Dreads wild snakes (6)
I believe the answer is:
adders
'snakes' is the definition.
(adder is a kind of snake)
'dreads wild' is the wordplay.
'wild' is an anagram indicator.
'dreads' is an anagram of 'ADDERS'.
(Other definitions for adders that I've seen before include "Re Dad's snakes" , "Arithmetic snakes?" , "Totting snakes" , "Totting 25 down?" , "Poisonous snakes" .)