Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I went to clean and change his water this morning and noticed the corner end of the lid pushed up. I knew right away he had escaped. My house is HUGE and I looked for him for a little bit this morning before I had to come into work but no sign.

Anyone have any ideas how I can catch him back? I am gonna check some locations when I get home tonight but I have small hope that I will find him. Like I said I have a very large house and the vent to the AC/Heating is right near his cage. I am afraid he got in there. I also have 2 dogs running around downstairs and a cat upstairs so I am kind of worried about them killing him also.

I also have 5 ferrets but they are in a cage but I have to clean their cage every 3-4 days and they get the run of the house at that time.

How long should I keep an eye out for him? How long before I give up any hope of finding him at all?

I have 8 yellow rats. One in particular has escaped twice in the past two years.

I found him once in the closet in my snake room and once he was on the window sill of my middle level... soaking up some rays.

1st off, leave out a water dish in different closets in your house so he does not have to leave your house (or get eaten by your dogs, cats, or ferrets to get a drink).

Secondly, turn your house upside down. I bet he will turn up. I have a number of corn snakes and usually have AT LEAST 1 escape every other month or so. I always get them back: ALWAYS.

I live in a 2600 square foot townhouse so it is not that big. One way that makes it easy for me to find them is that I taped off the Heat/ AC vents and use an electric oil heater, like the kind you get at Home Depot for $75.00. I keep the room at 80 degrees, which is 10 degrees warmer than the rest of the house. They rarely leave the room.

Goof luck - and if you can't get him back, email me. I have 2 clutches of Yellow Rats incubating now

Peter Jolles

Thanks Pete. Yeah I am kind of upset right now as I have been raising this little guy from a hatchling and have seen the size/color difference come over him in the last year or so. Funny thing is I had a huge rock on top of the screen and clips on each side. Only thing that I can think of is that when I secured the lid it might not have been on all the way and he pushed his way out.

I have checked closets,under the fridge,the stove,in shoe and every plant in my house and there is no trace of him. One of my friends told me young snakes are a lot harder to find when they escape not only because they are small but because they can squeeze into tighter spots then adults. I mean he is fairly long for a year old being 26 inches but he is rather thin and hasn't beefed up yet. I really hope I find him. When are your eggs done incubating?

I'll betchya anything he turns up. They usually do. I had an Everglades rat yearling (about 30" escape once and looked everywhere. Weeks later I found snake skat in one of my desk drawers. I found him squeezed between another desk and the wall about eight feet away. I had given up by then, but there he was.
Another time I had a hatchling corn snake escape. I'm talking delicup size. He was gone for three days. At that time I had breeder mice in an adjacent room, and when I checked on them three days after the escape, I noticed they were avoiding a certain hide area I had put in their cage. I looked closer. Bam! I saw a tongue undulating! I opened the cage and I couldn't believe my eyes. That sucker had eaten a small adult mouse. It couldn't even move, it was so fat! Well, he digested the mouse okay and never got out again. Don't give up. I know your house is huge, but I'll wager he didn't go very far. He's squeezed into a tight, secure-feeling place somewhere for sure.

...once one of my eastern kings got out - i knew that he had eascaped before i saw the slightly opened rack because he was perfectly coiled up on top of a ten gallon aquarium that housed a nice 3 foot corn snake. i looked over and there is this chain king sitting on the screen top who apparently had given up on trying to get in to the aquarium.

he was hungry!!!! little rascal!!!

Peter

Don't forget that at Snakes love to climb. I found a shed from a hatchling escapee behind a picture 5-feet up a wall. With two kids, (and some of my own mistakes) I've had a few too many escapes. They rarely travel far. With one exception, I've always found them in the same room. To check for travel paths, you can put flour along the wall and look for tracks in the morning.
My worst case escape was a htachling Everglades that remained loose for 187 days. He was skinny but OK. Today he's thriving. Good luck.

Yeah, I did a full search of my downstairs last night when I got home from work and no trace of him what so ever.I checked the windows,curtains,behind pictures and every other place you could think of.I put out a few of the hides that were in his enclosure thinking he 'might' go inside one out of pure luck. I just hope he didn't find a way into the basement and found a way out or my rottie didn't spot him and eat him. She has killed a few wild animals over the years and is not to fond of the snakes to begin with....

Don't give up, not for a long time.

My aunt and uncle had a red rat snake for their son 10 years ago or so. He dissapeared for the winter, then one day in the spring dropped out of their attic on my uncle's head, out in the garage. They do love to climb. I have a licorice stick rat (or white sided black rat, whatever) and she is always trying to get out when i clean the tank (i take her out twice a day as it is, lol). The cloese i've come to losing her was one night i was sitting up in bed watching tv with her around my neck and fell asleep, and i woke up 4-5 hours later she was curled up next to me, lol.
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