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  1. #1
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    Ball Python escape, could he have gotten out of the house?

    My ball python was last scene in his tank last night. I felt like something was wrong this evening and asked my partner to check on him - he had escaped from his tank, it must have been sometime before this afternoon as I sprayed his tank to up humidity - and then closed the door. I can't remember if the door of the tank was closed properly or not when I got there. We have searched all the nooks and crannies of the house and can't find him.

    The issue is that the back door has been open for a lot of today and we're fearing that he may have left the house and be gone forever. My HOPE was that him being nocturnal, he wouldn't leave the house while it's bright and sunny outside - but I really have no experience with this situation. I have moved his tank on the floor, - with the doors open in the hopes that he is drawn to the ceramic heat emmiter, and I have set up flour trails that he can disturb, and left his water just outside the tank.

    How likely is it that he would have escaped out of the back? I checked the garden, behind the shed and under some of the rubble, and checked the neighbours garden and shed and wasn't able to find him, although thats not to say he couldn't have also escaped the garden.

    Thank you in advance for the help. We've had him a year in two weeks time and have never dealt with an escape before.

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  3. #2
    Bogertophis's Avatar
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    Well first of all, don't give up!

    How far was his tank from the fresh outside air (open doors)? In my experience, snakes ARE drawn to fresh outside air, but BPs usually lay low during daylight hours & move around during the "cover" of darkness. They also don't often travel far, so LOOK in all the nooks & crannies: under beds, & under & in couch cushions, gaps under kitchen & bathroom cupboards, in laundry baskets full of clothes and empty out your closets, because they often end up in there. Upholstered furniture including beds often have tears in the fabric on their underside, or stitching gaps in the crevices under cushions- so look before you sit. Stay up late in semi-darkness & LISTEN for him too.

    Snakes are far better at "hide & seek" than we are- most of us have found out the hard way & most of us find our snakes unharmed, not counting our stress & sleepless nights. Hang in there.

    Good luck!
    Rudeness is the weak man's imitation of strength.
    Eric Hoffer (1902 - 1983)

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  5. #3
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    Re: Ball Python escape, could he have gotten out of the house?

    Quote Originally Posted by Bogertophis View Post
    Well first of all, don't give up!

    How far was his tank from the fresh outside air (open doors)? In my experience, snakes ARE drawn to fresh outside air, but BPs usually lay low during daylight hours & move around during the "cover" of darkness. They also don't often travel far, so LOOK in all the nooks & crannies: under beds, & under & in couch cushions, gaps under kitchen & bathroom cupboards, in laundry baskets full of clothes and empty out your closets, because they often end up in there. Upholstered furniture including beds often have tears in the fabric on their underside, or stitching gaps in the crevices under cushions- so look before you sit. Stay up late in semi-darkness & LISTEN for him too.

    Snakes are far better at "hide & seek" than we are- most of us have found out the hard way & most of us find our snakes unharmed, not counting our stress & sleepless nights. Hang in there.

    Good luck!
    Hi, the back door is about 15 feet from the tank, we have the living room, then two glass doors that lead to an extension and then there is the kitchen which is about 6/7 feet between him and the door. I'm in the UK so the temperature outside was 22C/72F at its highest today

    my in-laws have been in our living room basically all day, and the sofa they watch TV on is inbetween the tank and garden - and neither of them spotted him - and I'm telling myself that he's be more inclined to hide behind furniture that is closer to him - the issue is that we moved EVERYTHING and couldn't find him - so my feeling is that if he is in the house, he's probably been drivne further into hiding.

    We've also looked upstairs, too, we knew it was a long shot but he could have potentially had hours to travel around.

    I'm going to stay downstairs in the living room tonight, his tank's got the door open and the bowl of water is just outside - I've defrosted a rat to see if that could lure him, we also turned off the mouse repellent, because we thought it might be better to have the mouse we're trying to scare off still IN the house - on the off chance the snake finds it, in which case we'd probably find him.

    - is there any other pro tips?

    Thank you so much for the help on such short notice, I'm of course quite stressed but my S.O. is devastated over it
    Last edited by KaijuSpy; 08-29-2022 at 06:54 PM.

  6. #4
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    Re: Ball Python escape, could he have gotten out of the house?

    I can't tell you what you should do, so I'll tell you what I did. When my bp escaped the first time, I looked in all the nooks and crannies starting at his enclosure. Ultimately, I found him in my daughter's closet at the far end of our apartment. Somehow a big fat adult python managed to traverse the length of my apartment without anyone noticing. All the clamps were still in place on his enclosure, so, as improbable as it seemed, I assumed he dashed to freedom in the moments it took me to fill his water bowl. The very next night after I filled his water bowl I made absolutely certain that he was in the enclosure before I closed and clamped it down. A few hours later my son wakes me. He scared. There's a monster in his room. I laid down with him to help him sleep and I too heard noises. I thought no wonder he's scared. That couldn't be my bp again. Could it? When my son got up to go to the bathroom, I decided to check on my bp. All the clamps were in place but he was gone. Of course, he was in my son's room right beside his bed. How he got out remains a mystery.

    My bp passed away, but unfortunately all snakes are escape artists, so, just recently, my Children's python escaped. He crawled under my couch. I waited for him to crawl out again. When I tired of waiting, I went to check on him and he was gone. I searched all the nooks and crannies to no avail. After everyone went to sleep, I crumpled newspaper and laid in across all the thresholds in my apartment in the hopes that I would hear him crawl across them and waited. Fell asleep around midnight but got up hourly to check the newspapers. None were disturbed. The next day I went to work. At 3 pm, my wife called. She found him in the laundry cart. I had checked the laundry cart, but I believe he just blended in too well with the clothes for me to see him.

    I share these stories to give you hope. They do tend to turn up. Good luck.
    Last edited by Homebody; 08-29-2022 at 07:31 PM.
    1.0 Normal Children's Python (2022 - present)
    1.0 Normal Ball Python (2019 - 2021)

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    Re: Ball Python escape, could he have gotten out of the house?

    Thank you! Honestly I think what has scared us is the open back door all day - but I just gotta hope that's not the case.

    It's quite late here, so I'm going to let the room be dark for a while, then I'm gonna try braining a defrosted rat and seeing if it lures him out - if he turns up I'll let you all know - but please do send any more advice or ideas

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    Re: Ball Python escape, could he have gotten out of the house?

    Quote Originally Posted by KaijuSpy View Post
    Thank you! Honestly I think what has scared us is the open back door all day - but I just gotta hope that's not the case.

    It's quite late here, so I'm going to let the room be dark for a while, then I'm gonna try braining a defrosted rat and seeing if it lures him out - if he turns up I'll let you all know - but please do send any more advice or ideas
    Can’t see a cold rat luring a Ball Python out

    Most of mine will only look at a moving , warmed up target … very few will bother with a cool , stationary food item


    I got my escapee back by putting a small fish tank on its side , on the floor , in the corner of the room .. I just put a bowl of water in and a small 7 watt heat mat underneath the tank

    I found it fast asleep over the heat mat nearly two WEEKS later !!

    Good luck anyways !!!!


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro




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    Re: Ball Python escape, could he have gotten out of the house?

    Quote Originally Posted by Zincubus View Post
    Can’t see a cold rat luring a Ball Python out

    Most of mine will only look at a moving , warmed up target … very few will bother with a cool , stationary food item


    I got my escapee back by putting a small fish tank on its side , on the floor , in the corner of the room .. I just put a bowl of water in and a small 7 watt heat mat underneath the tank

    I found it fast asleep over the heat mat nearly two WEEKS later !!

    Good luck anyways !!!!


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
    The snake was found a week ago.
    Quote Originally Posted by KaijuSpy View Post
    Hi everyone I just wanted to update you all - we found him safe and sound. He had found a back passageway behind our kitchen sink, fridge, draws etc and was hiding behind a layer of insulation - he was cold but okay - i'm just gonna keep an eye on him and if he needs we'll take him to a vet.


    Thank you all so much for your help, the panic is now over!

    https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...=1#post2775406
    Rudeness is the weak man's imitation of strength.
    Eric Hoffer (1902 - 1983)

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    BPnet Senior Member Lord Sorril's Avatar
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    Re: Ball Python escape, could he have gotten out of the house?

    The good news is that is a ball python. A Milk Snake would have already rented a car, booked a plane ticket and be half-way back to its country by now....

    Ball python playbook: First day of escape---Hide ASAP somewhere dark and don't move until you are hungry!

    -Imagine a fifteen foot radius around his tank, now check every nook and cranny (even really small ones that seem physically impossible to get into). If you have a hole in the wall nearby or radiator pipes that have gaps through the floor--that is bad news.

    -They are also adept climbers-so don't forget to check elevated spots that they can wedge their body into (e.g. behind books on a shelf, inside clothes on a hanger, on the upper top edge of a cabinet etc)...
    *.* TNTC

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    Re: Ball Python escape, could he have gotten out of the house?

    Quote Originally Posted by Lord Sorril View Post
    The good news is that is a ball python. A Milk Snake would have already rented a car, booked a plane ticket and be half-way back to its country by now....

    Ball python playbook: First day of escape---Hide ASAP somewhere dark and don't move until you are hungry!

    -Imagine a fifteen foot radius around his tank, now check every nook and cranny (even really small ones that seem physically impossible to get into). If you have a hole in the wall nearby or radiator pipes that have gaps through the floor--that is bad news.

    -They are also adept climbers-so don't forget to check elevated spots that they can wedge their body into (e.g. behind books on a shelf, inside clothes on a hanger, on the upper top edge of a cabinet etc)...
    Thank you! I think I'm getting a better understanding of what he might have done

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    Re: Ball Python escape, could he have gotten out of the house?

    Quote Originally Posted by Lord Sorril View Post
    The good news is that is a ball python. A Milk Snake would have already rented a car, booked a plane ticket and be half-way back to its country by now....
    Oh that is SOOOOO true!

    Colubrids are MUCH faster- ask me how I know- My TX longnose snake had a brief excursion a few years back- in NO time at all, he was in my closet in another bedroom. (Longnose snakes are very similar to milk snakes & small king snakes.)
    Last edited by Bogertophis; 08-29-2022 at 07:45 PM.
    Rudeness is the weak man's imitation of strength.
    Eric Hoffer (1902 - 1983)

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