Ari escaped!

[flyingsqueak]

About five hours ago I realized that Ari had gotten out.

I just moved her to a 40 gallon tank a few days ago and had to custom make a top for it. I thought that it fit so snuggly that Ari couldn't push it up, apparently not. She's still pretty small, only about 500 grams.

We've searched the apartment and cannot find her anywhere. Unfortunately it's a loft apartment, there's no way to separate rooms or even closets. Even worse, my roommates are super messy so there are tons of hiding spaces everywhere.

And there's a cat. I know the cat hasn't harmed Ari since the cat is white.

I've set up a warm hide and put a f/t rat in it for her.

Is there anything else I can do? Anywhere special to look that people have had luck finding missing ball pythons?

I'm well aware that she'll most likely just show up in two weeks looking at me like, "Hey! Where's my rat?" but my roommate is freaking out and expecting to find her today.

[pigfat]

I found mine in the bathroom...why I have no idea. Look for places that attract heat like tv's, vcr's etc. the warm hide and mouse is a good idea. You may put baby powder along doorways to see if he has moved from one place to another.

[heathers*bps]

Definitely dark warm places. The hide was a good idea and so is the baby powder.

[mattchibi]

Ive heard of my friends ball python escaping from the top floor of his house to the basement and getting into a subwoofer speaker. I would literally check anywhere he would fit in, starting in the smallest places and the warmest. If you have any reclining couches, dont recline those in case hes under the cushions. I wouldnt use any applicances that could hurt him for the time being. Check under the fridge, theres a warm spot under there Ive heard of ball pythons hiding. Check under all of your furniture too. Good luck keep us posted

[loonunit]

I really swear by the baby powder trick. Sprinkle some in all the corners and going in and out of the closets. You can also try the pennies trick, but I think with a cat around you'll have an easier time with the baby powder.

And just keep looking. Ball pythons don't move in a way that really triggers the prey instinct of other pets. But I have dogs, and we all know cats ain't dogs, so it's better to locate her and get her safely back in her tank rather than worry about the possibility.

[flyingsqueak]

Found her!

Well, actually Jack the cat found her. Luckily Jack is extremely mellow, so it seems as though no harm has been done. Ari won't get out of a boot, so I can't check her out completely, but what's exposed seems normal and I can't see any blood anywhere (and Jack's white, so if there was an incident there would definitely be evidence).

She was hiding in a boot in a closet. I have no idea how I didn't find her earlier since I checked the boots. Maybe she was hiding elsewhere in the closet, came out once it was dark, and then got scared into the boot by Jack. Who knows.

[pigfat]

That's great!!!! Glad to hear you found him! Now fix that top so it doesn't happen again! I was so paranoid I went and bought a new tank with a top that slides in the side lol.

[rivunel]

the little metal clips you can buy at petco for like 3 dollars work really well for keeping bp's from getting out and they are simple to take off. i learned as a small child there really isn't an amount of weight you can put on top of the cage to stop the snake from escaping 50 pounds of weights on top didn't stop my ball python from escaping when i was a little a kid.

[RichL]

Glad you found her ! Yeah those clips work really well for screen tops. They only come in packs of two, so I would suggest at least 2 packs to be safe imo.

[xFenrir]

Never underestimate a snake's escape ability. My RTB Houdini-ed out of a closed tub with TWO cinderblocks on it. Found her under my not-so-mini mini-fridge. To this day we have NO idea how she could have done it.