The Case of the Missing Lesser

I had a customer call me today, frantic because the lesser he had just bought had vanished from its secure cage, and he couldn't figure out how it had managed to escape. He'd torn his room apart, looked in ever piece of furniture, and in every closet...

The snake had been in its hide the previous evening. The next day...nothing. Nothing under the hide, the bedding, or the water dish...no snake in the cage.

As I spoke with him, suggesting the use of flour to track the snake at night, and other places he might look, he happened the check the cage again...and, purely by chance....

http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r...nOrnament1.jpg

http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r...nOrnament2.jpg

Found him. ^_^

HAHAHAHAH That's too funny! You should show this thread to the guy concerned about his snake that's crammed in the small space under the water dish. I bet it'll make him feel better! That's too cute. :aww:

Oi!

These guys find the darnedest places to hide, don't they ? Now the tricky part is waiting for it to come out. I'm pretty sure it can come back out of there, can't it ?

Gale

It's a big enough hole, and he got all the way in there...should be able to get out, lol.

Still I'd be worried about the pour little guy! Even if he found himself easily going inside I can't imagine him coming out :/

I've seen many horror stories involving that branch, most of them include a hacksaw. I'd tell him to remove it, just so the snake doesn't need to be sawed out in the future.

He already has that planned, lol.

That's crazy :)

lol this is great.

Gosh, I don't know how they do it.

I used to have an upside down flower pot in my cage, not as a hide, I actually stuck a fake plant in the little drainage hole just to make it more jungly. One day, my snake was not in either of her hides, or her humid hide, so I got worried.... then I saw her head sticking out from under the flower pot. No idea how she managed to lift it with her little nose and get under it, it was a pretty heavy pot for a little snake! But she did, and she was very happy. I don't even know how she knew to TRY and lift it because it just might be hollow... the things they do when we aren't looking....

I am by no means claustrophobic but man that is tight. lol

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Emily Hubbard

Gosh, I don't know how they do it.

I used to have an upside down flower pot in my cage, not as a hide, I actually stuck a fake plant in the little drainage hole just to make it more jungly. One day, my snake was not in either of her hides, or her humid hide, so I got worried.... then I saw her head sticking out from under the flower pot. No idea how she managed to lift it with her little nose and get under it, it was a pretty heavy pot for a little snake! But she did, and she was very happy. I don't even know how she knew to TRY and lift it because it just might be hollow... the things they do when we aren't looking....

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I had a pot like that, but it was a busted open one, so Ryn could hide under it. Well one day she decided to go THROUGH the drainage hole...and get VERY VERY stuck. Flared scales, oozing cut wounds..Yeah definitely had to bust her out of that. I felt SO dreadful. I took everybody's plant pot hides out and they were promptly replaced with tupperware. Luckily Ryn is fine, (after a trip to the vet and a few sheds to straighten out scales) and you can barely tell where she was stuck.

I also had a "hollow log" type branch similar to the one in the photos, and Panda wedged himself in there. He wasn't stuck, but he sure didn't want to come out on his own. As soon as he did that stupid branch came out :P

I had the exact same thing happen with my ball...but I found him pretty quick because I knew there was NO WAY he could have escaped from an Animal Plastics cage. I really liked the fake branch he was crammed inside of so instead of getting rid of it I filled the hole with "Great Stuff" expanding foam so he couldn't get back inside. If you ever do that just be very careful that you don't spray too much in or it will expand to the point of breaking the decoration. Also, leave it outside of the snake's enclosure for a solid week to make sure there are no fumes left.

I had a similar problem with a ceramic tree i put in my corn snake's cage. He got into the tree, and crawled all the way up the trunk on the inside. I was FREAKING out for about 10 minutes until i figured out what he had done. His tree privileges were promptly revoked ha ha ha.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Xotik

I had a pot like that, but it was a busted open one, so Ryn could hide under it. Well one day she decided to go THROUGH the drainage hole...and get VERY VERY stuck. Flared scales, oozing cut wounds..Yeah definitely had to bust her out of that. I felt SO dreadful. I took everybody's plant pot hides out and they were promptly replaced with tupperware. Luckily Ryn is fine, (after a trip to the vet and a few sheds to straighten out scales) and you can barely tell where she was stuck.

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EEP! Glad I no longer have that in there! I don't THINK she could have ever gotten in the hole because there was a plant stem going down it.... but then again, these creatures prove time and again that they will make sure to do exactly what we perceive to be impossible or illogical.

:oops: you just learn to love them and laugh at this kind of things, except when it happens to you, then you love them, but panic :lol:




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I'be had that same problem with mice and a pirate ship decoration. I had to smash it to get them out.

From now on if I feel the need to put any of those stupid decorations in my cages, I'll be sure to plug the holes with something first

I've seen that branch thing at the local PETCO...I would have never thought to put that in a BP enclosure. That situation looks like a nightmare in the making.

When i only had my normal girl i had her in a nicely decorated tank. One of the vines in the tank was a series of plactic "links" all connecting together. Well one day i got home and noticed she was moving around the cage, along with the vine... She had managed to slip her head through one of the plastic links in the vine. Well her neck was all red and swollen for a about a week but she turned out fine. Needless to say she lost her vine after that lol...

Diablo has a tree in his tank, prior to buying it i checked for a hole on the bottom :D none there. i learned this lesson a long time ago.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Xotik

I had a pot like that, but it was a busted open one, so Ryn could hide under it. Well one day she decided to go THROUGH the drainage hole...and get VERY VERY stuck. Flared scales, oozing cut wounds..Yeah definitely had to bust her out of that. I felt SO dreadful. I took everybody's plant pot hides out and they were promptly replaced with tupperware. Luckily Ryn is fine, (after a trip to the vet and a few sheds to straighten out scales) and you can barely tell where she was stuck.

I also had a "hollow log" type branch similar to the one in the photos, and Panda wedged himself in there. He wasn't stuck, but he sure didn't want to come out on his own. As soon as he did that stupid branch came out :P

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Dang, they will give you heart failure... Glad yours is ok!

Fang has a tree in his tank that he goes in and out of all the time but he is still small enough where he can not get stuck