A YOUNG mother almost jumped out of skin as she was about to take a bath when she thought she saw a snake - but it turned out just to be a slow-worm.

Laura Mariner, 19, of Queen Mary Avenue, South View, said the sight of the creature slithering on her bathroom floor gave her a nasty fright.

Laura said: "It is the second one I have found and I just want someone to do something about it. It is disgusting. Even though I have been told it is not harmful, I am still scared of it."

On being contacted by The Gazette, keen herpetologist Ben Giles, marketing and PR co-ordinator for Sentinal Housing Association, which owns Laura's ground-floor flat, investigated the matter. He was able to identify the creatures as being slow-worms.

He said: "They will be slightly disorientated having just come out of hibernation with this fine weather that we are having."

Laura thinks the creatures got into her flat through holes in the walls. She said: "I want the holes filled in so they can't get back in and I dare not open the windows because of the ivy growing up the wall outside."

Ben, who said the slow-worms probably came into her flat from the garden, explained: "It is important for all our tenants to keep their gardens in a good state in order not to encourage wildlife to venture nearer the house.

"It is set out clearly in tenancy agreements that tenants have a duty to look after and maintain their gardens."