This Texas woman’s worst nightmare came true the moment she sat on the toilet in the dark

Everyone has awoken in the middle of the night to use the bathroom at one point or another.

But turning the lights on to use the bathroom prevents many people from going back to sleep.

And this Texas woman’s worst nightmare came true the moment she sat on the toilet in the dark.

Animal phobias are the most prevalent forms of specific phobia amongst humans. 

According to the World Health Organisation (ICD-11 WHO), “phobias are anxiety disorders, evoked in people in situations that can be well-defined and pose no danger to the person with the phobia.” 

Of the animal phobias, a fear of snakes – ophidiophobia – is obviously the most common.

Experts believe this is because humans evolved to be predisposed to acquire a fear of snakes.

But one Texas woman recently had a run-in with a snake that will make your skin crawl.

Central Texas resident Maria Jaimes ended up with a snakebite after she sat down on the toilet in the dark.

Jaimes said she got up to use the bathroom but didn’t turn on the lights.

She felt something the moment she sat down on the toilet.

“The rat snake bit me in my leg when I sat on it,” she said. “Very scary situation on a Sunday morning at 4:30 a.m. with lights off.”

With so many pranks online these days, Jaimes figured everyone would think she was joking and wouldn’t believe her.

That’s why she took several photos of the snake coiled underneath her toilet seat.

“As scared as I was when this happened, I am the one who took these pictures because no one would believe it!” she said.

Most people believe snakes access a house through the plumbing in the toilet.

But in this case, Jaimes said the snake found its way into the house through a vent in the roof.

Her husband put a wire over it to try and avoid another frightening situation with a snake.

“I just want people to be aware this happens in real life and to be aware,” she told KXAN.

Jaimes makes a good point.

No one wants to sit down on a snake when using the bathroom.

But according to one expert, the chances of them coming in through the plumbing is slim to none.

“Snakes coming up in the toilet is an infrequent occurrence,” ABC Home and Commercial Services technical director Alan Brown said. “In 25 years of pest control I have never dealt directly with it or have anybody that I know of deal with it,” he continued. “It is something if you do an internet search, you will find there are occurrences.” 

“I think it’s more of an urban legend most of the time but it does happen,” he said.

But he did list a few ways that snakes often end up in toilets.

“One is through the vent stack up on the roof, they can hold their breath and come through the toilet, they can also come kind of through the sewage system especially if there may be a break in the lines or rats in the sewer,” he said. “And then in some cases they just make their way into a house traditionally, right, through a crack or a crevice or make their way in and they can make their way in looking for water and curl up in a toilet as well.”

Jaimes will think twice before sitting down on the toilet in the dark.