Biggest Husbandry Mistake?

[Bogertophis]

Like Craig, I've been around snakes for longer than there were snake forums, and here's my most memorable blooper that took place "way back when" the
footprints of the dinosaurs had only just cooled off.

A good-sized (3'+) wild-caught native snake was turned over to me & was very restless in the temporary tank I fixed up for him until I could return him to the wild.
I couldn't blame him...he'd never been in a house, much less a cage with glass walls...he spent all night pushing the substrate around trying to leave, & spilling his
water bowl in the process...what a mess! So I cleaned up his cage all over again, this time using some old masking tape to hold the layered paper towels (substrate)
in place, folding them & attaching them to the glass about 3" up on all sides & feeling very clever. He wouldn't be uncovering the UTH again THIS night...

Much! By the next morning he managed to (1) slide against the sides, causing the semi-sticky masking tape to let go of the paper towels in favor of his own neck,
(2) then he managed to lay over the UTH just long enough to "hot-glue" the tape to his scales, and (3) while not choking, was VERY indignant for being stuck in a
"neck-tie" he couldn't remove. Oops! Come to think of it, I don't much care for formal attire either.

So the one thing I haven't yet mentioned is that this was a rattlesnake, making the tape removal SO much more complicated, even with my long non-locking hemo-
stats. But I did finally get the tape off his neck, apologized profusely for being such a silly human (he didn't hear a word of it anyway), & got him fed, watered & re-
located within a week. And this is why we keep saying "NO tape or sticky stuff in snake cages! Ever!" It's amazing what snakes can do with the stuff, they're
so very creative.