Reptile & Amphibian Forums

So my roommates brother came to visit and decided to mess with my monitor when I was at work :/
He forgot to close the cage up properly and this morning during my morning clean I realized my baby Ornate Monitor is missing. He is about two feet long nose-to-tip of tail and very skitish.

I called off work and have spent three hours trying to find him so far. I checked all the warm places I could find :/ and just about everywhere else.

Any advice or capture tips? I am going to set up heating pads and some hides around his enclosure to try and attract him, but I cant find any trace of him

seal off room he is in so u are sure there is no way out. if u have baseboard heatting remove outter panels and seal up holes where pipes go. i lost one many yrs ago and found him under base board panels. and kick that guys ass.

Look for tight, dark places. They like to squeeze in such places.

It is common that they climb behing wardrobes, pressing themselves against the wall.

Pay attention in the morning, when the sun comes from the window, it may be basking somewhere.

Once my prasinus went in a very small hole and was for like 3 days behind my wardrobe. In this case, it was left for a walk and I saw it entering there, so I just had to be patient because I knew where it was. Every few hours it would put the head out like that to be watching the world outside.

In this case, what I did was putting a cork tube just close to that opening and the monitor eventually went inside it.

It really sucks when it happens, and it's all our fault and it's ridiculous (and we don't want to admit that in public). But I guess everyone has been there...

You can try to put a heat pad somewhere in a dark corner with a Retes Stack on it.. You may find you ornate basking inside there some day.

Good luck and BUY A LOCK, now!

As has already been said they like to hide in tight spaces. The good news is as long as it is not seriously cold it will come out eventually to forage.
You do need to look for any holes in walls and and such. Even if they seem like they are too small for him to fit into.
The first large water I ever bought (many years ago) found a hole in a wall that I could not fit my fist into and crawled into it. This monitor was large enough that I would have never guessed it could get into this hole especially considering it could swallow my fist if it had wanted to. I ended up ripping the wall up to get it out (it was upstate N.Y. in the late fall and I knew it would shut down in the wall.).
I also once had an adult mangrove escape while cage cleaning and shoot around my house faster than anything I had ever seen reptile wise. I jumped behind a drum kit and barely caught it as it was halfway into a tiny mouse hole behind the drum kit.
Once again other than having had the previous experience I would have never guessed the mangrove would have fit into that hole.
Good luck on finding your monitor. As someone else mentioned locks are a good idea, I keep them on the cages with my bigger waters even though I seldom have visitors to my house or children (my own or others) you never know what may happen (break-ins, overly curious repairmen, etc.) that could cause an escape or worse yet a bite you would be liable for.
As for your brother I think a good shot from a taser is in order.

put bait stations out. change em every 12 hours or so.