AWOL Snake was Found!

Back in December, I bought a fantastic gray banded kingsnake. Super docile and not at all a problematic feeder (unlike what I've heard some people say). We had Ash for about 1 shed and 3 meals before we went in to check him and found him completely missing in mid-January. Pretty shocking since we had kept and grown out a corn snake in the exact same bin with no escapes that had started at half his weight (6g vs the king's 12g). We honestly still don't know how he got out. Holes were less than half his head size, no gaps along the top of the bin (very tight shelf on that diy rack), and the bin was not pushed too far back or left open at all.

Pic:
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...e451ed7873.jpg

Anyway, he went missing on January 11th weighing only 12 grams. By March when our looking and food/water enticing with flour lines at doorways failed, we were pretty sure he either escaped the house or had died (dehydration, not starvation). He was very small and I had thought lack of water would have done him in honestly.

Today, we were working on cleaning up our game room to swap things around and set up a reptile room there and found a shed while vacuuming. We thought it was odd. It was too small for most of our snakes, and the ones it wasn't too small for had been fed earlier today and had never been in that room. Nor had any trash bags broken open for it to just be an old shed... it had to be our missing snake!

Sure enough, about 1 foot from there when we picked up this leather cube side table, we found a very very skinny but ALIVE Ash. Picked him up, set him up in a lidded bin with holes a fourth as big (aka TINY, smallest drill bit in the set we have) and binder clipped the non latching sides together. He is NOT escaping us again.

Here he is today, getting a well deserved and much needed drink:
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...26ee655094.jpg

We went ahead and offered him the smallest pinky we had, so he's got that in his belly in the above pic. His head is unfortunately very noticeable from his neck which isn't good proportions for a king. And looks quite skinny overall. Don't have a good shot of that head and I'm letting him settle and digest now.

I think he'll pull through as long as he doesnt regurge this first meal. He's still acting quite normally, took the food straight off the tongs, and went to take a big drink.

For anyone else that loses a snake, especially a small one, they really do have a way to surprise you long past when you think they can be found alive.

Ours even had a nearly perfect shed after months being missing (head part was torn off of the body, but otherwise completely intact). I thank our several fishtanks bringing up ambient household humidity. (Most rooms read 40-50% with hygrometers despite being in North Texas)

I'll post updates as he recovers from his months of hiding in our house.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

That's WONDERFUL news, wow! Especially for him, it doesn't look as though he caught any food during his camp out.

Many years ago, I had a hatchling albino california king get loose from a store-bought terrarium with a sliding screen lid. Turns out the lid had just enough
room with the locking pin in place to allow that tiny king to escape thru the track next to the screen slider. Fortunately I found her that same day, hiding in
a boot in my closet, silly thing.

With some rest & food, hopefully Ash will be just fine. Sure is a pretty little thing!

Holy cow! You found him right on time, a little longer and you would have found a dead snake.
I'm happy for you. :gj:

Oh geez! Good thing you found him inside! :O I think there was another story on here recently where someones' cornsnake or kingsnake got out and they found them outside, in a mower of all things!
Anyways...
Is the current bin he is in temporary? As in, he'll be living in it for the next month or so before being moved to something else? Or is it hard to judge for right now?
And as someone who is interested in owning more snakes in the future, is your Fort-Knox-of-a-setup something you would suggest for baby kingsnakes/milksnakes?

What a great story, congrats! :)

It looks like a really small bin, but it's actually a 12 or 16 qt bin (I forget which). I would definitely suggest a latching bin with very tiny (but tons) of air holes for any baby colubrid (corn, king, milk, etc.) The binder clips might be overkill, but I'm not taking chances with this guy. Probably not a bad idea for <25g kings or milks and certainly won't hurt anything.

He will probably stay in that bin until he gets to probably 30 or 40 grams. (Or big enough I'm confident he can't escape out of a divided T8's vents or between sliding glass) I haven't weighed obviously, but i suspect he is 6-9 grams right now from the 12 he escaped with. I might upgrade him to a 28qt before the T8, but it's in use for another snake right now. Depends how my reptile room conversion project goes how soon it might be honestly... we'll see....

I honestly think he got into the vent under the A/C where the returns are for the last 2 to 3 months of winter and brumated until maybe a month ago. It looks like he was looking for a way out the door to outside 3 feet from where we found him. Very lucky that we found him today before he escaped or died..

We're so happy. [emoji16]



Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

Grabbed a few pics since I can't stop checking he hasn't disappeared again.

A better pic of him since he was exploring the bin.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...a06cf67988.jpg

And what my bin securing job resulted in.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...1636661bf6.jpg

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

I totally "second" the binder clips! I always used them when I brumated colubrids in plastic containers, as they have enough flexibility to allow
determined snakes to squeeze through...and the snakes either escape, or get very injured trying.

My preferred bin is the 32 at bin you can sorta see behind that one. It's got 6 latches, 2 per long side and one on each end. Plus a foam gasket and quite rigid lid. No concern of escapes there at all as long as the air holes are small enough diameter. It's a sterilite that I've only seen at 2 or 3 local Targets (out of 6 or 7 I've been down the bin isle in).

Here's an old picture of one of them. (Not the bin Ash escaped from)
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...c5f5717af9.jpg

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

What an awesome story to start my morning!!!:D

I'm so pleased you found him!! I've experienced the "escaped snake scenario" and know how stressful it is and how worried you must have been. So glad he's back safe and sound.

I'M SO GLAD YOU FOUND HIM! Poor baby!

Mini update, he did not manage a repeat escape overnight! And it looks (and smells) like he kept his food down so far.

I lifted the hides just a tad to make sure he was there and do a regurge check. I remember he was never much bothered by that before and that still holds true. He kinda turned his head a bit toward where I was for the 2 seconds it was lifted before i set it back down.

Funny enough. We never found any poops in the house after he went missing, but about 10 minutes after eating I caught him taking a very long drink and having already pooped in his new cage...

Any suggestions on how often to feed him to try and bring his weight back to where it should be?
I was thinking every 4 days for a few weeks then up to 5. Or is 5 days better to not stress his digestive system after not eating for so long? I'm pretty sure he didn't find anything small enough to eat while he was gone.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

Oh, and since I don't think these guys are very common. I got him from a breeder (Stu's Herps) who specializes in specific localities (down to the mile from a city or road, he caught all of the early generation parents himself and any fresh bloodlines). He said they can be known to he difficult to start on mice as babies (I think they're likely more lizard or toad eaters in the wild), but that he has an easier time with them than hognoses he also breeds. He never sells until they've taken several (iirc 3, maybe more) unscented f/t pinkies in a row.

From what he told me, and has held true when we had Ash, gray banded kings are not like the other types of kingsnake I've heard of. They're very docile as babies. Generally no musking to he heard of. Fairly slow moving for a colubrid, especially when they're not fully accustomed to you/the environment, but as long as they're not super scared. He was about as easy to handle as a ball python when I got him without the BP balling behavior. He was definitely a bit flighty yesterday, but nothing compared to my corn snake at the same age. I suspect that will be gone entirely after another meal or some short handling when he settles in. Our house is probably terrifying to him with the banging around from aquarium maintenance where he was hiding and our 50 lb. red heeler bolting around the house (and somehow never finding him!)

Anyway, thought I'd share some info on these guys. They require a permit to sell in Texas (maybe more places too) and aren't commonly bred, Stu is the only breeder I've seen at DFW shows lately to have them. No permits required to buy or own, only to sell.

Glad everyone else seems to be as excited as I am to have found him. Thanks in advance for any advice about feeding frequency from my last post.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

Things are looking good so far. Yesterday was 2 days from his meal and he looks to have digested it completely (and left a little present for me).

I took him out for just a minute to get a benchmark weight for him (post-poop), and he is 13 grams. Not nearly as low weight as I expected. It looks like he's an inch or two longer, so I guess he burned fat to grow in length since he is definitely not a good weight right now.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...88807e4f99.jpg


Added some fake foliage to his tub for some added cover for him, and found him pretending to be a carpet python napping at the top of it this morning.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...e8c7eb1af3.jpg

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

Anyone have any advice for getting his weight back to normal?

Is my plan of feeding every 4 days sound ok for his next several meals? Or is 4 days too often?

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

As long as he has minimal disturbance and is warm enough to digest, I see nothing wrong with feeding him a pinky about every 4-5 days.

Do watch & make sure he's digesting ok though or you risk having him regurge if meals are too close together. Much also depends on the
pinkies themselves: they can range from tiny preemies to those a few days old. Just gradually size up & lengthen the time between & he'll
be fine.

I once took in a starved Western longnose hatchling & just happened to have some super tiny pinks in my freezer. The snake was plenty
warm & I got away with feeding him every couple days at first, on those preemie pinks. It's all relative, trust your instincts, he'll be fine.
Since it's "coming out the other end" you know he's digesting.

We have "small pinkies" from 1 to 2g from our young sand boa, who is only now 18 grams, but started at 11 grams. (There may be some <1 gram, my scale isn't able to do less than 1 gram increments, so it's hard to say) Those are what we're going to be using for him. How skinny his neck is made watching him take that first tiny one very comical. But he definitely is digesting it. No lump be end of day 2 and a new poop is a good sign [emoji3]

Going to give him one tomorrow (4 day gap) and do every 4 days for 2 or 3 meals, I think. Just wanted to be sure that there wouldn't be an issue with the frequency.

I'll try to remember to keep posting pics of him as he puts on the weight.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

Yes, please do update us now & then: I think you're doing great with him, he is lucky to have been found in time. And pinkies digest very easily
anyway, it's exactly what he needs for a while..."TLC". :gj: Sounds like he's going to be a beautiful & mellow pet when he grows up too.

Meal #2 was good on Wednesday and got a weight today at 14 grams. Not sure he's pooped after that one, but it isn't going down, so I'm happy with that for now.

He was definitely calmer when I picked him up to weigh today, too.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...ac8183896a.jpg

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

Wow. That was great. Happy he is okay too.

Small update. Things are going good so far! We've got 2 more meals into him as of last night and I think we're in the clear.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...cd74907867.jpg

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

That's awesome! :gj:

Very cool and amazing!

Things are still going well. He's continued to eat about every 5 days now. Slowly gaining weight, at 16 grams now.

He's looking dull today, so looks like he's going to shed again here pretty soon.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

He looks to be doing GREAT! (happy dance!!! :D )

We're making progress. I got a fresh shed yesterday. He's still only weighing 17 grams (up from 16) after 2 more meals, so weight is slow coming.

He's not fast like my cornsnake was at that size, but definitely still tough to get a clear picture of.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...e71a921834.jpg
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...0b13f56520.jpg

Checking out the cell phone/camera
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...2017e959cc.jpg

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...697bf97c32.jpg

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

Wow he is gorgeous! I just found this thread and read the whole story. So glad you found him in time, and that he's doing as well as he's doing! I gotta say, this thread made my day. YAY!!! :D

We had a storm pass through to cool off the heat here in Texas, so Ash got to make a highly supervised trip outside.

Ash and his Bulbasaur ;)
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...1e41633b66.jpg

Pupils were absolutely tiny for most of the outdoor photoshoot (total time 5 or so minutes)
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...9d422cded0.jpg

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...528b465913.jpg
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...389c0c44aa.jpg

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk