Dreads discovering snakes (6)
I believe the answer is:
adders
'snakes' is the definition.
(adder is a kind of snake)
'dreads' is the wordplay.
'dreads' can be anagrammed to 'ADDERS'.
Though, I am unsure how this is indicated.
'discovering' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for adders that I've seen before include "Snakes are totters" , "Venomous snakes" , "Arithmetic snakes?" , "Mathematical reptiles" , "Totting 25 down?" .)