Escape!!

i've been keeping ball pythons for years and have 30+ of them. i have never had an escapee, but yesterday i realized that my calico was missing. i live in a apartment and i have literally searched everywhere and tried everything! i have tried sound traps, i've looked in nooks and crannies, all around the rack she was in, pulled out every tub, baseboards, heaters EVERYTHING. i CAN'T find her. i don't know what to do :(

any tips or suggestions would be much appreciated. i know there have been other escapee threads but like i said, i live in a apartment and there is literally so many places she can hide and get to and who knows if there are any holes or anything that lead to the other apartments or even outside. i just needed to share because i want to do everything in my power to find her and was hoping you guys might help. but as of right now, i seriously don't know what to do.

any help or encouragement would be great right now.

she has been missing since yesterday. i spent HOURS looking yesterday and stayed up a little bit through the night listening to the sound traps but heard nothing and the continued to look some more this morning. i just can't let this search go but i'm slowly coming to grips that she is just gone.

I would try putting a live mouse in a clear critter carrier in the center of the room she stays in. I would also try to put a heat lamp over her hide near the mouse. Then you have to hope she shows interest in the mouse and if you don't catch her stalking the mouse hopefully she will find her way into the nice warm hide.

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Originally Posted by KMG

I would try putting a live mouse in a clear critter carrier in the center of the room she stays in. I would also try to put a heat lamp over her hide near the mouse. Then you have to hope she shows interest in the mouse and if you don't catch her stalking the mouse hopefully she will find her way into the nice warm hide.

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i was thinking about trying this. thanks!

If you have tile or wood floors you can also lay down flour in lines going from room to room. Then if she crawls through it you will have a direction of travel and maybe even a trail.

Chances are it is in/around/under the rack/enclosures in the room it escaped in. I have had a ball get out once or twice in the past and they were always within 6 feet of their enclosure.

like i said, i was THINKING about trying the critter cage idea but there is a huge problem i left out. she WASN'T eating. i made a payment plan with a breeder like 6 months ago to pay her off. in the ad he said she was 400 something grams, i get her like 5 months later and she is the same weight. so i am thinking he stopped feeding her and now she just doesn't want to eat. so i don't even know if the mouse idea will work [right away]
(and i have now had her for about two months)

i can try to flour thing but my apartment is small. i feel like i would have seen her by now which is why i am slowly losing hope in finding her. she doesn't have many places to really go in here but oh so many to hide so i think the flour thing just isn't my thing.

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Originally Posted by TJ_Burton

Chances are it is in/around/under the rack/enclosures in the room it escaped in. I have had a ball get out once or twice in the past and they were always within 6 feet of their enclosure.

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she is no where near her enclosure. i pulled out every tub in the rack and she was no where. then i pulled out the entire rack completely and she wasn't behind, in, around, near, close to or under the rack at all. that's why i am freaking out because i have seen a handful of ball python escape stories and 8/10 the ball is close to where they escaped. but like i said its now been days since she has escaped and the hope that she's close by is gone.

They usually don't go far as you know, but sometimes they will get far from their cage. When my butter went missing from the rack in the living room, I found her under the kitchen sink which was pretty far away. My cinny went missing for months and was eventually found 10ft from her tub.

Just don't give up hope, sometimes destroying an apartment to find them just makes them go farther or you miss them in your frantic search.

I personally think the flour trails aren't very effective and are just a huge mess to clean up. Take a deep breath, keep traffic in the room low if possible and occasionally check along the walls when it's dark out. They usually won't pass through the center of the room and will move along the walls. That is also a good method for searching, get down on the floor and follow the walls.

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Originally Posted by Kinra

They usually don't go far as you know, but sometimes they will get far from their cage. When my butter went missing from the rack in the living room, I found her under the kitchen sink which was pretty far away. My cinny went missing for months and was eventually found 10ft from her tub.

Just don't give up hope, sometimes destroying an apartment to find them just makes them go farther or you miss them in your frantic search.

I personally think the flour trails aren't very effective and are just a huge mess to clean up. Take a deep breath, keep traffic in the room low if possible and occasionally check along the walls when it's dark out. They usually won't pass through the center of the room and will move along the walls. That is also a good method for searching, get down on the floor and follow the walls.

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thanks for the encouraging words! and yeah, i have literally been checking walls and on my stomach for hours on end. i just feel like i have checked every logical place and probably every illogical place too. i have no idea where this little bugger could be!

Good luck finding your snake.


Was your rack professionally built or did you make it yourself?

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Originally Posted by MrLang

Good luck finding your snake.


Was your rack professionally built or did you make it yourself?

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its a home made one but it isn't like designed like say a freedom breeder. it doesn't slide. each tub has a locking lid but since she wasn't eating, i stuck her in a smaller tub which she must have popped the lid off and got out. its a really long story on how she ended up in the smaller tub. let's just say, she should't have been in there in the first place...