Learn from my tragic mistake!

[Mike Cavanaugh]

I use my basic grow up setup mentioned in this thread:
http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...ad.php?t=70923
I have been using this setup for a long time, and have LOTS of ASF's all the time. As you can see by the pics, these are HUGE tubs. I successfully store up to 80 female grow ups, or 65 male grow ups in each one.

I have never had any chew outs because there is NOTHING for them to get a tooth on. The only holes they can even remotely reach is the holes for the water bottles (I now have 2 water bottles for each tub). But they still can't get to those holes enough to chew...

I keep my ASF's in my attached garage. The garage is so PACKED with crap that there is only a narrow walkway down the middle of it.

This morning I am sleeping peacfully when my 11 year old storms into the bedroom and screams at the top of his lungs "rats are on the loose" I almost puked. I jumped out of bed and ran to the garage. Very first thing I noticed was the water bottles sitting on the table.

I HAD FORGOTTEN TO PUT THE WATER BOTTLES BACK IN ONE OF THE TUBS LAST NIGHT!!!!


they had chewed both of those little water bottle holes to about 2 inches in diameter, and every single rat was gone.

YEP. that means there were 65 large male ASF's running free in my garage and house...




So far I got (killed) 32 of them. Almost all of them were in the garage, but a couple in the house.

Bottom line folks, This could have all been avoided... I thought of the solution months ago but never did it... all I have to do is hot glue some big washers around those holes... that way if you ever forget to put the water bottle back on, all there teeth will find is the washer.... I thought of it but figured it was a waste of time cause they couldn't get to those holes. I forgot to account for the possibility of human error.

To head off some of the questions that will certainly come up...

1.) How do you catch 60 rats loose in a garage packed full of crap? I will give you a hint, it is not animal friendly traps. It is 20 high quality plastic snap traps, and a BB gun, and good aim. So far 12 were snapped by the traps.... 20 were shot. Just set up all 20 traps again, so hopefully they will all be full in the morning.


2.) Why didn't I try to catch them so I can feed them off, or to let them live another day? Will I use the dead ones as food? Hah! you try having 60 rats loose in your house at once! I also have a strict rule. If an animal spends even a short amount of time running free, exposing itself to household chemicals, it is no longer safe to feed to my very expensive snake collection.

Heard at least two more traps snap while I was typing this so back to work... 32 down, 33 to go.

[nwheat]

Ooohh nooooo! I hope you get them all quickly!

[wolfy-hound]

Oh no!! I was furious when I had ONE get loose. I ended up getting it with a pitcher half full of water. It got thirsty, got in, but couldn't get out. Swam until I found him too. If you have lingerers, you might try a few buckets half full of water.

[Mike Cavanaugh]

48 down, 17 to go.

[Wh00h0069]

Very sorry to hear about that. I have also had escapes, but luckily only one at a time, so they were easy to find.

Good luck with finding the rest!

[twh]

well at least they were all males,no litters to be concerned about.thanks for the heads up.

[llovelace]

I'll be sure to put washers at the top of my shopping list, good luck with the rest of the escapees.

[Beardedragon]

That sucks Mike! I had the same thing happen to a smaller extream, all my feeders got out ( Around 30 asfs) and this was in my reptile room I set out sticky traps ( Which dont work with asfs...) but spring traps ( Left over night only) and 18in hemos did the trick Your lucky you can use your BB gun... im to afraid of what my pellet gun would do to the hardwood floor or me or the reptiles if I got it out. Good luck with the rest!

[JLC]

Ouch, Mike! That sucks! Good luck catching the rest. I've only ever had rats/mice escape one at a time...and still felt panic! I can't imagine how I'd freak out if I lost an entire huge tub of them! I don't blame you for taking the action you've taken. You gotta do whatever it takes to protect your home.

[anatess]

Golly! This is crazy! I would go psycho if this ever happens in my house. Okay, #14 on grocery list - washers.