Escape at school!

Thanks for the advice everyone. I will keep looking. I left the rats and his tank open for the weekend and will keep trying every night. The other teachers seem okay with this. Not too freaked out, but they also don't seem to completely believe me that he will not try and eat them. Also, you wouldn't believe the stories I am hearing about "giant man-eating ball pythons" from some people. I try and educate them, but some adults are resistant to education...

As a fellow teacher, this is why I have never set up a BP enclosure in my classroom. Too many opportunities for something to go wrong.

I hope you find him though and everything goes well.

I really hope you find your snake in good condition.

I hate to be "that" guy but I gotta ask. What on earth were you doing with a snake in a class room in an enclosure that doesn't have a keyed lock??? That is just asking for trouble.

Do the other teachers know he's loose? How about the parents? I know and you know that the chances of a student getting hurt by this snake are extremely small but I highly doubt that every parent will know that and some will be pretty upset. It's just irresponsible on so many levels. You have risked the safety of the snake, the sanity of the parents, and possibly added more bad press for us all.

What happens if a child is bitten? I know that's a million to one chance but there's still a chance. The snake could find a home in a desk, in or under a book bag or jackets. If the snake is stressed, which it probably is, it could easily strike if startled. If that happens I'll probably find out by watching any news network.

Sorry to be negative but I feel like it just had to be said.

Relax you will find him! My adult bp got out in my classroom and I found him with the help of cornstarch. If you can get in your room on the weekend cover the floor in a thin layer of corn starch so you can follow tracks the next day. Needs to be a weekend so you can get the room clean before students get there. Be warned it is a mess to clean up but will help track him down.

I have to agree with cecilbturtle here. Yes, the cost of a proper lockable cage is higher, but if you want to keep animals in a situation where people who cannot be trusted have access to the cages (students count, BIGTIME), that's something you need to budget for.

just had my female spider ecape and found her on the other side of my house under a chest of drawers but i hope you can get him back ps i wish my teachers would have had the ability to keep animals i think i would have gotten into snakes much sooner:gj::gj::gj:

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Originally Posted by cecilbturtle

I really hope you find your snake in good condition.

I hate to be "that" guy but I gotta ask. What on earth were you doing with a snake in a class room in an enclosure that doesn't have a keyed lock??? That is just asking for trouble.

Do the other teachers know he's loose? How about the parents? I know and you know that the chances of a student getting hurt by this snake are extremely small but I highly doubt that every parent will know that and some will be pretty upset. It's just irresponsible on so many levels. You have risked the safety of the snake, the sanity of the parents, and possibly added more bad press for us all.

What happens if a child is bitten? I know that's a million to one chance but there's still a chance. The snake could find a home in a desk, in or under a book bag or jackets. If the snake is stressed, which it probably is, it could easily strike if startled. If that happens I'll probably find out by watching any news network.

Sorry to be negative but I feel like it just had to be said.

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Although I agree that a latching lid, rather than clips, would be more ideal, I think keyed locks are a little overkill. Guinea pigs pack a much bigger bite than a BP, and no one thinks twice about keeping those vicious little buggers in a wire cage in a classroom. Sorry, but this is just a pet peeve of mine. I take my BPs to my mom's 5th-grade classroom for genetics lessons every year. I'm not allowed to permit the students to touch them, which I'm fine with for the safety of my snakes, but no principal would even flinch at the kids petting a hamster, guinea pig, or any other furry animal that has a much higher chance of drawing blood if it gets agitated. The double standard annoys me, and although the herp community has to be aware of such crappy standards, I don't think a teacher deserves to get blasted for trusting students of a reasonable age to follow rules or for treating a fairly harmless snake as just that.

I'm not blasting anyone.

I was taught personally and professionally if you can take the "probably" out of any situation then do it. The kids would PROBABLY be responsible enough to not touch the snake when unsupervised. The kids would PROBABLY be diligent enough to remember to close and latch the top. The snake PROBABLY won't escape. If you lock the enclosure with a keyed or combo lock then you can take the PROBABLY out of all of those statements as long as the teacher is responsible enough to make sure the enclosure was secure every time.

I took reptiles to schools for years. I think its great that teachers want to keep animals, especially the often misunderstood and wrongly feared snake. All I am saying is that the escape is the responsibility of the keeper. In your own home you keep snakes knowing the risks. In a classroom the kids and parents trust the teacher to limit these risks as much as possible. This teacher did not. I truly hope the snake is found in good health without incident. Also I hope that anyone thinking of keeping any type of pet, snake or hamster or whatever, that they care enough about the animals and the students to properly secure the enclosure to prevent this type of incident.

I believe this is a good teacher. I love that he wants to expose his students to snakes. He made a mistake. We all have. Hopefully he learned from this and hopefully others have too.

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By the way, if you condone keeping reptiles unlocked in close proximity to kids then fine. You are part of the problem as well. Where do you think all the bad press comes from? Although there are some shady people out there the majority of it comes from good people making poor decisions. A snake cannot escape a well made LOCKED enclosure! So go ahead and give everyone the benefit of the doubt but that is exactly why this stuff happens.

My precautions taken were deemed appropriate. I always double check everything before leaving my classroom (and did this time). The difference here is that a student that was not even suppose to be on campus went into my room unsupervised through an adjoining classroom.

I had discussed a locking tank with administration at the start of the year and was told it sounded like overkill. While I agree that the responsibility is mine, I also don't want to come across as negligent. My students know better and are watched constantly. This issue happened because the thought of worrying about other students didn't cross my mind.

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Originally Posted by Talae

My precautions taken were deemed appropriate. I always double check everything before leaving my classroom (and did this time). The difference here is that a student that was not even suppose to be on campus went into my room unsupervised through an adjoining classroom.

I had discussed a locking tank with administration at the start of the year and was told it sounded like overkill. While I agree that the responsibility is mine, I also don't want to come across as negligent. My students know better and are watched constantly. This issue happened because the thought of worrying about other students didn't cross my mind.

Sent from my Kindle Fire using Tapatalk 2

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I know this was asked before, and I'm not sure I seen an answer. Are you sure the child that snuck into your classroom didn't steal it?