribute it to that snake. We always tell people the variety of fig is ‘snake’ figs because of all the wriggly, twisting branches of the tree haha.”
Elsewhere, a third person offered their advice for rescuing snakes caught in similar predicaments.
“I’ve found hand pruning shears and herb cutters- both with the curved blades, to be extremely handy when dealing with needing to get things off animals,” they explained.
“You can slide the one curved blade under with no real danger since it’s blunt on the end and just cut. The little herb cutters would have been perfect for this. Their blades are smaller and thinner than scissors but still blunt and curved- just insert so it curves away from their body.”
If you discover a snake struggling in similar circumstances in your own garden, the RSPCA has the following advice online:
“Any wild animal that has been caught in constrictive materials such as netting or plastics should be brought to a hospital like ours to be checked over and monitored, as problems may not be clear at first, but damage caused by restricted blood flow can become apparent in the future.”
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