Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Around five-thirty in the morning, my mom ran upstairs to my room more or less screaming... "Christi! Your snake's out! Come get him!" Argh. I've had Tyler for about three months, and was fairly certain that his care was escape-proof, but upon inspection, I noticed one of the cage clips was unlatched. I'm assuming that he's either gotten strong enough to somehow spring the clip from the inside, or I simply forgot to latch it properly the last time I had the lid off. I don't like to think I'm that forgetful, but I'm guessing it's the latter. (Lesson learned, at any rate, but I am buying more cage clips tonight.)

Anyway, after I got downstairs, the first thing my mom said was, "Check his cage to make sure he's not in there somewhere, but there's definitely a snake over here." I had to smile at that one; the odds that another ball python had randomly found it's way into our house... oh well. At any rate, I was assuming that he would just be somewhere were I could grab him, return him safely to his cage, and go back to bed (it was five-thirty in the morning, after all), but the punk had somehow managed to squeeze himself onto an inch-wide ledge between the kitchen sink and the cupboard wall. (Is it just me, or do they pick the most impossible spaces they can think of?) It took nearly twenty minutes before I was able to get him out, mostly because the majority of moving he had to do was on his own free will. And of course, anyone who's ever tried to gently tug a ball python out of a spot where he wasn't supposed to be knows that it can be a fairly time-consuming process if the snake has made up it's mind that that's where it wants to be. But, I finally managed to get him into a position where I was able to slowly pull him off the ledge... I felt bad for having to be somewhat forceful with him, but know that if he were left to his own devices, he'd end up somewhere where I'd never be able to get him out.

I checked him over for cuts and scrapes and didn't notice any, but I was fairly worried about him still, because, like most American families, we keep all of our "dangerous" cleaning supplies under the kitchen sink. None of them were actually open, and I don't see any way that he could have accidentally come into contact with any of them, but it still bothered me a little bit. It's been about thirty hours, and he's been doing fine... thermoregulating as usual, and he was really active last night.

But, y'know... the first thing the little punk did when I put him back in his cage after his big adventure was to stretch up to the top of the cage and push on the lid to make sure I'd got the cage clips on right this time. Thanks for double-checking for me, Tyler.

Anyway, my question to you all is... for those of you who's snakes have gotten out (and I know that some people have lost theirs for months at a time)... did it seem to have any sort of effect on their temperament, feeding schedule, or anything like that? I've taken lots of care to make sure I never do anything to stress the little guy out... and that includes making the dogs move when they roughhouse too close to his cage. But then again, I guess if he didn't feel like having a bit of an adventure, he'd have probably stayed put. (Yeah, right.)

What is it? Friday the 13th a day early? You had an escape, I had an escape. Wanderlust, maybe?

> Anyway, my question to you all is... for those of you who's
> snakes have gotten out (and I know that some people have lost
> theirs for months at a time)... did it seem to have any sort
> of effect on their temperament, feeding schedule, or anything
> like that? I've taken lots of care to make sure I never do
> anything to stress the little guy out... and that includes
> making the dogs move when they roughhouse too close to his
> cage. But then again, I guess if he didn't feel like having a
> bit of an adventure, he'd have probably stayed put. (Yeah,
> right.)

Remember this: given a nano-chance, snakes WILL get out. It's a law of nature that's more ironclad than the speed of light.

I don't recommend clips - they're too easily bendable by an animal that is, essentially, one long muscle who can spend 24 hrs a day planning his escape. I've had too many snakes get out with just cage clips. For stubborn Houdinis, I get those nylon straps from Home Depot. That seems to do the trick. The setup I have with my main snake cage has the screen lids on a track, with a nut-and-bolt setup that prevents the lid from being opened. I forget which manufacturer made it, but I like it.

As far as post-escape stress: I've had snakes loose for weeks at a time with no ill effects. Bubba himself once got loose and was gone for two weeks until I discovered him, cold as ice, high on a bookshelf (in amongst the murder mysteries - was he looking for ideas to off his keeper?). Once he was warmed up, he was fine.

Oh, and you're not the first person to be woken up at Zero Dark Thirty by a female parental unit screaming about a serpent on the lam. Your mother and my mother could have a TALK.....

And I got nailed by my male burm at 12:30am this morning. Its the first time he has ever struck since he was a baby. Friday the 13th is doin a number on our critters!

I had a neighbor wake me up at 3:00 am one morning telling me to get my snake or he would kill it. My 13ft female burm was sitting under his window where his parrot cage was sitting. To this day I still have no idea how she got but she did get a new cage out of the deal. I don't know anybody that has kept snakes for any lenght of time that hasn't had one get out. Clay

Since I got Martha back three weeks ago, she's been sizing me up all the time. I look at her, and she looks at me, and I can just tell those little gears are turning in that head of hers. Her temperament has actually improved, though. Maybe she feels like my equal now that she's gotten the better of me once.

Monty has escaped twice. He lives in my office, and the first escape took place there. I arrived at work, and found his cage empty. We are a children's therapy office, and occasionally one of my co-workers borrows Monty, so in this instance I was foolish enough to call out "Hey, did somebody borrow my snake?" Suffice it to say that several other co-workers are NOT fond of snakes, and the resulting commotion was not a pretty sight! In any case, I found Monty within an hour that time, sleeping in a drawer of crayons. (Exploring his artistic side?)

The second escape took place this last Christmas. The office was closed for two weeks, and I brought Monty home with me for the vacation. Being a natural descendent of sloths, I did not want to haul his 40 gallon aguarium home as well, and instead set him up in a 10 gallon I happened to have handy. I had no locking lid for this, however, and (sloth tendencies winning out yet again) decided I did not need to buy one, and just bent a metal screen to fit the top, and fastened it down with bungee cords. Needless to say, Monty kicked butt on those puny bungee cords, and was gone the next morning. I tore my apartment apart looking for him, and nothing. I set out mouse lures again and again, and nothing. I got so desperate that I even turned my ferrets loose and told them "find the snake!", and nothing. (Worthless pair of pampered weasels! Ferrets were bred to find snakes, and these two can't find a 3 foot python in an APARTMENT!!)

Now forward to FIVE AND A HALF MONTHS LATER!!! I open the drawer under my stove to get a cookie sheet, and ...gee..what's all that white stuff?....OMG, it's SNAKE SKIN!!!!!!!!!!!! I start ripping stuff out of the drawer, and guess who is coiled up under all the pans!!!! Yes, I had checked the drawer before, so he apparantly had been traveling. My guess is that he was coming out at night and drinking from the cats' water dish, which is also in the kitchen, because he was not really dehydrated. And what really amazed me was that he was his usual fat BP self after all that time with no food. He was VERY hungry, though, and ate a mouse and 2 rat pups within 24 hours (usually he maxes out at two mice a week).

Personality wise, he is exactly the same. Still as mellow as ever, still patiently allows children to hold him, pet him, stretch him out to measure him, etc. on a daily basis. He is so NOT traumatized by the entire thing that he is pissing me off. Apparantly, the only trauma here was mine! In fact, I think this has caused ME some personality changes as well......LOL

Wendy