Now I see that my location is changed, but the snakes isn't, so if I get out in the top-left corner then my location isn't changed so much and I just continue to lose lives. If i get out further away from the re-spawn spot then it's fine.

Ever act cycle that a snake is touching me, I lose a life and I can't move fast enough to get away from the snake, so it's like I only have one life. It takes more than three act cycles to get away from the snake which by then I'm out. When I'm removed from the World I can just press run and the snakes will continue moving around.