Our Beloved BEL - Helena

[JRLongton]

We have had one mishap with little Helena.

I check all the snakes several times daily to see if there's any fresh feces, but if I don't see the snakes themselves, that's a good thing, they should be hiding. So, about two weeks ago, I thought nothing of not seeing Helena right away at feeding time. But I know where she likes to hide! I gently lift out her RBI small hide and ... she's not there. OK, then it's the paper towel tube. I lift it, light as a feather, no snake. Uh-huh, so she found a new hiding spot. She's in a 2x3x1 Reptile Basics PVC, so there is a lot of places she could be. One by one, I start removing all the cover, hides, water bowel, and in utter desperation remove the newspaper substrate. No little white snake, in a black PVC enclosure. Now I freak. Where is she! How did she get out!

Then I see it, a little white reflection on the ceiling of the enclosure. I grab my handy flashlight (an underrated snake keepers tool) and see her there, wedged between the top of the RHP and the ceiling.

The RHP had warped from the heat and created enough of a gap for a small white snake to crawl up and in. I wasn't so much relieved to find her as terrified that she had cooked herself! I grabbed a screw driver and carefully took down the panel so I could grab a very warm but very much alive Helena.

I left the amateur Houdini with my daughter as I grabbed about 30 screws to re-affixed the panel with a strong dose of overkill.

All my panels are from Pro-Products, except this one that warped. I thought I'd try something new. Won't make that mistake again.