Well, I've got a serious escapee. Advice?

My Chloe girl escaped. It appears the lid wasn't completely secure or she gained super strength. It's happened before but we were able to find here under the bed next to the tank. No such luck this time. We turned that whole animal room upside down looking for her. Even looked in adjacent rooms and in places that seemed impossible.

So I've read about a trick of putting flour at the baseboards and see if a trail shows up later.

If you've got other tricks let me know.

I read heat pad and a hide on the floor might help. Hope she turns up soon.

I would look again, but slower, don't toss and turn everything.

I've found snakes in drawers wrapped up in clothes, in small boxes, etc..

I turned the lights off in the room for about an hour, walked back in, and found my snake because I heard the noise of him sucking his head back into his hiding space.

Think like a snake! Where would you be? :P

Well, none of the flour was disturbed that I laid out last night. I had put flour line across the doorways of the rooms and entrances to the kitchen. So I think she must still be in whatever room she's been in.

I also tried putting a hide with a heat lamp over it since the AC is nearly always on now because of this heat wave (100 F at 700pm). No luck with that. I also left her tank open in case she decided to go back home.

So, it looks like this weekend will be dedicated to turning our apartment upside down to find her. I am really hoping the she couldn't have squeeze under the door to the water heater closet as there are open drains in there. I doubt it though since I can barely get my pinky finger to fit under the door.

This is so frustrating...

Try this...

During the day, get a bunch of plastic grocery bags and lay them along the baseboards, behind and under furniture, and any other areas that look like possible snaky thoroughfares. Then, in the evening, set yourself up with a quiet activity such as reading a book or something. No music or TV or computer games...just quiet. Let your ears be alert, and listen for the tell-tale rustle of plastic bags.

Leave the bags in place as long as necessary...always staying alert for their sounds, even when you're not actively listening. She may surprise you sometime.

Good luck!!

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Originally Posted by AkHerps

Think like a snake! Where would you be? :P

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That is good advice.

Flour never worked for me because by the time I realized the snake was missing she was already in a hiding place she liked. I suggest sitting silently with no TV, no music, no lights in the middle of the night and listening. Mine at least are very clumsy and eventually you'll hear something get knocked over or some movement that's not supposed to be there and then just follow the noise. I know you're offering heat but have you checked things that would be giving off heat on their own? Before you even set up the heat lamp she may have found a nice warm place to hide. Good luck.


JLC types faster than me lol

when mine got out i found her in my sisters room on top of her baseboard heater :) from experience i would just slowly relook places u already looked. goodluck and i hope u find her soon!

We have had two get out both our fault by not pushing the tub all the way in. But both times they didn't leave the snake room they just went behind the tub our cinny girl is in on the bottom shelf . All curled up on the flexwat. I don't really know any tricks other than just look everywhere !!!!!

Put a bowl of water out, eventually she will get thirsty, put flour in a circle around the bowl of water. Only extra advice I could think of, plus if you think she is in a room try blocking the space under the doorway so she cant leave that area and get into more trouble.

Another night. Still missing.

We did a lot of cleaning. Cleaned out boxes and closets. Even dug around in the couch and found a lot of change and random crap.

We actually camped out in different rooms. Turned everything off we could. Only the AC and fridge ever made loud noise. I laid in the living room which is next to the animal room. My wife camped out in the animal room. No sign at all. I even heard the damn roaches crawling. Killed a couple too. Never heard a plastic bag crinkle while I was awake. Sometimes I would just get up and walk around with a flash light looking to no avail.

I am thinking about going to my parents house and borrowing my mom's terrier. Lots of poeple seem to have had success with dogs or even cats finding lost snakes.

Today is feed day so I may set up something with a live rat to serve as a trap.

I'll give it the weekend. If we don't find her then I'll just assume the worst, mourn and move on. If she comes out later that's great. But I am not going to let myself suffer for days on end about it.

if you use the dog be sure to watch his every move and sniff cuz if he finds the snake and your not there to get it out of hiding the dog could kill the snake with a well placed bite and shake. :tears:

look for the hottest place close by mine usually go under the fridge or freezer but they are close to the kitchen but they want the heat usually good luck

What worked for me once was to stick a couple of hides in the mouse cage for a day. They got all disgustingly stinky-pissy. I put the two hides on the floor, got a big cardboard box, cut a couple of holes in the sides, and stuck it over top of the hides.

Two days later, I found the escapee in one of the hides, no doubt waiting for the mouse family to return.

Thanks for all the support everyone.

Had to deal with my wife crying today since she thinks it's her fault. It's no ones fault in my book. Stuff happens.

I just got back with 2 rats from the store. Alex as usual jumped on his in about 5 secs. I have got the other in a 40g breeder tank that hasn't been used lately. So maybe that will entice my girl out of hiding tonight.

Look under the refridgerator, that's where I always find mine. They like the heat.

Try pulling the fridge out...mine left the snake room on the second floor, went downstairs, past the dog, into the kitchen and wrapped himself around the plug in the wall, behind the fridge...looked like a doyle hanging from the wall.
My bull snake was in the snake room when she got out...in the closet...in a small box, that was in a bigger box, that was in a really big box of junk...about halfway down and i checked that box twice...wasn't until I took every box out and looked inside that i found her. They are sneaky...good luck :)

I hope you find your snake soon!

Good luck finding it! You have a lot of great advice so far.

Definitely don't beat yourself up (or let your wife beat herself up) it happens to the best of us. I have been stupid and left the tub open enough for the snake to get out. It was my spider male right before breeding season this year. I have dogs and cats that would kill them in a second, so I didn't have much faith. Lucky for me he was down a couple shelves curled up on the flexwatt.

My absolute last proactive effort will be tonight. We are going to completely empty the fridge and pull it completely out so we can see the back and bottom to see if there are hole big enough for her to have gotten into.

If we do not find her there, then I will simply have to rely on the passive techniques for a while. Although the flour is starting to attract bugs so I might not be abel to keep that up for too long.

Wish us luck.

Well, we emptied the fridge and pulled in out, took the back panel off and cleaned in out. No snake. So the last ditch effort was a bust.

I wish I had a dog or cat at this point but I don't and I think borrowing one wouldn't work since the entore environment would be new to them.

So at this point I am just going to wait and see.

It is possible that she got outside even though I think it's unlikely. I still think she is here somewhere.

My biggest fear right now is that whenever we move from this apartment that we'll find her body in some random spot as we pack thinks up. Hopefully that doesn't happen. I'd rather her have escaped to the outside than that.

Thanks again to everyone for the support and advice.

I know you said you want to just "mourn and move on"....but the "Mom" in me has to say, "Don't give up!" Actively searching may not work after a certain point...but I've heard SO many stories about missing snakes just popping up out of the blue days, weeks, even months later.

I had a friend who had a rosy boa escape. The snake was gone for two years. My friend moved into a new house. When he was unpacking one of the boxes out pops the rosy boa! A tad on the thin side, but hardly starving and none the worse for wear.

Good luck!!

A friend of mine had an escapee once, it went missing around his apartment for around 3 months.. then one day he was sitting in the living room, and it slid out from under the couch. Good luck!

Don't give up. Set a rat in a cage in the middle of the room on the floor. Heating pad with a towel and a hide on top of it next to the rat. Just leave it there. Most balls are found within a few feet of their cage, so I'd put in the room she was kept. As others have said, they will move towards heat so the trick is to make some heat where you can easily get to it.

We once took some snakes to my kid's school for a demonstration. When my wife got home, my Pied female was missing. We were not sure if it got out at the school, car or somewhere in between. It was February and I was sure she was lost. I almost tore the car apart looking. Then when my wive was driving one day over a month later, the snake dropped down on her feet. I put her back in her rack, fed her and she is a healthy snake today. I would not obsess over it, but keep an eye out and a trap set. Sooner or later you'll find out where she is.