Quote Originally Posted by BWyant View Post
In a word - yes.

The snake more to the cat though. I think most cats get the idea that they don't want to fudge around with a snake relatively quickly once they realize what they're dealing with. The snake, however, ain't gonna' mess with the cat unless it feels threatened. So, as long as you've got relatively smart cats, you should be OK. But, I guess if you hear a panicked cat, you'll have found the snake.... That's not funny, I'm sorry.
Not so much, the snake can't hurt the cat... But the cat can very easily kill the snake.

To the OP try to confine the cats to a single room (and make sure that the snake isn't in said room) keep all doors shut in an effort to keep the snake where it is, then systematically search room by room.