Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i had a '03 amel striped snake escape from a 10 gallon I thought had a secure lid. Anyway, here's the question. what are the chances a snake one year old can get away from my 18 lb. cat that runs the apartment? I have a small two bedroom apartment I get for free (cop perk) and the cat pretty much runs the place...hold on, he wants to type...

This is Cedric. I run the place. AJ feeds me, cleans my litter, and pays the bills, and all I do is ignore everyone that walks in the door, and every once in a while curl up and be all cute...

Ok, he's done typing. It's AJ again. Anyway, is there a good chance the snake got eaten by my fat ole cat without me knowing it? I'm gone 8 to 10 hours a day being a police officer and all, (smell bacon anyone?) so he could have eaten him and cleaned himself up, right? Just curious if anyone has experiences with it. THanks!

AJ
King Donut Eater
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1.0 Hypo Okeetee - Wesley (Princess Bride)
0.1 Ghost - Sydney (Scream)
2.0 Striped Amel - Jay and Aiden (Kevin Smith movies)
1.0 Snow - Silent Bob (Kevin Smith movies)
0.1 Anery - Columbia (Rocky Horror)
1.0 Creamcicle - Brandon (Mallrats)
0.1 Zig Zag Anery - Pepper (didn't name her)
0.1 Normal - Bindy (Croc. Hunter)
0.1 Motley - Craven (Underworld)

to lead you to the snake. Haha, I loved your post!! Seriously I wouldn't give up hope. I haven't had one escape yet but I've read posts where their snakes show up out of no where couple weeks down the road. And some have said they had cats also.

Have you tried to look in the littlest places? Someone found theirs in the dresser drawer, closets, etc.

One night my 1 yr old corn escaped. I have my snake homes in a bookcase...there were some empty binders on the bottom shelf and the cat had pulled some of the binders out that night. So, of course I figured the snake was in there. And she was.

My cat has a history of just "playing" with other critters (usually until they are dead) and does not ever consume them. I suspect most cats are like that? My snake had some claw marks in her side, but they were gone after the next shed.

I would imagine that if your snake captured the attention of the boss, it would find a place to hide quick, and your cat will try everything to get at it. Look for things out of place when you return home in the evening...Good luck.

If the cat's not looking too smug (and fat!), keep an eye on how it behaves. When I had a hatchling escape a few years ago, it was the cat who found it. The snake had tucked itself out of reach, but the cat just kept on hanging around that spot patting at the carpet, until I went over, investigated and carried out a rescue operation.

In my experience, cats are pretty messy eaters if they get hold of a whole critter. There's usually something left over for you as a "present". Hopefully this means that your snake is still OK!

While I haven't had a snake escape yet, I have had a leopard gecko and a day gecko escape in my apartment. I had pretty much the same worries you did except for one thing - I have six cats that are all indoor cats AND all used to live as indoor/outdoor cats in New Mexico where they had lots of experience catching geckos. I found both of the geckos safe and sound - even after several days. My experience with cat's getting hold of reptiles is that, even if the reptile is not found, a bloody mess will be. Even if they are "eaters" (some of mine are, some aren't) they will generally play with their food a little before consuming it - this is bound to leave some tell-tale red stains. Good luck and keep looking - snakes are great hiders and will probably stay hidden during the day (hopefully when you are not at home)- and keep an eye on the cat!
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2.0 Anerythristic Corns
1.0 Sunglow Corn
3.4 Leopard Geckos
3.1 Crested Geckos
1.0 Peacock Day Gecko
0.1 Gold Dust Day Gecko
1.1 Giant Day Geckos
4.2 Cats