Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My python Monty has been the biggest pain in the neck lately. She was usually very docile and loves attention. Lately though we have been having a warm streak in Connecticut and she has been much more active, and seems very disinterested in me. Every time I hold her, she goes nuts and tries to get away from me.

She also discovered saturday morning how to get out of her tank. I found her that evening and put her back, then went immediately to the hardware store and got some stuff to make a lid. I got back and she was still there, and while I was making her lid (in the same room as her cage, and my friend was on the couch watching TV right next to her tank) she got out and is nowhere to be found. I tore the basement up looking for her. Any advice? She usually gets fed on tuesdays, so Im thinking she might be getting hungry. Could I put a mouse in the 10 gallon tank I have and bait her out? I can get a thermal imaging camera from work, but I dont think that would be helpful since she is cold blooded...or would it?

Any advice is much appreciated. Thanks

Here's what I did when I had an escapee...I layed long strips of masking tape sticky-side-up along all the room edges, across doorways, around closets and vents, near appliances that have gaps underneath them, etc. The goal was that no matter where she went, she would run into one of these strips, get stuck and tangled up, then be stuck there until I checked them all in the morning. It worked, I ended up trapping her along a wall edge in the same room she had been caged in. Just make sure not to use duct tape or anything like that, it is VERY hard to get off them and could damage their scales/eyes. Masking tape is much gentler.

Good luck!
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~* Jen *~

Pink Lady Constrictors

Looks like a trip to the hardware store tomorrow after work...

If you have cats and/or dogs, you may want to lock them up overnight while you do this. My idiot furballs got tangled up in some of the tape themselves and it was not fun getting masking tape out of cat fur -- although one of them proudly wore it on his tail like a flag. LOL!
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~* Jen *~

Pink Lady Constrictors

I dont have any dogs or cats or anything else, its just me right now. The weather is starting to turn cold, so I hope I find her. Im gonna go to the hardware store tonight and get the tape. Its also close to her feeding time, so Im thinking about getting a mouse and putting it in a small cage out in the floor, and putting some tape around that to see if I can bait her out.

I hope you find her soon, but don't bother with the infrared thermography. Even if she was just laying out under a heat lamp, which I doubt, you still would not be able to find her with it unless you new where to look. The IR camera does not see through things like furniture or walls so it would be useless. good luck.