Family Startled By Snake on Hood of Their Car

The Fisher family was driving down the highway when they got the surprise of their lives: a snake appeared out of nowhere and slithered across the windshield.

"We're driving along, my husband's in the passenger side and he looks down and out of the corner of his eye and sees a snake head," says Rachel Fisher.

While her toddler screamed from the back seat, Rachel managed to keep the car on the road and husband Tony took out his cell phone to record everything.

The reptile wriggled across to the driver's side mirror.
 
"At that point I look at him and I'm like, 'How can I drive? I don't know how I can drive, it's right in front of me,' " Rachel says.

Luckily for Rachel and Tony Fisher and their three kids, the hitchhiking snake never found its way inside.

Although Tony thought it was a water moccasin, the snake was identified as coming from the species known as the rat snake. It apparently had been hiding in the engine. Unlike water moccasins, rat snakes are not poisonous.
 
"It was a bizarre experience," says Rachel.

Snakes in cars are rare, but it has happened before. A video posted on YouTube shows a python hiding inside a dashboard!

Like Samuel L. Jackson from the movie Snakes on a Plane, the Fishers, who live in Memphis, Tennessee, kept their cool even when they encountered a snake on their car.

The Fishers hope the snake, which fell off their car during the drive, was able to slither away to safety.