Found my escapee! Just can't reach her. She's under the hot water heater.

My pup found my missing ball python this morning. She is curled up under the hot water heater. I sealed off the utility closet to keep her in there. I also put down a bowl of water.

Any ideas to coax her out?

Food...

Can you push her out the other end with a broom handle or something? If she's not holding on to anything you should just be able to shove her close enough to the edge so you can grab her. If she is holding onto something. . .yeah, put a warmed (or live) rodent nearby so she has to come out to find it.

Seconded food


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Hook her out with a coat hanger. If your hot water heater is like mine, she could get pretty burned on it.

Yeah if it's how most tanks are I'd turn it off and push/hook her out or wait with food out of reach so she has to get out to get it.

I did shut the heater down and drain the heated water upon her discovery. I figured removing the warm would entice her to find new digs.

Physically prying her out isn't an option as the tank sits in a metal pan so there is no side access to push her out and not enough clearance for me to be able to get my hands around her. No luck in maneuvering a coathanfer turned snake hook in on her. She found herself a right old fortress.

The utility closet also houses my hvac system. So I've turned my main house ac off as well. I took duct tape and sealed off all the nooks and crannies that would allow her into my duct work or the crawl space.

I have some live ASFs... she's never fed on one before but it's the only rodent currently available. Do you think that would be enticing or should i go buy a rat which is what she normally eats? I'lll try a cardboard box with a critter keeper and live rodent inside at the opposite end of the closet.

Otherwise my option is poke her until she gets annoyed lol

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Originally Posted by voodoolamb

I did shut the heater down and drain the heated water upon her discovery. I figured removing the warm would entice her to find new digs.

Physically prying her out isn't an option as the tank sits in a metal pan so there is no side access to push her out and not enough clearance for me to be able to get my hands around her. No luck in maneuvering a coathanfer turned snake hook in on her. She found herself a right old fortress.

The utility closet also houses my hvac system. So I've turned my main house ac off as well. I took duct tape and sealed off all the nooks and crannies that would allow her into my duct work or the crawl space.

I have some live ASFs... she's never fed on one before but it's the only rodent currently available. Do you think that would be enticing or should i go buy a rat which is what she normally eats? I'lll try a cardboard box with a critter keeper and live rodent inside at the opposite end of the closet.

Otherwise my option is poke her until she gets annoyed lol

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If she's used to rats I would go and get a rat more likely to entice her to come out.

Ack. ALMOST had her. I grabbed ger neck but she puffed up and could not be slid out. If only she wasn't so chunky!!!

Bright side is I have gotten a good look of most of her body via my video cam and she looks to need in pretty good shape. No injuries.

I have a bit of a kooky idea I'm going to try tonight. Wish me luck

Good luck! When they puff up they can wedge themselves tight!

Good Luck! I'm sure you will get her soon.

Still working on fishing her out. I managed to get a nasty tag from her today. Drew blood and she was hissing up a storm.

She must love it under there.

It was 95 degrees in my house due to the AC being off. I really hope I can get her out soon! We are all melting.

I was thinking a few 10 lb bags of ice propped up on the side of the heater tank and a warm hide elsewhere in the closet tonight.

How about a hide really close to the water heater? Even it if gets cold she might not want to venture out of such a safe location, she might just hunker down and wait it out unless there is an easy warm place to get to.

Can you take a picture of the scenario? Perhaps if we had a better idea of what it looks like we could provide some other ideas.

At this point you might have to get someone to help you remove the water heater and get him.

Update:
I called a handyman a few weeks ago to move the hot water heater for me, however he didn't think he would be able to move it without injuring her with the way she wedged herself around the legs and the way the utility closet was set up. So i have had to wait her out. So she's been my closet snake the last month. I set her up all comfy in there with a heating pad and water dish.

Well tonight I finally managed to retrieve her!

I've tried tempting her out with food several times and it finally worked. I tossed a few handfuls of dirty rat bedding into the closet and when I noticed her poking her head out I started zombie dancing a dead rat juuuust out of her reach. Literally inched her out bit by bit. Until she was completely out. Then I tossed a towel over her and scooped her up. She was not pleased about being caught.
Huffing and puffing and striking up a storm. She complained the whole time she was slithering into her tub.

But she is back where she belongs. Her means of escape has been identified and corrected. Once she settles back into captive life I'll get her a really plump rat.

Now I will reward myself with a glass of chocolate milk and sleep :)

Awesome!

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Congrats! That was a long journey '