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So our snake got out of his cage sometime this weekend. I misted his tank Thursday afternoon and went to feed him the evening and GONE. He is in a room we use for our computer and the closet is used for my childrens out of season clothes. The room is not lived in at all. It has about 8-10 boxes filled w/ assorted clutter. I lloked all over the room, in every box, ion nooks and crannies, window sills etc. It is unlikely but anything is poss that he got out of the room. I searched in all the warm areas of the room, corners, computer equipment etc. he hasn't eaten in about 10 days so I know he is hungry. I put a thawes mouse in his feed box with his heat lamp clamped to the box and put a hide box in there. is his sense of smell good enough to smell the mouse if he is in the room. He is about 16-20 weeks old. the room is about 10 X 10. any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
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Human boys 6&11
Ball python 1 male
American pit bull terriers 3 (2male,1 fem)
Ferret 1 female
Fish ????
Mississippi Map Turtle 1

My first action in these cases is to make the rest of the house cold and leave just one room warm. A space heater in his one room would probably do it. If possible, just barely crack the door so he would be able to get in, but keep most of the heat in that room.

Multiple empty boxes around the room that he could hide in, with or without heat and food inside, are pretty effective.

I use glue boards as well. One in each corner and one along each wall has always worked well for me.

Funnel traps are sometimes effective, but I have found these to be better for rodents than for snakes. Take an empty 2 liter bottle and cut the top 1/4 with the neck off. Turn this over and stick it inside the bottle, creating a cone entrance to the body of the bottle. Tape/clip/glue this on and set along a wall with a towel over it (to make it look dark and inviting). Snake crawls in, cannot usually figure out how to escape. If necessary, cut some of the neck of the bottle off to make the entrance wide enough for your snake.

Finally, search search search. Have the kids looking especially. Whatever keen child senses they have seem to be particularly good at finding lost pets.

Good luck!
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25 year old 0.1 from Lincoln, NE
Ball Pythons - 0.1 Pastel, 1.0 Pastel het Pied, 0.1 Pied, 0.1 Cinn, 1.0 Black Pewter, 1.0 Woma (hidden gene?), 0.1 Yellowbelly, 2.1 Normals
Kingsnakes - 1.0 L. m. thayeri, 0.1 L. m. thayeri X L. alterna, 1.0 L. g. californiae
Other - 0.1 Whitesided P. catenifer sayi, 1.0 H. nascicus, ?.? Chrysemys picta, 0.1 crazy cat, 1.0 husband

I would normally tell you to look under the fridge, but if he couldn't get out of the room, maybe not. It couldn't hurt to look there. The fridge is warm on the bottom.

BE CAREFUL OF THE HEAT LAMP. You said the snake is out and you left the heat lamp clamped on. I think the snake is small and might not be able to knock it over, but that is one method that fires start in snake rooms. A snake escapes and knocks a heat lamp over on the carpet or trash can.

a few years ago I had one get out and into a closet where it hid on a coat hanger inside one of my wife's dresses.

When you walk into the room ask yourself where is the darkest warmest spot in the room. That includes places up off the floor like shelves and in drawers. Start with the darkest and work your way down the list.

-Keith
ballpythonfan.com
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My reptile blog:
http://www.ReptileBusiness.com

If you do not mind having a mess that is easily vacuumed up, then go buy a lot of flour and pour it all over the room he was in, and make a line across every doorway to see if he actually did get out and if he is going from room to room. And then just look for the tracks. Also looking for him with a flashlight at midnight might help. Good luck, hope you find him.

So, He was in his tank....... I looked in there, but I didn't move his hide box, it is a pop tart box for crying out loud. I looked under his water dish, in his tunnel. He had burrowed in his bedding up under his box. I just didn't even think he would burrow under a cardboard box without the box looking disturbed. i will know better next time. huge thank you for the help and advice.
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Human boys 6&11
Ball python 1 male
American pit bull terriers 3 (2male,1 fem)
Ferret 1 female
Fish ????
Mississippi Map Turtle 1

n/p