Reptile & Amphibian Forums

After of getting at most 5 hours a sleep a night trying to find my Ball python that escaped in my 2500 square foot basement last Saturday, I finally found her. Thanks to everyone who has given me some great suggestions in trying to find her. At first I thought that it was going to be a very easy thing, but I quickly realized how tough this endeavor would be.
I tried putting shriveled up newspaper and bags everywhere. I set up heat pads and hide boxes. We have a drop ceiling on most of the basement except the room where I keep her. We have closets and two other small rooms. There is a 90 gallon aquarium and a sump pump that makes a lot of noise. She could have been any where.
I eventually found her this afternoon after returning from work, she was inside the furnace. I’ve looked around the furnace at least 50 times and never thought that she would actually crawl inside. I don’t even know how she got in; the only hole that leads into that space is the ventilation system that circulates air around the whole house.
She was very cold and at first I thought that she didn’t make it. Once she realized that I was taking her out, she tensed up. Once I took her out I realized that she had some dirt around her heat pits, I tried soaking her so she could get that off, unfortunately she started opening her mouth and demonstrating typical signs of RI, (open mouth and clicking noise while breathing.) Maybe she was just stressed; she even had some dirt in her mouth. Once I took her out, she settled down. She is now resting in her “secure” enclosure the warm hide is at 95. I’m actually thinking of moving her setup into my bedroom for more security.
I guess the best part of this whole thing is that while looking for her I threw away 4 bags of garbage that accumulated over the years. I also know every possible hiding hole in my basement. Thanks for reading my long post, and thanks for the support. Dave.

Found her

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Jay A. Martin

Tell me about that set-up. I was thinking about doing the same thing instead of a complicated rack system.

What setup are you talking about? I keep the female in the picture in a 45 gallon aquarium that I turned sideways. I have two 12 inch flexwat heat pads side by side for the warm side. I bought a wire mesh cover for the front and half of it is closed with clear plastic to keep the moisture in.

The picture that she is resting on is a setup that I built a few weeks ago for hatchlings. I just bought a 3 shelf book unit, added another shelf to fit four 15 quart sterilite containers with their tops on. I took two 12 inch flexwat heat pads and cut them in half. I attached the 6 inch heat pad on each shelf and soldered all the heat pads together so that they are on the same circuit. This setup is controlled by a Big Apple thermostat and works great. Let me know if you have any more questions, Dave.

That's great!

sneaky little buggers, aren't they!

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...got balls?

graycat

Letting me live here:
2.1 normals
0.1 pie ball
1.0 hetpied
? Suriname
? Common snapping turtle
? Alligator snapping turtle
1 Guinea pig
2 gold fish (turtle survivors)
1 pet mouse and
3 cats
Oh yeah, and 3 children!

Congrats!!! That's awesome news and gives me hope...on my way to check my own furnace now! Thanks for posting the good news!!!