So, hate to be making this topic, but I lost three snakes in two days thanks to my negligence. They are: yearling Apalachicola kingsnake
young red Guerrero Mexican indigo snake
and yearling Arizona mountain kingsnake
The indigo escaped through the delicup she came in. I did not seal it all the way and left in a rush to get to work
The Apalachicola kingsnake escaped because I didn’t seal his tub all the way after replacing his water
The Az mtn kingsnake escaped the critter keeper he was in while I cleaned his enclosure
Lessons learned. painfully. Obviously what happened happened. No need to scold me for this, I am already suffering enough.
I turned over my apartment searching for them. Found poop from the Apalachicola kingsnake. I doubt they are still in my apartment. There are holes into the wall where the utilities for oven, washer, dryer come in. They likely escaped through some of these holes. Has anyone had any luck luring snakes out of walls? Besides them escaping and never returning, I am worried most about the Apalachicola kingsnake eating the other two. He is much larger and being a kingsnake, much more motivated to eat snakes than the other two. Thanks!
Youll probably have to alert management if you want them back. Its going to cost however much it takes- if they have to rip up the walls… etc. Can they get outside through the holes? Theyre probably gone if so. Id alert management anyways if they can access other tenants apartments. It will fall back on you if someone comes home to a snake not native to the area you live in crawling around.
I think it’s unlikely they get outside, but possible. I will alert the other neighbor to be on the lookout.
My best advice is to set a Heat Trap with some water right outside or next to each of those holes. Snakes smell water and will go looking for a drink. You can even leave a mouse or the scent of one on your trap. Here’s how that works:
You take the heat pad with attached thermostat still regulating it from their enclosure, and put it inside a dark little box with a hole in the side or one end open. then put that box against the wall in the room you think the snake is maybe in, and plug the thermostat and heatpad combo in so it makes a nice warm dark box hide for the snake to find. Set a little cup of water next to the opening. They may be sniffing for water to drink.
All this makes a very tempting little Snek Hotel.
If you have more than one heat pad, set up little warm caves like this in as many places as possible. Then every morning, go around and check them all.
It helps to learn to think like a snake:
Snakes like to find the darkest most quiet place they can, that is also perhaps warm. Under the Oven/stove, under the fridge, inside shoes in a closet. They also tend to stick to the baseboards when they explore a house, staying against the wall, so if you put your hand on the wall and then just start following the wall until it gets to a dead end point, often that is a good spot to set up your Warm Den Trap.
They also like to go DOWN. Which I why I mentioned the basement.
When I had to try to find my own lost tiny snake, I followed the wall and realized it meant going down all the stairs all the way to my basement and into the laundry room down there. Guess who I found in the Warm Hide Trap the very next morning, IN that basement? Never underestimate how far a little noodle can go!
I don’t have anything to add other than to say I’m sorry, and I hope that a heat trap will work for you. Best of luck.
I lost a baby ball python named Pikachu once and i ripped my room APART for him. Like, totally emptied it until there was nothing in it and I couldn’t find him. It wasn’t until 2 years later when i went to get rid of a pancake griddle with a hole in the box did i realize where he had gone… I found his corpse still curled up on the plate surface. Needless to say, griddle went into the trash. But you literally must look EVERYWHERE. even after you’ve totally emptied an area in search, EVERY SINGLE ITEM must be inspected. There is no overkill when pursuing a snake escapee.