kenyan sand boa missing!!!

oh man, i was just feeding all the snakes and i can't find sandy, my sand boa anywhere!!! she's about 6" long and lived in a 10 gallon tank with the wire mesh lid. i had stuff on top to keep it down but when i went to feed there was nothing on it... so i must have forgotten to return the heavy stuff on top :(

this little girl has never even given me the remotest inclination that she could climb!

so... i've searched everywhere... any suggestions?

i suspect she's wedged under the 90 gallon salt tank or the 77 gallon oscar tank.

oh man this soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo sucks. :(

I'm assuming you've sifted through the substrate very thoroughly to make sure she's not just buried in there somewhere?


Is there any way to look under that big fish tank? I can't even imagine how small a space a 6" snake could squeeze herself into. :(

I would start by looking everywhere immediately around her own tank...and then gradually increasing the circle of my search. How long might she have been on the loose?

Wish I could be more help!

it's aspen and i've sifted it three times. my hubby is on his way home and i'll have him sift it again!

i'm going to have him look around cause you know how someone can see what you miss when you are looking for something? i'm really hoping he'll find her.

i'm so mad at myself...

Is there anything in her cage she can climb on? Sand boas are sucky climbers.. there's almost no way she could get up very high, unless she had something perfect to climb on.

Are there any gaps anywhere in the cage? Are you SURE she's not in the substrate? They are excellent at hiding..

When my sand boa got out (only escape I have had) he only went about two feet away, was hiding under the curtains. Sand boas aren't terribly active, so look around the immediate proximity.

Are you sure no other family members had her out or anything?

You could try picking up a handful of the substrate, sift through it, and put it in a garbage bag, and repeat that until all of the substrate's in the bag. Then you would be SURE he wasn't burrowed. :D

i've removed the substrate into another container three times.

there is nothing in her tank for her to climb on which is why i didn't have straps on her tank... i didn't think she could really get out!

my living room is filled with fish tanks (big fish tanks) and shelves to hold snakes... so my hubby is going to move the shelving unit so we can look behind it.

i'm so freaked out... i hope i find her. please..... please..... i wanna find her :(

The sand boa at the store I worked at ended up being in the cornor (sp) of the tank in a coil no bigger than a quarter. we thought it too had escaped. we closed the whole store for 2 hours looking for it. I had a hard enough time looking for a sand boa in sand. Aspin to me would seem a little harder.

Try Jason's Idea. That should work very well.

I know this sounds nuts but did you look in the edge/lip of the lid of the tank. Emi once stuffed herself up there somehow but considering her brillian albino coloring she was easy to spot. I couldn't believe that a snake even a small one could smoosh up in the lip edge but she managed it. Hey it's amazing what can hide in bedding! Rauri the BCI at over 6 feet could hide in his bedding so well he gave me more than one heart attack moment. I sure hope you find Sandy soon Aleesha...I know you must be beside yourself with worry!

i am. we just took her tank apart again... looking everywhere. we are just amazed cause her lid was in place... which makes this ever so much more confusing...

we've looked under the lid. she had a little piece of wood which looks like a nest... we've looked in every crevice of it as well.

we've taken apart shelves. we've looked under the fish tanks (as best as we can) we've used a flashlight to look in all the grates of the gas fireplace.

turned chairs over. taken pillows apart.

i'm going to start crying... i have to go hunt - i need clear eyes to search more. :(

i'm lost - i've spent an hour and a half searching and can't find her. i'm going to take a break and search some more :( please send your "find her" prayers my way...