Escape at school!

[Talae]

My classroom BP escaped! Apparently, a student attempted to open the tank and left it unclipped on one side yesterday after school without me present. I know which student. When I went in this morning, Fibonacci was gone and the lid was up on one side.

He is almost a year old and about 425g. The gap in the bottom of my door is less than a half inch and there is also a hole slightly larger than a quarter under the sink cabinet in my room. The is no way to access the toe kick without taking apart the cabinetry (not an option). Also, my classroom is on the second floor.

I moved his tank to the floor and left the lid off with a rat in it and did the same with a secondary tank in the adjoining classroom in hopes of him coming out, smelling food, eating and getting tired enough for me to find him in the morning.

Maintenance on campus has some sort of expensive heat-sensing camera that can differentiate between about of a tenth of a degree. You think this would work or are snake body temps too similar to the surrounding environment?

Any other ideas on how to get him back? Do you think he could fit under the door and get to the hallway? What about going down the stairs? Thanks in advance.

I am freaking out and will continue to do so until he is back and safe.

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[Capray]

Any chance the student stole him??
Ask all the other staff etc about the building sructue of the school. make sure all doors are closed. He should be anywhere dark,cramped and warm.
You might be able to see him with a heat sensing camera...
Be sure to have a long stern conversation with the class about NOT TOUCHING THE ENCLOSURE tommorow.

[LotusCorvus]

Setting up the tanks like you did is a good plan. Snakes, especially balls, don't usually wander too far when they get out. Would the janitors mind if you left some flour on the floor of your classroom overnight in case he's on the move? You can also ask the students to just keep an eye out in the classroom, as long as none of them will freak out about it. He probably won't come out during the day when there's so much noise though.

My girl's gotten loose a couple times in my hoarder-mom's basement (my walls are made of sheets, lol, not exactly snake-proof), and even she's come wandering back after a few days, I just kept a water dish near the space heater, both times I found her just hanging out and getting a drink.

[BWyant]

My girl's gotten loose a couple times in my hoarder-mom's basement (my walls are made of sheets, lol, not exactly snake-proof), and even she's come wandering back after a few days, I just kept a water dish near the space heater, both times I found her just hanging out and getting a drink.

That sounds like a pretty good idea. A snake has to have heat and water at some point, right? Unless they find it somewhere else on their adventure, they might as well go to the nearest available source, which you can leave out.

[Talae]

No luck on the rats. They were still there when I got there this morning. I may try out the flour thing and just bring a vacuum. Maybe I can sneak in this weekend...

[martin82531]

Any luck with the heat-sensing camera?

[Talae]

No luck with the camera, but we only got to use it for about a half hour and in limited locations. I think I am stuck with constant checking of warm places (fridge, copier, people's mini fridges, behind computers, etc.) and likely will be for some time due to the large area. I hope he finds his way back...

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[Hoolym]

Don't give up hope. My Monty was missing for two months. We looked EVERWHERE. While I know snakes can go quite a while without food, he was only about 160g so he didn't have much reserves to go on.

Two days after taking in a re-home BP, Monty appeared. Literally just appeared. Walked into the front room and he was sitting smack dab in the middle of the floor. I actually thought it was a rubber snake at first!

He was so so skinny and covered in dust bunnies but he was fine. He clearly hadn't found anything to eat on his own. We had kept a bowl of water down on the floor the whole time, that may have been what kept him alive and what kept him from wandering too far away.

[snake8myelbo]

A school is a large place to search! I suggest putting a team of 4-5 ppl together and sweep the school and look everywhere! I am so careful not to turn any snakes loose. If I do I always find them because I look everywhere. But if someone stole him or he escaped out the hole. He is gone! I.suggest the sliding top reptile Aquarium. You can lock the top as well.

[MarkieJ]

I'm a teacher as well, and have lost 2 snakes due to improperly closed cages (either myself or a student). My science classroom is connected with 3 other classrooms, and a huge lab storage room, so a search is near impossible. Only advice I can give you is that if there is no way it can escape your building, it WILL turn up, whether in your classroom or another teacher's. I lost my ball python for 2 months before another teacher came running and screaming to me that there was a huge snake in one of her drawers. I also lost a rosy boa for nearly a year, before another teacher came running to me freaked out about a snake she found in her classroom.

Just let everyone know that you lost your snake, and besides some frazzled nerves, it'll turn up eventually.