Hey guys!! I found Auryn! And I didn't even have to do any digging!

I stopped by Home Depot on the way home from work to pick up a good LED Maglite (I didn't have a powerful flashlight at home). When I got home, I took my shoes off, crept into the kitchen and put together the flashlight. My plan of attack was to keep most of the lights off upstairs (where his tub is) and try to creep up the stairs with just the flashlight and listen for any sounds.

Well, I got halfway up the stairs when a familiar (and welcome) head became visible. Auryn had his neck and head poked about 5 inches out into the air in the stairway from between the slats in the banister, and his body was sticking out in the upstairs hallway. It was almost like he was waiting for me to get home and come up the stairs!

I got a hold of him, and popped him back in his tub. He's cold, but he looks just fine. I had to laugh. I was prepared for the worst sort of snake hunt, complete with tearing closets apart, dragging washers and driers out, and dismantling floorboard electric heating units. Auryn wasn't in the room his tub was in, he was in the hallway. The bathroom door and my bedroom door were just a few feet away and our washer/drier closet is in the same hallway I found him in (with the doors open, of course), so it could have been MUCH worse.

THANK YOU SO MUCH everyone for keeping me sane throughout my work day today. It really, really helped and I definitely need to come back around here more often