New guy= escapee!!

[Smooth23]

Today at 5pm I got into my new Eastern Milk Snake's enclosure to change his water, and he was in there. Two hours later I go to check on him and he's gone. Lid is still on straight.. granted it was not the best idea for a lid ever, but it was a temporary enclosure. Lid was just a piece of pegboard weighed down by two encyclopedias. I can't imagine he pushed it up, but apparantly he was stronger than I thought. I was in the room with my girlfriend the entire time, and neither of us saw or heard a thing. Door was open, stairs open to go downstairs.. he could be anywhere.

Any guesses? I've never had an escape before. I've looked all the warm areas, and pretty much torn the rooms upstairs apart (two bedrooms). Odds he would have headed for the stairs that fast? I'm probably more sad about this guy escaping than I would another snake having it a weekend, but this is sort of a gift from my girlfriend who found it. He's pretty small, maybe 2 foot or so, not quite big enough to handle adult mice.

[daniel1983]

Kingsnakes are masters of escape. Goodluck in searching.

Best thing is to make sure it can not get out of the room. Snakes usually do not travel far from their enclosure but you want to make your search area as small as possible.

I would check the dark places, higher places, and tight places. Snakes will usually travel along the wall before coming out into open space so follow the wall

Turn the lights off in the room, check on the room every 15 minutes or so, and see if you can 'bust it' moving across the floor.

Those only work if you luck out though Best bet is to sort through everything in the room.

If all else fails, painter's tape. This can be dangerous for the snake but it has worked for me in the past. Strech out a couple lengths of thin painter's tape across the floor...sticky side up. Make sure both ends are held firmly or you will end up with a mess. Then wait it out and check the room every hour or so. Even painter's tape can be a pain to remove from a snake, so make sure you pull 'with the scales' not 'against the scales'.....and keep a container of olive oil(or similar) around to put on the tape once it gets peeled off....or it will end up stuck twice. REMEMBER....this can be dangerous for the snake....so it is only a last resort.

[fauxsanity]

Has anybody acually pulled the scales off a snake with tape? I heard that before but I'd think they'd be tougher than nails there as they're crawling around rocks and such..go barefoot for the summer and see how tough your feet bottom get...LOL

[dr del]

Yeah - it happens,

The scales are tough - the skin between them - notsomuch.

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dr del

[Neal]

I know my colubrid sometimes hides on the black part that the top sits on. I can't think of what its called, you got the pieces of glass, then you have the black thing that sits on top, so a screen top or something can sit on? My RBS will sometimes wedge himself up there. I just figure i'd offer some insight.

[daniel1983]

Tape can kill a snake. I said it was dangerous and should only be used as a last resort.

Most instances of tape 'accidents' causing severe problems involve duct tape. If you resort to ' tape trapping' a snake I recommend some tape with less adhesion like painters tape. Even with painters tape problems can occur so extreme care is necessary.

[win1975]

When my albino king got out, I thought it was anywhere in the house she is about 15 inches long. I looked everywhere for her and could not find it thought it was anywhere. If there is a small opening they like to stick their head down it and go. My vents in the floor was my first thought, until my wife saw about 1 inch of her tail sticking out the carpet. She had wedged herself between the wall and underneath the carpet. she was a lil stuck between the carpet strip (nail stripunder carpet) and the wall. I had to pull the carpet up to get her out. So unless u have hardwood floors you may want to check there.