After a recent move, my rack was damaged (unknown to me) and the back was loose on it. Well, a few days ago, as was bound to happen, one of my snakes came up missing. I went to feed everyone and to my great surprise, the bin for my largest normal female was empty. Because of the loose back on the rack, the bin had gotten pushed too far back and she somehow got out through about a one inch crack. I also caught my Mojave female in the act of escaping and put her back. I fixed the rack, and began my search.
I figured since my missing girl was so big (about 2600 grams) she would be easy to find right? Wrong! I tore the house apart and she never turned up. I was worried she might have gotten down in the heating duct since we are remodeling and all the register covers are off. So i gave her 2 days to turn up (during which time i got up and searched the house several times a night with a flashlight, put out heat pads and mice, etc.), and after seeing no sign of her we finally resigned ourselves to dismantling our ductwork piece-by-piece and taking apart the furnace. Big surprise - we still couldn't find her.
At this point i was pretty bummed out - thinking she had either escaped the house or found her way into the sewer line from the open toilet or sink drain and figured i would never see her again. Just as we started putting the panels back on the furnace, i happened to glance across the basement. The distinct side-pattern of a ball python caught my attantion in the least likely of places...in the ceiling.
She had somehowe managed to go down through a hole in the floor and work herself over ontop of a drain pipe, where i assume she spent the last 3 days watching me with great amusement while i frantically tore the house apart looking for her.
She was dusty and dirty and very cold, but was otherwise unharmed. This really proves that an escaped snake can be ANYWHERE, so don't give up looking!
