This one was a big surprise. Requires a bit of explanation as to how this could happen so I’ll start there lol.
In 2019 I built an outdoor enrichment area on my property. You can see it here. All of my snakes are brought outside for UV/Enrichment for some period of time as often as I can manage it. Some of them get their privileges revoked though, for excessive bad behavior. One in particular is my Caramel Coastal Carpet Python. Leave him be for a second he makes a beeline for the rat room surprise surprise.
About 6 weeks ago I felt bad and brought him outside. While he was perched on the branches I got an emergency call from one of my employees. Took me about 5 minutes to resolve. The Carpet was gone! I spent the next 3 hours looking for him, but he wasn’t to be found. After several days of looking for him, I faced my mistake and let it be. He’s so attracted to the rodent room I figured it was an even chance I’d eventually find him in there. Fast forward to Tuesday morning. I worked late Monday on the snakes and forgot to close the door to the rat room. When I left for work in the morning I went to close the door and found this.
What was really interesting to me is that with an air temp of 54* and a body surface temp of 59* he was trying to eat. It’s things like these that have led me to keep my snakes cooler than a lot of people suggest. He’s been living outside with daytime temps of mid 70s and nighttime temps in the high 40s and low 50s for 6 weeks. I think we know less about their thermoregulation than we think we do.
Needless to say we’ll do some fecal testing this summer in case he managed to find any food outside the rat room. Doesn’t appear to haven eaten but it’s cheap insurance.
It is funny I saw this when I did. I actually found my leopard gecko after 24 hours of very stressful searching, last week. His viv is on a 3 foot stand though, so he either took a crazy leap of faith or meticulously traversed his way down (Very unlikely. When it comes to heights, leo geckos have an IQ of -1).
I found him on the opposite side of the room in a smooth-sided 2ft tall bin. This was the last place I checked. I swear he has got to be able to teleport of move through walls or something because there was 0% probability of him getting in there I hope he munched on any stray Dubias while he was loose.
I don’t notice any things wrong with the 3ft fall though. Eating fine, no bones are broken, behavior is the same, etc… Nothing. I swear he teleports or I am going crazy.
I think they’re sharing secrets of teleportation. When my BA House Snake got out he escaped a locking bin with two clips on it to help it stay closed! Now he’s in a more locking bin, with SIX binder clips holding the edges even more shut. But he is just a little thinner than a pencil so he apparently has special powers. I’m gonna be keeping a closer eye on him.
Yeah, for a snake that itty bitty, you need a lot of binder clips to keep him safely contained, haha. I recently moved my blood python into a larger tub, and the lid on the new tub bows out even more easily than the lid on her previous tub, so I’ve also outfitted it with 6 binder clips. Fortunately she seems more interested in digging in her substrate than messing with the lid, but better safe than sorry!
I’m so glad you were able to find and safely retrieve your house snake after his little adventure!
Jewel, my Asian Water Monitor has escaped 3 Xs. Monitors are really smart but the last escape was my fault. I was taking pictures and didn’t get the enclosure closed. She has been missing about 2 weeks and I " sort of" found her this morning. I heard a noise on on a shelf in one of the reptile rooms. I got the storage bin down off of the shelf and spied a tail. Unfortunately she zipped out of the bin and disappeared under the low shelves. I had to go to work, but made sure to Block the space under the door so that she cannot get out of the room. I look forward to getting her back, again, this evening when I get home from work.
I did, i got home late yesterday so I waited until this morning to look for her. Found a step stool so I could look in all the hidey-holes on the tall shelves and when I walked into the room she was in the middle of the floor.
She made a run for the closet, and I snagged her. She was a little freaked out, but now she’s in her enclosure soaking in her water, with a belly full of parboil chicken calcium and vitamins
You never know, I never thought I would own Asian water monitor, I used to look at the sale pictures at nerd and wish. And one day my life changed.
I have acreage and a large earth sheltered home with no mortgage. Having nobody to please but myself, I decided to use my large front bedrooms for monitor cages, the back bedroom for breeding rats mice and rabbits. With the great room dining and kitchen area being changed into a studio apartment for myself.
You don’t have to be wealthy to own a monitor, just unconventional enough to do it.
Oh yay, you caught her! I do wonder if our reptiles are relieved to be back in familiar surroundings, or just wishing their adventure went on longer, hah.
i think Jewel wanted more adventure. She was in my reptile room with a freeranging Sulcata. She had water, a hot mat to bask on , UVB, and i now understand why i was never able to find the mouse that got loose.
So far, my new bin setup has proved enough to contain my wily shoelace. (Black African House Snake Juvenile) I have him in a sterilite locking bin with six big binder clips around the edges.
Went into the boy’s room later than usual Monday morning, and couldn’t find Java. Panicked and tore apart his enclosure, empty. 100%.
His cage was left open. Idk when, maybe when my husband put food in before he left for work. Either way, where did he go? Checked the top of the boa’s enclosure; nope. Tool shelf next to it? Empty. Woodworking bench? Empty.
Now I’m freaking out. The dog didn’t even alert me he was roaming around. She’s usually on it.
Finally had an epiphany and decided to check under the enclosure stand. And found him as you see above.
This fool yeeted himself from the second shelf on his stand, and somehow landed on the floor. Niot sure if he jumped from shelf to shelf. But there he was, perfectly fine save a broken nail tip and a tad chilly, watching me freak out.
I gave up for the rest of the day. And stacked things on top of the lid for good measure.
I was up late Wednesday night watching YouTube videos. As I started closing windows, I was shocked to see my female pastel het clown behind the television in the window sill😳
She shares a divided tank with my lesser het clown male and he was not in his side.
I found him under the sofa that I’d been sitting on all evening.
Earlier that night I was cleaning enclosures. I never latched the clips to lock the lid
Another one! Because do you really own a snake until you’ve lost it at least once.
I was grabbing a bag of craft stuff from my sewing room to leave the house and go to mom’s for dinner when I heard a ruffly sort of crunch.
Now, to set the scene here: in this craft room is a worktable and next to the worktable is a wooden umbrella stand thing with all the arrows I own in it like a bizarre vase of flowers. ON said table, next to my working space, is Finnley Casper the Black Eyed Lucy BP’s baby enclosure with a plexiglass front and two locks on it.
So when I hear the crunchy ruffle of feather fletchings- a very distinctive sound to any archer- entirely unexpected in what should be a quiet room, I turn my head instantly and there is Mister Finnley Casper, looped through the bundle of fletching, clinging for dear life as he tries to figure out why it all keeps moving, and he looks back up at me as if to say, “HALP! This tree is crunchy!! It keep moving! I’m stuck!”
Needless to say i untangled him from my arrows and put him back into his bin, nose first into his cave - he was quick to slither right back into warm safety.
Seems one of the locks had not been turned all the way, which gave him juuuuust enough room to spend all morning squiggling all 140 g of himself through the tiniest amount of give in the plexiglass and out for an adventure.
I have now marked the twisting locks very clearly so I can see at a glance if they are turned the right way.
I hope he munched on any stray Dubias while he was loose.
Fortunately she seems more interested in digging in her substrate than messing with the lid, but better safe than sorry!
i got home late yesterday so I waited until this morning to look for her. Found a step stool so I could look in all the hidey-holes on the tall shelves and when I walked into the room she was in the middle of the floor.
