Reptile & Amphibian Forums

no I don't mean my superhero outfit, I mean my 06 female hypo het patternless cape gopher snake. The male hypo/patternless and female were being kept in the same cage (temporary) and after a water change last thursday the top was not secured and both escaped. I found the male last night in the closet but the female remains MIA. I really hope to find her soon and any suggestions are accepted. just thought i would let some of my anxiety out somewhere as I have been freaking out although I found the more expensive of the 2, the female has a great personality and is just as beautiful as the male in her own way.

I find that if a snake escapes at this time of the year it looks for the first cool dark spot to hide. Some would think to look in a warm spot but I think time of year would contradict that. In the first 24 hours they usually remain in the same room that they escaped in. Good luck !

anyone keeping snakes has been there. As a kid I was a bit careless or distracted on several occassions and lost snakes. Lately it seems like I only lose snakes when I am doing something outside SOP such as a temporary housing thing or stacking a bunch of baby boxes, etc. Rule of thumb for me is to do a thorough search right after discovery of escape, this is generally futile. Then count on never finding the animal, if it turns up you should be pleasantly surprised if not you will not be as disappointed. Think about how small of a hide even big snakes can get into and then consider all the possabilities in the average household!

The last snake I lost was a male P.l.lineaticollis......the cats found him 50 days later about ten feet from his enclosure. He was a unhurt and the cat damage was only cosmetic. Come to think of it the cats have found the last 4 escapies. Go out and get some indoor only cats and them watch them closely!

Good luck, Ginter

I've been there a few times,once had an adult male jani do a harry houdini routine on me.He then decided to turn up 10 ft away after a 3 month holiday!
Ginter i also have cats that are suberb at locating escapees and take great pleasure in sweeping up any crickets that make a bid for freedom
Heres one of my two Scottish Fold males.'Hamilton'

Oh, that cat is gorgeous!
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Genesis 1:1

Cheers mate he's pretty cool aint he.My Red male is also very cool and totally laid back.

AL

The last gopher that I lost was when I was about 23. I had no idea where he was then when I was getting some socks out of my burow (sp?), I found it content and sleepy in my socks. My last escaped Bull snake was another matter, he got into the heat duct and was found by the furnase repare man. There was vibration on the furnace fan and it was due to dried up pieces of my male bull on the fan. Sooo check heating areas to start!
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125 Orchid plants
20 other tropical plants and succulents
12 Bonsai Trees
28 Tarantulas & 1 Androctonus Scorpion
6 Planted Freshwater Tanks
1.1 Kankakee Bulls
1.0 Texas Red Bull
0.1 Kansas Yellow Bull
1.1 Costal Chocolate Cal Kings

I know exactly how you feel. I just had one of my 06 southern pines escape for several days into a hole in the wall in my snakeroom. Fortunately he came out yesterday and I was right there waiting for him. I have to agree bigtime with the previous post about cats,my cat found my last 2 escapees. Kevin

yeah except i don't like house cats all that much and with my luck the cate would eat it and i would find the cat with a orange and red tail hanging out its mouth and the cat would grow wings... I am going to put a heat pad out and maybe a yogurt cup with a cooked and cut ft fuzzy inside it next to the heat pad. I will give it a month or two before i think all will be lost, then i guess i am shopping for another. I don't know how long a baby gopher that hasn't eaten in 10 days can last without food?

I would leave a few waterbowls along the edge of the walls in case she comes out to crawl around. Water would be the most important thing,but being a cape she probably could go longer without water maybe. You can flip the lights on several times a night in your snakeroom and scan the room and you might find her out in the open. Kevin

You truly never know where you might find a lost snake. I have learned to try even the most unexpected places.
I had a young rosy boa that had escaped earlier this year. I found him in a shop vac. He had found the little hole at the end of the flexible pipe, crawled up through it and was down in the bottom of the vac, buried in the trash and thick dust in the bottom of it. Good luck. Randy W.

I had a okeetee corn hatchling that had escaped.
A couple of weeks later while watching TV, I noticed my long haired dachshund looking behind the TV stand. He would walk behind the stand and then come out in reverse as fast as he could with his ears perked up and his tail wagging. I noticed him do this a couple times so I figured I better go have a look. When I looked behind the TV stand their was a little okeetee corn, all coiled up in striking position.
My dog looked so proud of his find. I gave him a nice rawhide bone. The dog that is not the snake. Randy

that is a nice looking cape in that pic! yeah my dog, actually my girlfriend's dog but it's "our" dog and i don't always see eye to eye but i did test to make sure he would not eat a snake without letting us know about it first, when i placed the male on the carpet the dog goes nuts and just barks and runs circles around it but never approached it... i will definately get him a treat if he finds the snake before me and doesn't hurt her.