The Great Escape

[The Golem]

Sunday night I let Mr Burrows 'escape' from the vivarium again. I watched him traverse down the table and along the wall, as before. He's curious and seems to fearlessly explore every dark nook and cranny. Then I made the mistake of taking eyes off him for a few minutes and...he was not where I expected him to be.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jxz1pVM6R8I

In fact, he was not anywhere!
Checked all the places he'd been before, and others, and I just could not find him. But I figured he had to be somewhere in the living room of my little apartment.

Then Monday after work I took apart the living room trying to find him but the little guy had vanished! Checked the closets, book cases...no where to be found. I decided to close all the doors so wherever he was, he couldn't get into another room.
Tuesday after work I deduced that if he's not in the living room kitchen bathroom or closets, maybe he made it all the way into my bedroom. So I looked around and didn't see him but found some fresh poop behind the laundry basket. AHA! But still couldn't find him.
Turned off the light, left the room and closed door, hoping he'd get active and move around and I could check in a while for signs of movement or activity. After around 10 minutes there was a crash and I went in and finally found him; he'd tried climbing up something that fell over!
CRISIS AVERTED and lesson learned LOL.

Held him for a few minutes, he felt really cold - and dry. Then I held him outside enclosure and he voluntarily climbed back in. After letting him get comfortable for 1/2 hour or so and putting fresh water in bowl, offered him a f/t rat which he struck right away and ate without a problem.

Then this morning I changed the water as per usual schedule and he unexpectedly came out of his hide and went straight to the bowl to get a drink, had never seen this before.

Every day there's something exciting and interesting for a new BP owner!

[George1994]

At least you got him back! Since getting my first one, I have never taken my eyes off of the fella when he is out and about. They can be quite quick when they want to be, and even looking away for 30 seconds of so they can get under a sofa or some cabinets etc. Must have been quite the relief when you finally found him eh haha

[somnambulant]

Hahaha! Glad you found him.

My husband left one of our young BP's tub cracked open too much (he didn't push it all the way back into the rack) and he got out. Both times we found him curled up on the top of a rat rack.

When I was in college, my roommate's ball python escaped (she didn't have a locking lid and didn't bother putting anything on top of it to keep him from getting out) and he was gone for about 3 days! We were looking eeeeverywhere, especially since she wasn't even allowed to have him. Finally we kind of gave up, and then when she was getting ready for class, she found him in her makeup case.

[Sirensong26]

Sometimes what I do, if my roommates are home and can keep an eye on him, I'll leave Nagini on the coffee table while I run upstairs for something, or do up my dinner dishes. I went back into the family room with dessert and a glass of water and Nagini was nowhere on the table. Seeing my panicked face, my best friend pointed and said "I have kept an eye on him. Have you ever seen him climb down from the coffee table?" Well I hadn't and suffice to say I was more than surprised to see how agile they are at climbing. For a non arboreal species.

[The Golem]

Yes, they can climb when they want to. Seems like, if the head can reach a raised area he can pull himself up.
Also, while being watched my BP will be slow or motionless but I've seen him move unexpectedly fast along the parquet floor.

I don't want to confine him to the enclosure forever since he enjoys exploring, and will figure out a way to "snake proof" the living room so he can only wander in that area without getting into other rooms. Also now know to keep an eye on him whenever he's out and about!

[The Golem]

Last night I let Mr Burrows out again while I cleaned tank & decor and changed substrate.
But this time I kept an eye on him and found out that there's space between radiator pipe and wall that he can squeeze through to get from living room into bedroom.

I only have the one snake, think of him as a pet, and don't have the heart to confine him to a tiny enclosure for his entire life, but of course I don't want to have him disappear! I can plug that hole so he stays in the living room but even this area is pretty small and restricted, so I'm trying to think of some way to create a play area or some type of maze that he could crawl through and could be changed periodically.

Has anyone else done anything like that or am I as usual overthinking things.

[George1994]

Last night I let Mr Burrows out again while I cleaned tank & decor and changed substrate.
But this time I kept an eye on him and found out that there's space between radiator pipe and wall that he can squeeze through to get from living room into bedroom.

I only have the one snake, think of him as a pet, and don't have the heart to confine him to a tiny enclosure for his entire life, but of course I don't want to have him disappear! I can plug that hole so he stays in the living room but even this area is pretty small and restricted, so I'm trying to think of some way to create a play area or some type of maze that he could crawl through and could be changed periodically.

Has anyone else done anything like that or am I as usual overthinking things.

These snakes don't particularly want to have a play area. They are perfectly happy sitting in their hides all day, and getting fed once a week. They don't have the capability to understand that you have taken them out to 'play' or 'enjoy the space'. I always try to explain this to my dad, who thinks that they should be out more.

[The Golem]

These snakes don't particularly want to have a play area. They are perfectly happy sitting in their hides all day, and getting fed once a week. They don't have the capability to understand that you have taken them out to 'play' or 'enjoy the space'. I always try to explain this to my dad, who thinks that they should be out more.

Yes I've read that some people think they like to be kept in a small opaque plastic bin and have a rat tossed in once a week. But they can move pretty quickly and I agree with dad - they really want to explore every dark nook and cranny they can get to so based on actual behaviour they do want to get out and move around.
They're in hides all day because they're nocturnal! If they were really "perfectly happy" in a tiny space we wouldn't need lid locks - they are famous as "escape artists" because it is in their nature to explore and move around a lot.
Also my snake is learning - he lowers himself off the table faster and travels his 'escape route' a lot quicker now than the first couple of times I let him roam.

Will try to set up webcam and record some of our 'play time' soon

[George1994]

Well that is your perogative, but you contradict yourself. You said they want to wander around and search, yet it took you a few days to find it when it got out. If it was searching and finding places to go all the time, youd of spotted it sooner. 90% of the time ot was out, I would put good money on him being sat in 2 or 3 places and not moving. Just my 2 cents man. Each to their own, if he doesn't seem stressed and feeds well ect, then crack on.

[The Golem]

Well that is your perogative, but you contradict yourself. You said they want to wander around and search, yet it took you a few days to find it when it got out. If it was searching and finding places to go all the time, youd of spotted it sooner. 90% of the time ot was out, I would put good money on him being sat in 2 or 3 places and not moving. Just my 2 cents man. Each to their own, if he doesn't seem stressed and feeds well ect, then crack on.

No contradiction.
It took 2 days because I didn't expect the snake to find a hole in the wall with enough space between radiator pipe and wall so that he could crawl into another room! I wasn't even looking in bedroom until I was unable to find him in the living room.

Had him out for a couple of hours last night, had a lot of fun. I've blocked the bottom of the rad so he can't go there again but he still likes to move around and check things out.

We did some couch surfing


I handled him so he decided to return the favour



Gave me a neck massage



Head scratcher



He wrapped around my arm like this for a good 5 minutes. Just hangin' around



And the descent



When I took him back to enclosure he wouldn't put his head in so I returned to couch and let him tool around on it and on the floor around it for another half hour before finally picking him up and putting him away for the night. He got a good workout LOL.
And he's now up to almost 400 grams, visibly bigger and an increase of 70+ grams in a little over a month.