So I came here to share my story of my first escapee. It all started when I had to leave town for work and asked my best friend/business partner to go let my dog out.
He did me the favor and while he was at my place decided to take a look at some of the snakes. When I got back late that night, I asked if he had messed with the snakes and he said he had so I decided not to bother them again (we have some fiesty new additions I am trying to leave be as they settle) and didn’t even walk in the room to check on them. It wasn’t until the following afternoon that I finally went to go check on everyone and do my daily rounds that I noticed one of the tubs slightly open!
One of the newer additions had escaped! In a panic I searched everywhere. I mean absolutely everywhere. I even saw a photo of someone that found their escapee in a subwoofer so I was taking things apart, ripping through boxes, the whole 9. I have a relatively clean space so I was convinced I would find her. Having to go to bed that night made me feel like the biggest POS pet owner. How could I not have checked when I got home? Even if her getting out wasn’t my fault, how could I not find her? etc.
Working from home I was constantly taking time throughout the day to try and find her and as the days passed, I became less encouraged. I mean, I had searched EVERYWHERE, multiple times. 7 days go by and I have pretty much settled on the worst possible outcomes in my head. That is when I had a good friend come in to town.
Having never seen the snakes before, one of the first things we did upon his arrival was look at the collection and handle some animals. Since he was staying at my place, I figured I wouldn’t mention the possibility of a loose snake (the emotional harm that could’ve caused is greater than any actual harm the snake could cause lol). As soon as we finished handling some snakes for his first time, we decided to take a second on the couch and crack some beers while we caught up.
The second we sit down, my friend mentions something about “snakes being out”. Not catching what he said, I asked him to repeat himself.
He said, “Oh that’s cool, you just let some of your snakes roam around your house?” Caught off guard I replied with a crazy-faced “What are you talking about?” He immediately points to the blinds on the sliding glass door and sure enough, our escapee is sitting right there. I was and still am over the moon to have her back and we are still laughing,
I wanted to share this story as I thought it was funny but also, I was really down about losing an animal and was convinced I would never see her again. I take great pride in caring for my little danger noodles and providing them with the best possible environment so to have something like this happen was crushing. But I had vastly underestimated how resilient these animals are. I am by no means an expert keeper but I can tell you one thing, if you lose a ball python, don’t panic.