Escapee

Well, after I responded this morning to the nice responses on my post about getting Seymour to eat, I checked the snakes. Seymour and Hanover were in their hide boxes, tails hanging out, and Snyder had been replaced by a poop. Snyder got out! I checked the immediate area with no joy, but am hoping that because there is nothing else warm in the area, she will come back and hang out for the heat. Seymour got out once already and I found him hanging out under the heating pad (not in contact with it).

Needless to say, despite my filling noticeable crevices and using velco to make sure the drawers shut completely, I am considering the Sterilite drawer setup a failure. We will be getting a new setup this weekend.

Sorry to hear about your escapee! :(
Please help me with my theory, and let me know how far away from her home you find her. (I am attempting to support my Ten Foot Rule!)
Are you sure Snyder isn't the Shape Shifting Morph? Maybe she turned herself into a turd to fool you into leaving the drawer open, so she could then get out? Did you check in the trash can to make sure the turd is still there?
Just trying to cheer you up, although I'm sure you won't read this for a while......tearing the place up, no doubt!

Behind the fridge (in the coils), behind the TV, in the cold closet on the floor under clothes, and in the bathroom under the cabinet are all places I have found escapees before.

Randy is famouse for the ten foot rule!
I bet it will work, I'm sure you'll find your BP Marla, they are such escape artists,
I bet you'll find him really soon.
I would offer more suggestions, but randy posted my ideas too.
(Idea theif Randy..lol)
Rusty

I know about Randy's 10-foot rule, and Seymour certainly supported it (~2" from home when found). Sorry to say, my previous escapees have flouted it with abandon, so I'm not counting on its working. I wish I could say I'm home tearing up the place looking for Snyder, but I'm at work as I had an important meeting this morning I had to attend and will not be home for hours as my mom's surgery is at noon and my sister won't be getting to town until late this evening.

However, my roommate has assured me she'll find Snyder since I found Seymour for her, and hopefully she's right! Her enclosure is in the den, which is in the bottom of the split-level house, so the only 'close-by' warm spots are my computer (oh, please don't let her go there!), the television, the furnace, and the water heater (both of which she could only get to by crossing cold concrete floor). I'm hoping she'll hover close to the warmth of home or curl up behind the tv as a previous escapee did.

you'll find it
once it gets hungary it will come out of hiding then you'll find it

damn marla, got my fingers crossed... sorry to hear about that.

Good luck Marla!! I've had horrible luck with escapees lately... but I'm sure you'll do better!

Good luck in finding Snyder, Marla.

I hope I never have to go through it.

Oh Marla.. I hope you do find your escapee soon to. I will keep my fingers crossed. I wish I could offer suggestions on finding an escapee, but to be honest..NONE of my bp's have ever gotten out... and I have had them a long while now. OK- be my luck they might now that I have said this..knock on wood that it wont happen and make me look like a fool for jinxing myself. I guess this far I have been lucky. But for the life of me, cant figure out why others have this problems alot, and I have not ever. :roll:

Sorry to hear about Snyder... You'll find him. Check the 10 foot rule tho, he prolly stayed close if the rest of teh area is cold.

-Chris

randy...i could support your ten foot rule.... my bigest male got aout a little while ago. i found him within ten minutes of finding out he was gone. he was in the back corner of my closet behind some suit cases. at just about 10 feet. away from his cage. possibly a little more but no more then 12 feet. but i also lost a rat snake a long time ago in my old house. he got out downstairs and my dog found him upstairs. (dont worry the dog didnt hurt him) lol.

marla....sorry i cant really help. ive only had a few escapes in my life and the snakes found me first. except for the two up there.^ i can tell ya to look in all the dresser drawers. i had rats escape and they found their way to all the diferent drawers. im guessing snakes could get up there too. good luck. i hope you find it!

Jeanne, I used to feel EXACTLY like that. I could not for the life of me understand how peoples' snakes escaped. Then it happened to me. :roll: Of course, we think we have the enclosures down pat, full escape proof locks, etc. Then they get out. :sigh: lol.... (At least I found the little bugger)..

I'm sorry to hear that Marla, but I'm SURE he'll come up. Keep us posted, I know you will! :)

Jennifer

Oh, and Randy, the ten-foot-rule applies here too. I found her roughly 4 feet from her cage hiding in a shoebox under a bunch of old school papers! :D

where exactly is this "10 foot rule" explained? i got my BP yesterday and i know he cant get out yet but he will be sooner or latter so i wanna know what to do when or if he gets out.

Whats the most secure enclosure that your snakes have escaped from. I wanna know just in case I have to take even more precautionary measures. Right now the enclosure Ive made I will be screwing the top shut with 1/8 inch screws and wing nuts that go through the plastic lip of the lid. But when I get my BP if it ever escapes me and my BP are both gonna need new enclosures. :shock:

Good Luck Marla,
Will keep my fingers crossed for ya
keep us posted.

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Whats the most secure enclosure that your snakes have escaped from.

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We have the largest neodasha cage they have made (not sure if it's still on the market but it's HUGE), anyhow we house two burmese pythons in it, (14ft female, 17ft male) a long while back Merlin (the male) was half in half out of it. (and ironically the ten foot rule applies as only about 9 feet of the snake was accually out..lol), anyhow there is screening on the top in small circles so you can use your dome lights (heat lights) and even thou we check the screen reguarly, apparently we didn't check it well enough and he had wedged his head out of the seam, the first half of his body followed, poor thing it was an awfully tight fit for him, so we had to wait patiently and coax him completely through the hole, then patch the hole (secured with plexi glass now)then lock him back up.
Anyhow this is way off topic, but I needed to ramble.
Thanks
Rusty

Could you imagine coming home and a 17 foot snake is not in its cage and no where to be found?? LMAO That would be scary...That's a funny story, Rusty. Good thing it wasn't TOO tight, poor chubby thing, lol.

You just gotta feel bad for him, lol
We were home, and our son said HI MERLIN, whatcha doiong in that hole? (he is four), we heard a bit of a crash directly after that as Merlin knocked a huge can of fishfood over (yeah right into the tank, now there is alott of fat fish) so Griffin just went into his room (Griffin = son) and we got Merlin all set. Luckily it worked out for the best, I have had small snakes get out long before I ever married and had a step son, so you could imagine my histarics after Merlin was put away safely about the "what ifs". My poor husband had to take an hour to calm me down,
I am glad it worked out as it did
Rusty

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Originally Posted by Rosy_Boa

where exactly is this "10 foot rule" explained? i got my BP yesterday and i know he cant get out yet but he will be sooner or latter so i wanna know what to do when or if he gets out.

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"The Ten Foot Rule" is simply my theory that most BP escapees are found within ten or so feet of the enclosure they escaped from. It is based on unsound, unproven scientific principles, tested in the field by me. All my escapes (I stopped counting at five) have been recovered within about ten feet of their enclosure, with the exception of my baby Kingsnake, which was recovered within about twenty five feet, but was hanging out of our kitten's mouth. *Slurp* :evil:
For BP's, it is my theory that you must tear apart the area within ten feet of the enclosure every time you are looking for the snake, even if you looked there yesterday. Start close, and work your way away from the enclosure.

There are those who have added escape stories to support "The Ten Foot Rule," and I am always interested in finding more!

Like I said, it is a very unscientific study (conceived while drinking Corona #3 one night after an escape/rescue). :D

randy? the cat killed your king!!?

Marla any sighns of him yet?

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Originally Posted by Wizill

randy? the cat killed your king!!?

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The first King I had.....last year. King Kong (may he rest in peace) was found about three days after he got out by our kitten, who used him as dental floss. :evil:

Dang, that blows.

See...with ball pythons its the cat that needs to worry :)

Sorry, I've been offline as I spent most of yesterday with my mother then had to do weekly errands early today and have spent spare time looking for Snyder. I did come home for about an hour and a half yesterday evening and we tore apart the place looking for Snyder, even went into the crawlspace under the house to look.

Last night I left out a heating pad (on low) with a hide on top of it that I know she likes, and we've been checking all the good hiding spots downstairs periodically. I wanted to leave out a mouse, but was worried the dogs would ruin the door if I did. So far no sign of her, though we may have found an old poop from a bp that escaped when we had a petsitter accident a couple of years ago.

I am so upset over this, as is everyone else in the house. The good news is that my mother's surgery went well and they're not expecting her to need chemo or radiation at this point, which is much more important than even a favorite ball python nursed back from the brink.

Here's my question: have any of you ever found a missing bp on a higher floor of the house from where its enclosure is (and not carried by a cat)? I know Lindsay found hers frozen in the basement, but this is already the bottom floor of the house, which is a split level. I'm thinking maybe what I need to do is stay up until 2 or 3 tonight with the lights off and listen for any movement and scent the room with mouse. Anybody have any better ideas or refinements to that one?

if the snake is two or three inches longer than the height of one stair, it cant get up them.

i wouldn't put anything past a ball python.

what i ment to say is that if the snakes is a couple inches bigger then the stair... it CAN get up it! sorry.

Good luck finding him! I'm sure you will and I look forward to reading the relieved "I FOUND HIM" message!!

Here ya go, Judy! My roommate found Snyder just a short while ago! Weeeehaaaa!!!!

Randy, you'll be happy to know she decided to give you support for your 10-foot rule. Her enclosure was a few inches from a 5' tall file cabinet and Snyder was right on top, hiding under a manila envelope half out of the in-box on top. I think she must have climbed the cords from the heat pads which drape over the top of it. I warmed her up then got her set up in her new lock-top enclosure, which she just finished exploring.

Thanks, everyone, for your encouragement. I was really worried that I'd never find her again. I am one relieved and happy snake mama now. :D

Oh, and I just want to point out that it's only fair my roomie found Snyder since I found her Seymour the other day. ;)

Congrats Marla........Im really happy for ya.......

woot woot! i knew youd find him. wonder where hes been hiding out. congratulations!

Thanks, Carl and Mike. :) There's no telling where she was hiding, but I know it wasn't where she was found because we had definitely checked there before, even tho I didn't think it was very likely she'd go up. Shows what i know! But at least she was found.

I am so glad she is now safe and sound
Congrats on your find,
Rusty

Thanks, Rusty!

Yeahhhh Marla! I just knew you'd find him! I'm thrilled for you!

Thanks, Judy, I'm pretty psyched to have found her, too! (Even if I wasn't actually the one to find her.