Freakout.

[loonunit]

So I just spent a pretty big chunk of my day hunting for an escaped snake. And not just any escaped snake--my beautiful orange '09 female piebald. I had no idea how or when she'd gotten out! Did she escape when I was cleaning her tank yesterday afternoon, during the 10 minutes I had it open? Did I forget to put her back after feeding everyone yesterday evening, and then she snuck off to parts unknown? NO IDEA. I really thought I was going to have to leave hides and water bowls with talcum powder around them out tonight when I went to bed, because I looked EVERYWHERE.

Or so I thought, because just before dinner I found her--hiding under some paper, curled up extra-tiny at the bottom of her tank.

...I think it may be a long time before my husband lets me live this one down.

[ed4281]

LOL Know how you feel I pulled out my dish washer looking for mine once only to find him under the dresser

[loonunit]

LOL Know how you feel I pulled out my dish washer looking for mine once only to find him under the dresser

Yeah! I had my husband pull the laundry room apart so I could look behind/under the washer and drier! And she was IN HER TANK THE WHOLE TIME.

[stevepoppers]

Do you have cage clips? They'll take a load off your mind.

[loonunit]

Do you have cage clips? They'll take a load off your mind.

They're all locking lid tanks... though I've been occasionally become distracted (phone calls from in-laws, for example!) during cleaning. But this time I swear I was really only gone long enough to take the dirty papers out to the trash!

(I will say that I'm unhappy with my Black Sand tank. It's a beautiful big tank, but the plastic locking mechanisms have worn out and snapped off... of course every snake I've housed in there has figured out the sliding lids, so I've had to secure them with duct tape.)

[hunter94]

They're all locking lid tanks... though I've been occasionally become distracted (phone calls from in-laws, for example!) during cleaning. But this time I swear I was really only gone long enough to take the dirty papers out to the trash!

(I will say that I'm unhappy with my Black Sand tank. It's a beautiful big tank, but the plastic locking mechanisms have worn out and snapped off... of course every snake I've housed in there has figured out the sliding lids, so I've had to secure the them with duct tape.)

Maybe get a tub for your snakes for when you clean the cages?

[loonunit]

Maybe get a tub for your snakes for when you clean the cages?

Boy, I saw that coming.

I'm saving up for a rack system and incubator for next year. But frankly? I really like the locking lids (when they don't break, eh?) and I like watching my snakes climb branches and cruise around their tanks in the evenings. At this point they're still more my pets than investments.

[angllady2]

Actually, I think he was just suggesting what I do, using a tub with a locking lid to hold whichever snake I am currently cleaning the main cage of.

The idea being, you take the snake from one mostly escape-proof enclosure and put it into another while the primary is being cleaned. Then reversing the process, so the snake is never really provided with a means to escape. Or that's how it's supposed to work anyhow.


Gale