'Bachelorette' Star Shawn Booth Freaked Out After Wild Snake Goes Missing in His House

'Bachelorette' star Shawn Booth, who was once engaged to Kaitlyn Bristowe, has been having lots of sleepless nights ... cause he discovered a snake in his house ... a snake that is now lurking somewhere inside!

Shawn tells TMZ ... he first spotted the snake Monday in the basement of his Nashville home, and tried to cover it with a blanket to calm it down and catch it. His plan was to somehow gently place a basket on the snake's head ... not to kill it but to apply just enough pressure so the reptile would lose consciousness. He did the basket thing and then went to get a shovel so he could remove it from the house.

Thing is ... when Shawn returned with the shovel the snake was nowhere to be found and he hasn't been able to locate it. He's still living in the house but getting a decent night's sleep is impossible. He's worried it'll pop up in his room and do God knows what!??!!!

Shawn says every night before bed, he does a full search of the house, and even has his dog sleep with him in hopes the pooch can alert him to slithery danger.

Shawn tells us there aren't many things he's afraid of in life ... but snakes are top of the list.

Shawn says he thinks the snake got into the house while he was doing yard work. He says he brought out Terminix and they found possible entry sites ... which he plans to patch up.

It's unclear what kind of snake it is or if it's poisonous ... which Shawn says is the scariest part.