Ball Python Living in Washroom?????

[Leighton]

I have a 3 year old female ball python currently living in the wall of my washroom....
She has a normal cage and everything but I had her out the other day and she was on the floor and before i could grab her she quickly slithered into a hole in the wall of my washroom. The hole is where the toilet connects to the wall. It runs along the floor and is roughly 6 inches X 6 inches. She has now been in there for 36 hours and I feel like ive tried everything to get her out.

I've tried luring her out with a mouse by holding it with tongs just out of her reach. I was able to draw her body 8 inches out of the whole but she wouldn't come out any more. It would be very difficult to grab her because the hole is along the floor and so close to the toilet. please help!

Currently I have the heat turned off in the house and it gets pretty cold. This is in hope that she gets cold and comes out looking for warmth. I put the cave from her cage a meter from the hole, and have it set up so there is a heat lamp right beside the cave, but when i turn it on it heats the whole room eventually so it doesn't really do anything I guess.

Any ideas will be helpful, thank you!

[sarahlovesmiike]

If you have a human heating pad, one with a cover on it, I would put it underneath the hide. That way the whole room doesn't get warm. You can also try putting a live rat or mouse in a critter carrier and leaving it by the hide and sitting in one corner of the room. Read a book or something and don't jump right up when the snake starts to come out. Wait for it to come all the way out and go into the hide so you don't spook it back into the wall.

[Leighton]

If you have a human heating pad, one with a cover on it, I would put it underneath the hide. That way the whole room doesn't get warm. You can also try putting a live rat or mouse in a critter carrier and leaving it by the hide and sitting in one corner of the room. Read a book or something and don't jump right up when the snake starts to come out. Wait for it to come all the way out and go into the hide so you don't spook it back into the wall.

I have an electric blanket i think i'm going to plug in and put under the hide. She ate like right before she went into the hole so i don't know if she's hungry but i might buy a mouse and put it right behind the hide in the little cardboard boxes they come in.

[Ham]

Man that sounds terrible, can the snake crawl all over the whole house from that area of the wall? In other words is it a tiny hole it cannot progress further into? Or is it a crawlway that leads through your whole house?

If it was me, I might consider tearing the drywall off and physically searching for the snake, hopefully when she gets scared she will just ball up and you can grab her. If you do cut into the wall cut up high where the snake probably wont be, then grab ahold of the drywall sheets and just start tearing downwards with your hands rather than with tools, so as not to hurt the snake.

Good luck, I hope everything works out and you get your poor snake back safe and sound...

[OhhWatALoser]

yea drywall is easy to replace, if its an option just rip it out, just gotta put up a new piece and patch the hole she went in also, put down a little mud, sand n paint, you could have your wall looking better than before in a couple days and a safe snake.

[emiebeth]

I had this happen with a pet gerbil last year. Got into the walls and it took almost 36 hours to get him out. My dad ended up cutting a hole in the drywall and baiting him out. Good luck! If the mouse thing doesn't work, it might be a good idea to take the drywall down. It isn't too difficult (or expensive) to replace.

[Jeo123]

Any updates on if the snake came out?

[Ham]

Yes I concur, I have to know if the snake has been found and whether it is safe or not....

[Leighton]

Hey sorry its been a while , I've been busy! I ended up removing the toilet to get a better view up the hole. I put one of those cameras to watch babies in their cribs inside the hole (it had night vision so I could see in the dark). My ball python (Dora ---> I named her that after Dora the explorer because she explores constantly) occasionally came towards the edge of the hole but never came out, even after using mice to try to lure her out as well as an electric blanket under her hide (which I put in the washroom). I finally decided to rip the dry wall out by hand while checking the baby monitor to make sure she wasn't getting hurt. Finally I got to where she was at, and pulled her out safely. She's back in the cage now, and I put the toilet back in place (you can't even see the hole i made because the toilet covers it). Thanks for the help though everyone.

[Zedd]

YAY!!!!!!!!!!!! congrats!! Glad Dora is safe and back in her home!