Good lord im so glad I was ready for it.

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

Glad that you found the little bugger! My male normal had escaped twice when I kept him in a tank and I found him the exact same place both times! I now have a rack system with tubs and there have been no more escapes since!

Glad you found him safe and sound!

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Originally Posted by ballpythonluvr

Glad that you found the little bugger! My male normal had escaped twice when I kept him in a tank and I found him the exact same place both times! I now have a rack system with tubs and there have been no more escapes since!

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^ This is funny! We have only had 2 escapes, both before we had rack systems and seperate housing accomodations for our reptiles. Both escaped snakes were found in the same place also, my hockey bag! ;)

I'm glad you found him! They truly are sneaky snakes sometimes.

Oh god.. XDD So I have one more escape to look forward to before I FINALLY get my rack system set up if the pattern holds haha. Little gaara's a good snake though. Great eater, not aggressive at all, and despite his little wobble never misses. I would have been so upset If he hadnt come back on his own. My tanks are usually pretty good though. Two of them have sliding locking screens, one of them has a SUPER locked and reinforced screen top of locking side doors, and ive god one that would have clips, but I weight it down with four bricks because I feel like theyre more reliable XDD. I have to build my rat rack first, but then im onto the snake rack. I should be able to get it finished by december though. Ive already got the plans drawn up mostly.

YAY, nice to hear a happy ending. I had a corn escape many years ago and never found him :(

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Originally Posted by camel

YAY, nice to hear a happy ending. I had a corn escape many years ago and never found him :(

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That happened to my room mates milksnake = ( Her grandmother was staying with us, and saw it slither into the washing machine and she flipped out and turned it on. I took apart the washing machine, but never found a body. Still kinda hoping its alive somehow though its pretty unlikely at this point. Thats why I was so scared about my spider @_@ Luckily enough he has a better survival instinct that the milk snake did XD.

Lol unthought I had an escape the other day. I went over to my balls cage to chek temp and spot clean. The first thing I normally do is look for him. I lifted one hide, he wasn't there so I lifted the other he wasn't there. I lifted the plant next to his water dish he wasn't there. Instantaneous panic mode as I call to my wife that we had an escape lol. Then I lifted the water dish. He had burrowed under it lol.

my 1st escape i tore my room up looking for the escapee who was keeping warm under a jacket in my closet

They really will take ANY chance they can to make an escape! My first escape was my boa, and it was right before we had to take her into the vet. She was in a tub and I opened one side: no boa. Opened the other side: no boa. I spazzed out and my boyfriend and I started looking EVERYWHERE in my room. I was in the middle of looking under my bed when my boyfriend went, "Look!" and I turned my head to the side where my mini-fridge was (this thing was a legit mini-fridge, not one of those dinky "can only fit 3 cans of soda in it" kinds) and lo and behold, she's sticking her head out from underneath it like "What's all the fuss about?"

Loki's escaped once but we caught her in the act and back into her tank she went. :P The second time my boa got out she was super easy to find (since she's huge and can't fit most places in the apartment) but I was kind of upset because it was because someone opened the doors/left them open (and I was upset because it could've been me that did it), and we live in an apartment. If people freak out over a little ball python in their apartment, I can only imagine the commotion a 6.5ft, 10+lb boa would cause. :O