oh yeah. huge actual threat, since in a teeny little spot-on-the-map town isn't much of a deterrent for them. they really would do things like decide to nest in the school playground over the summer or hang out in the local parks. there was a population boom that put a stop to a lot of that right before we moved away, but that didn't stop the fear from being pretty well ingrained. i do handle seeing snakes a lot better now than i used to, though.