It's 3:30 am in the morning and I was just rudely woken by a massive crash at 3:00am. It was three of my expensive and rare model horses crashing onto my old glass tank and my bike rack at the bottom of the 7 foot bookshelves. Entwined within Smarty Jones hooves was my ~1300 gram, nearly two year old male ball python Virgil.

Calmly I took him and the horse and coaxed him out through the legs, relieved that he didn't seem injured. But I'm concerned. It appears he may have hit the bike rack on the way down. Although the model horse shows no signs of damage (and a 7 foot drop onto a tank and bike rack is more than enough to break a Breyer), I am concerned that Virgil may have taken on more invisible damage than the horse.

Virgil's an idiot and even when I found him seconds after the fall he wasn't balled up, just tensely lying there. Extraction was fairly easy, as it wasn't hard to encourage him to slither out from between the legs. Once he was out, he immediately tried to slowly slither away, tongue going, just as if he was out and about like usual. I wish snakes showed emotions better, but he wasn't balling, and didn't seem tender. However, despite his lack of reaction, I am still concerned about the possibility of broken bones. Should I take him to the vet? I do not know if they are open on Sunday, but I know I could get the day off of work for an emergency. Should I just wait and see how he reacts in the following days?

For now, I've taped up his tank, but I'm scared this could happen again. I'm really lucky that he's an adventurous boy and slithered out of my living room, down the hall, into my messy room, somehow got on top of my 7 foot bookcase, and woke me up. He could have easily hidden in the living room couch and gotten permanently stuck. Or, the cat could have gotten him, who was only a few feet away when I found Virgil on the floor. Thankfully it appears even when I am asleep, Batman is still afraid that if he messes with Virgil he'll get a spray of vinegar.

I have a Animal Plastics T8 tank that I bought sometime around February. It does not have a lock on it, because I didn't think I would need one for a ball python. There was just a large enough crack pushed open through one of the doors for Virgil to get through. I'm not sure how he got out, but I have theories. He likes to place his body against an object when adventuring, and I think his scales may have repeatedly rubbed and stuck to the glass just enough for him to open up a crack to put his nose in. My other idea is that there was bedding slightly accumulated in the corners of the door tracks, and maybe they didn't close all the way, allowing Virgil to wiggle his nose into the space between the tank frame and the door and wedge it open. I have seen him in the past stick his head repeatedly in the crack between the door and the edge of the tank frame, so it wouldn't be out of character. Last theory, the least likely theory because I'm paranoid and generally a very careful person, was that I somehow didn't close the tank all the way. But I listen for the "thunk" as the glass hits the edge of the tank when I close the doors, so I find this unlikely. Still, there is a possibility for everything.

I taped the doors shut heavily, and there's no way he can get out again, but I'm concerned about using tape to hold the enclosure closed because I've been told a million times not to use tape around snakes. I'm just not sure what else to do for now.

I'm going to call Bob at Animal Plastics Monday and ask for his advice, but I also wondered what you guys think. Has anyone ever heard of a ball escaping from a T8? Should I take him to the vet? What actions might you suggest I take?