Just Can't Believe It

[Valentine Pirate]

I don't even know how to describe how I'm feeling right now. Went to feed the snakes last night and decided to grab my mojave male first. One corner of the tub looked kinda funny and I had that bowling ball drop in your stomach feeling, and upon investigation: Half the lid was indeed popped open I don't know how long it was, or even how it happened. It is secured from the outside, and I'm ALWAYS pretty strict about securing it myself when I get into it. Which left me running around the rest of the house asking if -anybody- had been seen messing with the snakes or around the tubs, and everyone says no. There's no reason not to believe them so I'm a little confused.

I admit I'd not been on top of husbandry in the last week, so it had been 5 days since I'd opened everything up and checked on everyone. Usually isn't a big deal, it's been a stressful week and we've all been busy in the house, and now I just feel like a bad keeper.

Due to the amount of people living in the house and other pets, I can't set F/T rodents out, but I've got heat pads with boxes that he'd be pretty snug in set in corners around the house. We tore the whole place up last night and found nothing, not a big building. I've passed the "scared to death" feeling and moved on to resigned sadness. Hoping for the best and expecting the worst

This is less of a lost snake advice thread (Picked through those last night via search) and more just a rant. The part that just drives me nuts is I have -no idea- who got into the snake tubs. I'm absolutely positive I closed it properly when I last went into his enclosure, which means it was tampered with, but I don't know who (This could also be me looking for someone to blame, but again, my fault for not checking up well in the past week)

I just hope the cat doesn't come back to my roomie with snake parts... I might actually start crying, was hard not to last night. This is the sweetest most laid back snake I own, and one of the original two that I bought as my first personal pets. A little attached, I guess you could say

[angllady2]

Aww sweetie.

I'm sorry about him being lost, but don't loose hope so soon. You know I've had a few of mine get out, and it's always something stupid I did. Not a very pleasant feeling.

So far I have found all of mine fairly easily. I cannot stress this enough, THINK SMALL. When my 6 foot long 3400 gram female got out, when I finally found her { and a snake that size you would think would be easy to see! } I saw a piece of her side that was no more than 3 ".

I'm not sure how big your guy is, but the thing to remember is they can get into the smallest of spaces. One thing to help you is the size of his hide. If for example he's small enough to use one of those cereal bowl hides, then he can fit anywhere you could fit one of those bowls. Stretched out, if he's the diameter of say a half-dollar, then he can fit anywhere you could put a coin that size, and if he's all stretched out, he'll be even harder to spot.

Start slowly, and close to where his enclosure is. Look up, down, inside, upside down, behind and between. Take your time, if you get the slightest bit impatient, you'll miss him. Look in the most unlikely of places, because that's usually where they are.

I wish you all the best in your search. I'm positive he'll turn up in no time, and none the worse for the grey hairs he gave you.

Gale

[Valentine Pirate]

Thank you for the kind words, and the encouragement. I'm just so disheartened because I don't know when he got out. I'll start looking again today when I get home from work though, and my boyfriend is home keeping an eye out. I don't have a scale, but he's about 2 1/2 to 3 feet long and not much thicker than a half dollar, so I figure he can get anywhere. Absolutely maddening because the people renting the house out left all their crap there, so it's full of clutter and boxes and all sorts of nooks and crannies. Thankfully the heating vents are in the ceiling, and he's got a whole living room to explore before he gets into the dog area in the kitchen, fingers crossed that he didn't go that way.

After finding nothing in the initial search I just have the worst feeling. Almost feel silly for getting so upset, but I love my pets dearly. One comfort is there aren't any panicking people in the house, all my roommates ended up warming up to the snakes, and the mojo boy was always the favorite. Never hurts to have more eyes looking. And the funniest comment from my mother (who most definitely does NOT like the snakes, haha) "Remember, it's more upsetting for you than for him... he is probably just sleeping"

[notmyfault]

I really hate the feeling of an escaped pet. I had my leo escape on me once. Its a horrible feeling not knowing where your pet could be. A suggestion would be to leave a hide out on the floor with a heat pad hooked up to a thermostat. It seemed to work for my leo, found him in the hide three days after finding out he escaped his tub. Wishing you the best of luck finding him.

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[Tereghan]

Aww, sending virtual hugs your way because that sucks. It's hard any time something happens to one of your pets, and the uncertainty just makes it all the worse. Hope you find him soon. <3

[olstyn]

I'm guessing you've already checked there, but it's warm, tight, and dark behind the fridge, so he'd probably be attracted to there, or anywhere similar to it. Here's hoping you find him soon.

[Salamander Rising]

Thank you for the kind words, and the encouragement. I'm just so disheartened because I don't know when he got out. I'll start looking again today when I get home from work though, and my boyfriend is home keeping an eye out. I don't have a scale, but he's about 2 1/2 to 3 feet long and not much thicker than a half dollar, so I figure he can get anywhere. Absolutely maddening because the people renting the house out left all their crap there, so it's full of clutter and boxes and all sorts of nooks and crannies. Thankfully the heating vents are in the ceiling, and he's got a whole living room to explore before he gets into the dog area in the kitchen, fingers crossed that he didn't go that way.

After finding nothing in the initial search I just have the worst feeling. Almost feel silly for getting so upset, but I love my pets dearly. One comfort is there aren't any panicking people in the house, all my roommates ended up warming up to the snakes, and the mojo boy was always the favorite. Never hurts to have more eyes looking. And the funniest comment from my mother (who most definitely does NOT like the snakes, haha) "Remember, it's more upsetting for you than for him... he is probably just sleeping"

Please don't beat yourself up over the escape.
I've left a lid unlatched briefly [about 20 minutes] myself and I almost approach OCD levels about checking/rechecking lids.

However, hubby is much more lax with lids, gates, doors, windows, etc etc and I've had to threaten his very life to keep him from leaving anything open or even slightly ajar.

And that's with just the two of us living here.

A 'house full of people' is surely even more fraught with potential 'accidents'.

I've read many of your posts and I know you to be a conscientious keeper who avoids any and all possible avoidable problems...but not all problems are avoidable, sadly, in spite of the overwhelming precautions we take.

I sincerely hope and pray you find your precious little boy soon.

Shari

[Valentine Pirate]

Found him! Searched everywhere last night, not a sign, and finally had to go to sleep so I'd be conscious for work today. Woke up this morning and heard the cat out in the living room going ballistic over something. Had slight hope but it's normal for him to tear up the house at night (anything we leave out anyway). Go out there and check behind the couch to get whatever he's playing with and I see a very cold dust bunny covered snake

I gotta go for work (only found him a few minutes ago) but I'm going to let him warm up and calm down in the tub until I get off, and then I'll inspect him a little more closely for damage or injury. It's the first time he's hissed at me since he was a hatchling, but I imagine I'd be grumpy too.

THANK YOU all for the kind words and support while I was freaking out. Wasn't terribly practical for me to do but it happened, and it helped a lot to hear from other snake keepers.

[notmyfault]

Good to hear, lets hope he's injury free!

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[angllady2]

Hooray!!!

I am so glad you found the little darling. I'd be crabby too if I were him. Hopefully he'll be alright. As long as the cat didn't get him too hard, his scales will have protected him just like from a rat. If you do find any scratches though, straight to the vet for antibiotics! Don't mess around with cat bites or scratches, they can get infected almost instantly. I nearly lost one of my feet from an infected cat bite, and I only waited one day to see a doctor.

Enough of that! He's fine, he's back safe and sound and warm where he belongs. However, since he figured out he could get out once, he'll be trying his hardest to do it again for about a week. So weight the lid if you have to, and remind everyone the snakes are off limits unless YOU get them out.

Gale