Hi everyone,

Last night as I had just lay down and was about to turn off the light, I looked over at my sand boa tank and saw a snake crawling across the top of the screen. I thought it was the new baby I have in there, and was wondering how on earth he got out, but looked closer to realize that this snake was far too dark and long to be the new one (who is a snow). Ran over and discovered that it is my sand boa that escaped back in April, whom I had pretty much given up hope on ever finding again. I am so happy, I've had this snake since I was nine years old (16 years now!) and was just devastated when he disappeared and I couldn't find him anywhere.

He's extremely skinny, but looks remarkably well for being gone so long and without food and easy access to water. I'm guessing he must have been drinking out of the cat water bowl because he doesn't look as dehydrated as I would have expected. For the first couple months he was gone I'd set up little water bowls around my apartment for him, but gave up on that a few months ago, figuring he must be long gone.

My question for everyone is how would you recommend getting him back on food and up to a healthy weight? He goes off feed for several months every year, so long streches without food is nothing new, but he's never been without this long and is so terribly skinny. When he got out of his tank he was already a couple months into his annual spring no-feed, so I believe the last time he ate before disappearing was in February. I gave him a pinky last night which he ate without hesitation, but nothing more as I didn't want to overload his stomach and cause him to regurgitate. Any advice would be much appreciated!

Angela

P.S.-He got out after my cat collapsed the screen when I forgot to put back the mirror that lives on top of the screen just precisely so she can't do that. I repaired it, but evidently not well enough as he managed to push a small hole up in the corner and get out that night. I put him in a small temporary tank last night, and will clean up my spare 20 gal for him this evening when I have time. Thank goodness for extra tanks!

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