Bad Accident and Warning re. No Loops in Enclosure

[Patricia]

I was awakened at 7am by strange scuffling sounds. Went to check on Patriot to find the light bowl hide upside down and his heavy tree hide moving. Was afraid that he was trapped under it, so I dove in.

Discovered that he had gotten trapped in a loop in the decoration foliage. Thankfully, in my scrapbooking tools is a very sharp, pointy scissor, small enough to slide under the loop and cut through it. (Yes, I was trembling/sweating by that time, terrified of slipping and drawing blood.)

Throughout my few minutes of fumbling, he never once tried to bite or lunge at me. I've been touching his head these last couple of weeks so as to get him used to having our hands there JUST IN CASE it might ever be necessary. That might have paid off today.

I don't know how long he'd been trapped. The garland of foliage was a bunched, tangled heap. He seems OK, but has a dent in him where the ring was, which I hope will fix itself. Thankfully, it was away from his lungs. He's curled up in his warm hide now.

Perhaps this is obvious, but I hadn't seen mention of it anywhere before, so let me put this warning out to anyone else who might buy the same mistake I did: If putting fake plants in your tank/tub, make sure they aren't connected by a chain as mine was.

[adamjeffery]

fancy cages are nice and all but i have found that it only complicates every aspect of keeping snakes. theyll trash it ,eat it, poop in it, get stuck in it, under it and through it. its harder to clean (especially if you ever have to treat for mites,thank god its been a few years) and eventually it wont even look good anymore. imho get rid of it and go to a more sterile look.
adam jeffery

[CritterVet]

Awww, poor guy! He was probably exhausted from all the struggling.

Adam, I have found the same thing to be true with aquatic turtles and with goldfish. Gravel + goldfish or turtles = amazing bacterial growth! Bare bottom or scattered river rocks is the way to go. Goldfish and turtles also love to get trapped and hurt themselves (or drown ) or eat non-food items just because they fit in their mouths.

[Patricia]

148 views but only 2 posts???

Well, he seems fine, thank goodness, out cruising last night as per usual. I went back to the stores to look for a leaf replacement and noticed that most of them are that chain variety. Ugh!

[JLC]

Very glad to hear he's ok, Patricia! It's amazing what kind of trouble these quiet little guys can get into!

[bad-one]

Awww, well at least he is doing good!

You could go through and put a cut through each loop so he won't get stuck again (but that would be tedious).

[rabernet]

We've had that happen to a few other keepers before who also posted warnings about this. Also, the same thing with the Acurite stand - never prop that up with the stand, they can squeeze into that loop as well, and that is hard plastic.

Instead, close the stand and velcro the Acurite to the inside of the tank.

Always, always check for loops in plastic foilage that you decide to use. Glad to hear that Patriot is ok!

[Boanerges]

Sorry that happened to him but I am glad to hear he is okay!!!

[Elise.m]

Glad he's ok! I have fake leaves in Snickets' tank, but there are no loops in them. It's always good to repost warnings since this forum has so many new members joining all the time!

[aarondm]

I'm surprised that you took the time to take the picture.... I wouldn't even of thought to find the camera.... Glad he's doin better