No longer MIA----

[sweety314]

....but rather RIP... Aaaaaaaaaaargh!

*(%%&%&%&*($(#$( Kaa!!! He just HAD to pop off ALL SIX of his binder clips from the tub, only days before we were to move.

I tried the rat in a cage to entice, looking thru all the boxes as we were packing and moving, and when we found a hole in the wall of my bedroom, when the house was TOTALLY empty, I got permission to open up the hole bigger. Using a mirror and flashlight, saw that btwn the studs was empty. Cooling the house after moving and during cleaning but leaving a room warm, didn't yield any possitive results.

We moved the stove and the fridge multiple times, and still no Kaa. Emptied the pan drawer, looked in the condensor coils, and STILL no Kaa.

3 weeks after moving out, I got a call from the landlord/owner. They "found" him by the smell.

I didn't think of taking pics (as a search aid, etc.) until a couple of days later, but Kaa managed to get up INTO the top of the stove (thru the back) < I think he crawled along the "pigtail" of the power cord > and was curled up in the wiring of the control knobs themselves. He had to have gotten up in there after we emptied (but from WHERE I don't know!) the house and turned the heat off. Since I was no longer cooking, I don't know how long he had been expired, but the Sunday or Monday prev. to my getting the phone call, the new renter had baked a pizza and said the odor got VERY strong.

By estimation and speculation, we figure he died probably a week, maybe two before we "found" him. To be able to get him out, I had to take the ENTIRE top section off, all of the different backing plates, and pull all of the different pieces of wiring panel sections apart. His head was up in the knob wiring, his body was curled up and stretched out along the "ledge" and he was double up in the hole where the pigtail goes up into the wiring. About 8-10" of his tail was in a different section from the rest of him from where he was all stretched to try and fit w/part of him curled up. (Plus...being deceased for whatever length of time.....he was sort of squishy! ICK! ).

Didn't even DAWN on me during the earlier searches, to try and take the backing plates and sections of the stove OFF. I'm not small appliance repair inclined, and didn't realize how a stove was put together. Now that I know what the back looks like, and the wiring, lamps, controls, I'll know how to search. (NOT that this will happen again! )

Was cleaning EVERYTHING with the chlorohexadine, and F was going to just outgas the stove, but then I got thinking.......b/c of the burn site on Kaa, and how he was stretched along the wires, there MAY have been some scorched/melted wiring. I'd hate to go to the trouble of cleaning, and then have a spark and fire somewhere down the road when the later renters were baking or cooking. *sigh* Soooooooo, buying a "new" used stove used up my deposit $$ I was supposed to get refunded. ......... But all part of the responsible pet ownership, right??..........I'm just soooo glad that F was so understanding about the whole thing.

But damn! Kaa was worth $500 PLUS the growth and my future plans for him!!!! Waaaaaaaaah!

[MeMe]

That is just aweful! I am sorry to hear about Kaa.

My albino corn got out once and we could NOT find him and my daughter was so upset being that it was her snake. I searched her whole room and just could not find him anywhere. Just when I thought it was a total loss....I thought I would check a few more things in her room again. There is this piggy bank in her room and there is a plug in it but on one of the feet it had a small hole. Just enough room for a little guy to get into! I picked it up and sure enough he was all coiled up in it! I was so happy! But gosh I just KNOW how lucky we were to have found him!

[Blu Mongoose]

Sorry about Kaa. Not the ending anyone wants to hear. I would have never thought to look that closely on an appliance either. Very sorry for your loss.

[sweety314]

Thx Blu....


Nope not the ending I wanted or hoped for, but at least NOW I know what happened (or more accurately, where he ended up).

I almost didn't post, but then I (obviously) didn't think to strip the stove down to its parts. Maybe if I had, I would have found him and this could have been avoided. This way, others can learn from my mistake and will know of another place to look should their snake ever escape.



R

[sweety314]

Thx MeMe,


Kaa was definitely bigger than a baby corn, but I'm glad to hear you were able to find YOUR little escape artist, all safely curled up!!!

Thx for the hug.


I feel bad, but I wasn't really "attached" to him like I am Apollo or Precious..or one of the others. I just wished I could have found him sooner and had him be HEALTHY but thin or cold......NOT dead.

[slartibartfast]

Aww, that's horrible. :-(

I'm sorry you didn't have a better outcome.

[sweety314]

Thx Jess. At least now I'll have another place to look should one escape again. Sort of like work. I've scrapped lots, but never for the same reason twice. Now that this has happened, it won't happen this way again...I won't let it.

[JLC]

Awww RuLyn....that's terrible! I'm really sorry it all turned out that way. That was very brave of you to post your story so others can learn from it and have a new tool in searching for lost snakes.

[Sausage]

Wow, how terrible. Very sorry to hear about this. Poor Kaa.

[Holbeird]

Sorry to hear about this sending you good non-escaping snake vibes!