Ahhhhhh help!!! Escapee!!

Ok one of my newer snakes escaped....I heard a noise in the t8 before bed so I was like ill check on everyone before I go to sleep....sure enough the light fixture was knocked down from the ceiling and the power cord's hole is just large enough for medium size BPs to squeeze through...seeing as how the door..isnt locked but is jammed tightly shut...

I have checked everywhere I could think of....tight darker spots...all over the basement....none of the air vents are big enough to get into...any suggestions or help would be appreciated...

Ive place 4 water tubs around nearer the darker cozier spots in the room...

I have been out of town for 2 days...so the last time I checked on them was monday and all is well...there is a dried shed in the escapee's side of the T8...they were fed 10 days ago...next feeding should be this thursday/friday.

I don't have any experience in finding escaped snakes, but I can help prevent this from happening again.

If you tighten the screws that hold the fluorescent fixture in a few turns it will significantly reduct the chances of a snake knocking it down. It makes it a pain to get the fixture mounted but you should only really have to do it once. Of course a backup/alternative is to just put something heavy over the hole.

I hope you find your snake, make sure to check in places like inside the drum of a cloths washer etc. These little buggers can get just about anywhere.

Oh gosh, one of our girls managed to slither up a hole in the bathroom cabinets a couple months back. I was terrified that she would somehow find her way into plumbing holes or into the walls of the house. Most nerve wracking 3 hours EVER! We managed to pull up one of the cabinet boards and expose a little area that we saw her in. With a little pestering and tapping around, she came out the tiniest crack, no worse for wear. Lesson of the day: don't let your snakes cruise around the bathroom while you're washing their tubs. :O

I've done a lot of research on this (out of fear haha) and have found a few suggestions. Depending on how far you're willing to go in finding your escape artist, you could sprinkle some flour over the floor which would make it easy for you to see any tracks that are left.

Also, snakes like cruising around the base of walls, rather than out in the middle of the floor. I probably wouldn't do it, but some people have suggested balling up a bunch of masking or painters tape (it's not too sticky) and placing them around the bottom of the walls. Snake may slither over top of it & essentially get trapped on it.

Check any and all spaces that could provide any source of warmth. Under fridges or freezers etc.

If for some reason you do the tape method which I know Painter's masking tape isn't very adhesive so you shouldn't have any issues, but before you even pull it off, run the snake under luke warm water just to make sure.

aannnd I leave town tomorrow for 4 days again too:( I was going to lay tape and flour around tonight and leave a F/T thawed rat on the floor too for a few hours after work tonight to see if the smell might entice him out.

You can also put down aluminum foil or plastic grocery bags, especially along the walls. When you hear them crinkling you'll know he's moving around.

^ good call


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Originally Posted by bcr229

You can also put down aluminum foil or plastic grocery bags, especially along the walls. When you hear them crinkling you'll know he's moving around.

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Unless you aren't there to hear it!


I've found all of my escapees within hours. Keep looking. Search EVERYTHING. start close to the enclosure and work your way out. Check boxes, subwoofers, cabinets, shoes, behind books, clothes, etc. etc. Don't leave a single thing unturned, the snake will be there.

Everytime I think I've looked everywhere, there is one or two spots I miss and the snake is always there. I've only had 2 escapes... all due to human error. D'oh!

I'm always curious as to what kind of setups people have that their snakes escape out of! OP explained theirs but what is your setup like, Kaorte?

We use sterilite tubs that have somewhat locking lids, but I'm always afraid they will push up the sides of the lids and squeeze through lol


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I've never had an escape from my racks. Only standalone QT tubs... Both times *someone* forgot to lock the lid completely.

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My escape was also a tub with lid that was not latched completely.

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Originally Posted by M&NSnakeDen

I'm always curious as to what kind of setups people have that their snakes escape out of! OP explained theirs but what is your setup like, Kaorte?

We use sterilite tubs that have somewhat locking lids, but I'm always afraid they will push up the sides of the lids and squeeze through lol


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I've always had snakes in glass tanks with screen tops. Once they get strong enough to shift the weight on top, they can (will) escape. That reminds me, I need to put more weight on Pandora's tank- she's growing fast.:snake:

well spent another 3 hours after work today on top of the 4 hours last night searching...have to finish packing the car and get on the road unfortunately....im leaving a water bowl and some small tape strips down but wont commence flour/taping the entire basement until sunday evening when I get back home...searched everywhere near the T8s...and under/around them...moved my bed and lifted it up too...

my last options are the laundry room area and the a/c vent/duct work false cabinet behind my bed...

sucks even more is that its my new mojave male I picked up at Baltimore Repticon :(

It doesn't get too cold where you are does it?... too hot? Is he small enough that a cat could get to him- or any way he could have gone outside of the house?

If he somehow got in the walls, I have no clue how to help you. :/ But if you literally searched in and under and around every square inch of your house, that may be the case. I'm sorry; I know it sucks. My girl Rosca, this past month, suddenly got into an escaping spree for the first time in my four years of owning her- most of the time my snakey senses tingled and woke me up AS she was escaping or shortly thereafter and still exposed [her tank is next to my bed]. One morning, however, I woke up and she was gone. I freaked out. Fortunately, I sleep with my bedroom door closed and have no holes in my wall, so I eventually found her... in the closet... in the corner.... behind boxes and shelving unit... sneaky little brat.

I hope you find your boy, I wish you the best of luck. <3 Like as not, I bet he'll turn up. Maybe, while you're gone, he'll be tempted to come out of wherever he's at when the house is quiet. Keep us updated!

I've had some escapes and I occasionally will let em roam a room that I know is "secure", as in no possible way for them to get stuck somewhere, or to actually escape.
Places I've found them are:

inside of shoes/boots
in a pile of blankets
MANY times in various boxes (usually underneath whatever is inside said box)
inside a fish bowl (fish was okay)
behind a book shelf

Normally I don't worry about it too much, I've never lost a snake and not found him. Even my little sister had a 20g corn snake escape and was found within a couple days.

They can fit in surprisingly small areas, and like tight and dark. Once you get back I'd make a routine of checking spots that meet that criteria.

I hope your little guy didn't get into more trouble than what I've gone through. I wish you well!

Ugh, timely thread, one of mine also made a break for it! Fortunately she was found a few feet away from the tank, between the mattress and headboard of my daughter's bed. The little sneak had pushed up a corner of the top that wasn't clipped. We have another rack due to arrive in a few days and she is definitely going into it!

Shoes. If there are any shoes in the room, look in them. And if you can't see it, stick your hand in the toe. That's where mr. Snake used to go...

searched all my shoes twice....still havent found him yet...going to try leaving some f/t rat or mouse out tonight and see what happens....kind of at a loss of ideas at this point...


whats the longest its taken people to find lost snakes?

Well when I lost my RBS back when I had my first one a few years ago. I was holding him while watching tv and I got pre-occupied and next thing I know he went into the couch. I tried to get him out and all but this was a love seat and I had no idea where he was in it. So I took apart a $500 Ashley Furniture love seat to recover my snake. I mean I completely destroyed the couch. I had the most expensive fire the next night.

Have you tried putting down baby powder(if it's snake safe?) or anything like that so you may be able to track him? I have no idea the layouts of your house but depending on the size and all he could be in the cabinets, behind the wash/dry, the space between the dish washer, in the furniture. I really wish you luck, I hate losing anything with value to me.

I had an escapee once and found him a few days later inside the body of a dresser under one of the drawers. The dresser was located by the rack and I looked in all the drawers and under the dresser a hundred times. After searching the room over and over I decided to pull the drawers completely out of the dresser and sure enough there he was right beside the rail the drawer slides in and out on. Hope you find your runaway soon

Our little 120ish gram girl got out a week after we got her and she was missing 2 1/2 weeks. We searched and searched, ran a camera used for pipes though the duct work a few times, tore the house apart I every day for a week, put out the coke bottle traps a few times, laid out tin foil and pennies. No trace. Then my husband was doing his customary sweep before bed and noticed a jacket fell off the hanger in my daughters room and he picked it up and there she was!
We could not figure out where she had been all that time. Fast forward to about two weeks ago. Something fell behind in my top drawer of my dresser where i keep my jewlery. I pulled the drawer out and there was poop and urates on the bottom under where the drawer was!
now that dresser is sealed on the bottom and between each drawer but it was right next to the rack so somehow she got in there and like a bunch of people said at least initially she really was not far from the rack.

so don't give up hope! Im sure he will turn up!

Allure got out once and slid underneath the closed door (my door has a decent gab and at the time his tank was next to the door). He went down the hallway and I guess camped out in my parents room, inbetween the dog crate blankets and the wall. Their little dog apparently had a very restless night knowing she was sharing the blanket that covered her kennel with a snake. I tore apart the entire house looking for him from 12-4am. Parents found him there later that day while I was at work. He was pretty little then so I don't think he'd fit under the doors anymore.

I know how much it sucks to be freaking out and wondering where your little buddy is. It's one of the worst feelings, especially when you can't be there to keep searching. I hope you find him soon.

Any update? Were you able to find your missing one?

Still missing in action Neal.....

Been following this just haven posted, I hope you find him soon. Have you tried looking under the washer or dryer? I would look up inside to because sometimes the way they're built there is a hole at the bottom of them that's why they are lifted up off the ground if you know what I mean.

Don't forget to look UP as well. I had the exact same thing happen with one of my T8s and I found him on top of my dresser wrapped around my TV base about an hour later. I looked everywhere in a panic and low and behold she was in front of my eyes the whole time. When I saw her, she gave me this look like, "What?".

Good luck!

Any luck yet?! :(

Yeah I've list two in my life one juvenile redtail found her about two weeks later near her enclosure and one female cinnamon bp hatchling that was never found :O

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