Just like that....

[Jus1More]

Well...I am sad to say, but my little Trans Pecos rat snake got loose!!! I noticed this past Thursday night the doors to the Exo-Terra he was in were slightly opened. Really to be honest with everyone I dont remember opening them. Although I was in his enclosure earlier in the week but I thought I locked up his enclosure then.

I have literally torn my bedroom apart twice looking everywhere I can possibly look. I have looked high and low, in every tight spot and everything else in between. I laid down plastic bags along the floor boards, I laid down two sided tape, put out hides and shoe boxes with holes in them. I've also laid down some heat tape along the floor boards with a water bowl and also laid his tank back down on the floor. My room tends to be the warmest room in our apartment so I'm hoping he is still somewhere in my room. Although, I did a thorough cleaning of the rest of the apartment today and came up with nothing..I am exhausted physically and mentally!!! I am very sad and depressed, as well as mad at myself for being careless. I thought I locked the latch but ....

My rat snake is still pretty small and so at this point he could be ANYWHERE in our apartment! All of my reptile friends tell me to not panic and stay positive. They tell me I have done all I could do so move on and just keep a look out for him, dont give up hope...Lastly they tell me that eventually and hopefully he will turn up. It may be 1 week or 1 month. I do know that he will get hungry soon enough because he has not ate in the last 3 weeks. I was thinking of putting out a LIVE pinky mouse in a water bottle and leaving the top off hoping that lures him out from hiding BUT where do I place that if I am not sure if he is still in my bedroom???

Anyways.. I am sure anyone here who has a snake and has lost them can relate to my situation. MY QUESTION IS, will he really turn back up? I cant keep tearing up my apartment everyday and stay up until 2 AM everynight looking for him.. I really want to think positive about finding him but it is hard, especially when he is still so small...

Thank you my friends for listening, if you have any thing you want to share with me please do...I need all the positive encouragement I can get right now!

[Jellybeans]

Putting out food item is a good idea but I would not put a live pinky I would put a frozen thawed.....it's cruel to leave a live one becuz it may not get eaten right away and will die needlessly

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[Zincubus]

I recently got an escapee back simply by putting a little plastic terrarium down on its side with the side flap open .. all there was inside was a little hide and a dish of water PLUS it was over a little 7W heat mat .. the little Rat snake was asleep in the enclosure over the heat about 14 days later !!


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[Bogertophis]

If temperatures are cool enough (like on the floor?) he may well "decide" to brumate...and he could literally turn up months from now. Snakes are actually
drawn to fresh outside air coming into our houses, so little gaps around plumbing (bathrooms or kitchen) can entice them to hide in a wall, or beyond. The
most dangerous place for a snake is our kitchen: snakes get up inside stoves, refrigerator motors-!, the underside of dishwashers, washers, dryers...AND
many of our kitchen cupboards have a crawl space under the bottom of the cupboards, and gaps are left underneath the cabinet front doors that snakes see &
head right up into that space...I know of no way to get a snake out of such a space short of ripping out cupboards, and doing so could hurt the snake.

I once had an 5' adult bull snake get loose and that's where she went...she got loose in mid-November & it took until mid-May before she was sliding across my
kitchen floor one night, finally ready for food. I had searched to no avail when she got out, of course, and I had no idea that's where she was but I suspected,
by process of elimination. She was fine, "none the worse for wear" & I was hugely relieved to have her back. Snakes really know how to "torture" us. My bull
snake was a good size though, whereas your little TP will quickly dehydrate by home heat, so leave some bowls of water around. But they also climb quite well
and can SMELL water, so your sinks, drains, toilets & even garbage disposal could end up attracting him for the moisture...I'd advise you to keep them covered
& checked on a regular basis. Snakes HAVE been known to get into plumbing...it's not pretty. (I have a hunch that my bull snake came out at night a few times
& got a drink of water from dishes left soaking in the sink...but of course, she would never say for sure...)

I do hope that your cat has not found your snake...that is sadly a distinct possibility also. I would also not advise using double-sided tape...that's too much like
a glue trap, which are horrible on small reptiles, not to mention the struggle which would attract your cat.

Keeping my fingers crossed for you for his safe & healthy return.

[pretends2bnormal]

Just to add another success story with a much younger snake... last year at the start of January, we had a Texas Graybanded kingsnake baby escape, he weighed a grand 11 grams.. we turned out whole house upside down and by month 2 were convinced he had gotten into the A/C return vent and either died there or got outside from the crawl space under there.

He turned up in mid-May (4.5 months later) when we were re-arranging the house to move our reptile room and we found a shed skin in the new room (this was our sign something was up... none of our others had been that small since well before his escape & no sheds had been in that room). We lifted nearby objects and found him in only a few minutes curled up beneath a small foot automan in the room almost no worse for wear. He still weighed 10 grams, somehow, and looked only a bit thin since he had continued getting longer by an inch or teo. He must have squeezed somewhere cold and brumated through February or March as I think he would have been much more dehydrated if he had been active the whole time.

You've done what you can do, now just keep a close eye out for anything out of place and continue checking things. Even if he wasn't hiding somewhere yesterday, he may have moved there today.

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[Treeman]

Good luck with your search. Never had a snake escape, but my first ever reptile, a leopard gecko I had as a youngster, did escape. My fault, I had built a really nice rock formation that got too close to the top of the tank. He then got out, I assume, of a small gap I had on the lid of the tank. Unfortunately, we tore apart the house and never found the gecko, until one day, 2 years later, we opened up the pull out couch that we rarely use......

Anyways, keep up hope, and always be on the lookout. Good luck!

[Hannahvh]

Sorry, hun!! I really hope your search comes to an end soon! Just an idea- maybe check most 'dangerous' places in your apartment extra hard first? I.E. make sure he isn't hiding in the cabinet under the sink with all the cleaning supplies and such where he could be poisoned! Hopefully he is just hiding somewhere warm and safe and will turn up! Just keep up the water bowls and hides around. Good luck!!!!

[EL-Ziggy]

Keep your head up. I had a BP that turned up after being MIA for 3 months.

[Jus1More]

Thank you to everyone for your replies and encouragement to keep the faith! Still haven't found my little guy as of yet, but maybe soon.... Fingers crossed!!

[e_nigma]

Have you checked around appliances? Refrigerator, washer, dryer, any potential heat source or appliance? I have heard tales of them being found near appliances due to their proclivity for heat?