Freya is my fiance’s first snake, and she’s gotten out of her tank and is somewhere in the house, we’ve tried everything we could and are stuck, any advice on tips and tricks to get her to come out of hiding and back into her tank would be great! We have her tank as close to the wall as we can possibly get it as well as looked literally everywhere we could reach many times every day. Any advice would be much appreciated
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Are you 100% sure she’s not in the enclosure? They can cram into some really tight places. Check EVERY nook and cranny in the enclosure, even places you don’t think she could squeeze into.
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We have sifted through the dirt and even cleaned out the tank, we’re keeping a close eye on her enclosure, just in case she shows up or comes out
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Do you have any other pets in the house? If so, keep an eye on them. As for suggestions, look along walls, baseboards, in any piles of clothing or other things that may be around. Search around/under any appliances that emit heat if your house is cooler. The big one is to search near dawn/dusk, with your lights either dimmed or off (using a flashlight). Corn snakes are crepuscular, meaning those are the periods when they will be most active and when you may find her moving around between hiding places.
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Just the dog his little brother has, definetely going to search when the sun starts to set! Thanks for the advice!
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I hope you manage to find her! Also, don’t give up. I’ve got a corn snake that I acquired because it went missing in someone’s home (it was a child’s pet) and scared the heck out of the mother six months later while she was cleaning. Different species, but I have a friend whose sand boa was missing in their house for eighteen months, including a time when the house was without heat, and was found by the repairman they’d called to fix the heat.
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I’d secure her enclosure as if she’s still in it.
Keep eyes and ears open after sunset and before sunrise. If you have free-roaming pets, watch what they’re doing and interested in at those times. Put crinkly bags and bottle traps baited with food and water along walls the snake is likely to travel.
Do one more check of everything, starting inside the tank and examining all decor and substrate. Then move your search outward from the tank. Good luck!
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I wish you luck in your search for Freya (pretty name btw!)
Leave a small water dish out in a semi covered area to make sure the Corn snake can stay hydrated. Check every nook and cranny you can, even if you believe she wouldn’t be able to hide in that spot.
Keep a close eye on any free roaming house pets for odd behavior, this is the most common way I’ve found pests or loose animals in my home. Common behaviors I see in situations like this with bugs that get into my house or escaped rodents from my breeder colony for both dogs and cats is excessive interest in a single spot or spots. Cats typically will sit, wait and watch. Dogs tend to become either playful or aggressive and stay around where they found an animal. So if you see any house pets acting weird definitely investigate.
Stay calm, walk carefully. If you have rugs I’d suggest temporarily removing them so you dont step on and crush the snake if she gets under one. Try not to turn everything upside down looking if you can help it, moving stuff around too much may scare the snake away into another hiding spot. Be careful on furniture like chairs and couches, you could also accidentally crush your snake by sitting down. Check dark snug warm spots when you can, like if you have heat emitting electronics check around them.
Most importantly when you find Freya check her over thoroughly for injuries, check her body for a lump and see if she may have eaten something, and if anything seems off or wrong get her to a vet. Give her some time after capturing her to settle back in and monitor her.
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You can put strips of masking tape or painters tape sticky side up on the floor next to the baseboards with crafting bells stuck on the tape. I would NOT leave these kinds of traps down if you are not going to be home. Once the snake gets stuck to the tape, it will get all bound up in a big tape mess. You want to detect that as soon as possible to get it free from the tape. I would not use duct tape as it is too sticky. Do not use any kind of glue trap for the same reason. You can use crunchy grocery store plastic bags instead of craft bells. It’s 1,000,000:1 that the snake would return to the enclosure on its own. As another recommended, I would leave the enclosure secured just in case the snake is still in there.
There was someone recently whose corn “escaped” from the enclosure. They looked all in the enclosure multiple times and in the room to no avail. I think this was over a few days. Finally they looked in a tiny nook in a castle decoration in the enclosure and sure enough, it was crammed in there happy as a clam. The moral of that story is to look EVERYWHERE in the enclosure before declaring an escape.
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I bet the escapee is still in the same room he escaped in. If you happen to wake up in the night be sure to go and turn on the light in that room. You may very well find the little guy out and in the open……
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