Today my heart stopped....

[shebee]

When I woke up this morning to find that I stupidly forgot to lock my snake's tub, the top was open, and she wasn't in it. I ripped my whole apartment apart trying to find her it's winter time and she's probably some where huddled in a ball frozen. After about 15mins of frantically searching I found her by my sofa huddle and very cold to the touch. I didn't want to fear the worst but it definitely seemed like it. I went by the big heater (Because my apartment doesn't have central heating) and sat there for 5 mins ( I guess to make sure) and sure enough I see her tongue flicker out very slowly and she moved her head a little to let me know she wasn't dead. So, I stuck her back on her heater and made sure to lock the cage this time.

I couldn't focus at work worrying if she was ok or not. When I got home I checked to see how she was and she's back to her normal self. Now, the major thing I'm worried about is her developing RI.

Is her chances are developing RI is very high now, right?
I will be monitoring her very closely for the next couple of days.

This has been the most stressful day in my life.

[SNIKTTIME]

I think everyone that has owned a snake in anything other than a rack system has lost a snake or two in their lifetime. I have a couple of Vision plastic cages with sliding glass doors in the front. I had one of my snakes "let himself out" 2 nights in a row before I realised I didn't forget to close the doors. They are real good at finding ways out. Hope all goes well with your situation, and RI will take a little while to show its ugly head. So just keep an eye out.

[kc261]

Is her chances are developing RI is very high now, right? I will be monitoring her very closely for the next couple of days.

I'm glad you found her!

Yes, snakes can develop RIs after getting chilled. I believe (but I'm not very sure about this) that it is more likely the longer the snake stayed too cold; how cold she got is not as important in regards to developing an RI, although obviously severe cold can cause other issues.

Keep a close eye on her for at least a few weeks. Snakes have slow metabolism, so just as they don't heal quickly, sometimes they can be slow to develop symptoms as well.

I think everyone that has owned a snake in anything other than a rack system has lost a snake or two in their lifetime.

I've even heard of a snake that somehow learned how to push the tub out of the rack and escape, until the owner put some sort of latch on the front of the tub. I saw on someone's videos (Ralph Davis maybe?), he has bars that hold the tubs in place that have to be removed before you can open a tub.