Good lord im so glad I was ready for it.

[Riv]

Well, it finally happened. I had my first escape. Luckily enough my first few weeks in this forum I read enough horror stories to adequately prepare me haha.

I came downstairs yesterday afternoon, and saw that my Spider, Garra's screen lid was slid out a good 4-5 inches, and he was not inside. Theres 5 people living in my house including me, and god knows who left it open when. So he really could have been anywhere for god knows how long. I hadnt handled him since feeding day 3 days ago so if it WAS me if had been a little while now.

Now is the part where I thank everyone who has ever made an "I lost my BP and cant find them anywhere please help" thread haha. The moment I realized he was gone I finally felt that terror you all spoke of, counted to five in my head and dove into action. I tin foiled all of the door ways, put a line of flour in the doorway of my rat room, placed a not quite weaned rat in his tank with the screen lid open(rigged a blowdrier to disperse the scent in the room), and began looking in every spot I thought he would or wouldnt go. I dont have a rack system yet, but I do have 4 tanks all with heat lamps on a shelving unit, so I set timers on my phone for every hour, so that I would rememeber to go back and check the tanks. My house is pretty cold usually so I figured if he wanted heat thats where he would go.

There was no luck at all yesterday, despite tearing my house apart, and he didnt move a single piece of tinfoil or the flour all night. I went downstairs to get a drink of water when I woke up just now, and lo and behold, there he was sitting adorably between two heat lamps for the tanks on the shelf below his. I fed him the rat in his cage, changed out his bedding, stuck him back in, and now all is well again = D

Im so happy! This could have wound up so much worse than it did XDD