Escape artist?

[Memory94]

I recently bought my noodle a new cage because the one before was starting to get cramped. I have a Kenyan sand boa and well she would try to escape her old cage but this behavior didn't start until we moved. I decided to get her a larger cage which she absolutely can't get enough exploring done in it but after about a week she started to climb up towards the top and look for an escape. Is she stressed? Bored? Hungry (I've been trying to feed her since our move, she last ate May 12th. Her food was switched from live to frozen because the town we live in doesn't sell live feeders. She just does not want to give a thawed fuzzy a chance. I've tried every week and it's about to be a month since she last ate.)
Not sure what to do.

[trailblazer295]

Snakes in general are escape artists and most if not all will try. Adult boas might not go for a screen top but it's just part of owning them.

[Memory94]

Oh okay thank you. I was worried something was wrong. It's all new behavior since the move.

[Doug 351]

Snakes in general are escape artists and most if not all will try. Adult boas might not go for a screen top but it's just part of owning them.

I hate to admit how many escapees I have had. Most were recovered. However, the smallest "chink in the armor" = escapees. My main snake of over 15 years...( who is right here)....escaped nearly a dozen times. ( This is ONE reason I don't keep hots!)

Most were when I put her in a larger enclosure, and missed the flaw. A couple of times, it was because I fell asleep with her in my lap. Once, when I was visiting a friend, and he wanted me to play guitar, and I misjudged the security of her temporary accommodations.

She STILL spends a lot of time exploring the cage she's been in for YEARS for a way out.

[Memory94]

I hate to admit how many escapees I have had. Most were recovered. However, the smallest "chink in the armor" = escapees. My main snake of over 15 years...( who is right here)....escaped nearly a dozen times. ( This is ONE reason I don't keep hots!)

Most were when I put her in a larger enclosure, and missed the flaw. A couple of times, it was because I fell asleep with her in my lap. Once, when I was visiting a friend, and he wanted me to play guitar, and I misjudged the security of her temporary accommodations.

She STILL spends a lot of time exploring the cage she's been in for YEARS for a way out.

Oh man okay. So they are just curious little noodles. I'm such a worried snake mom. Just want her happy lol

[Tiny Boidae]

I've had one of my adult male sand boas escape through the holes on the top of an exo terra cage, the ones for wires to feed through? It might've been a squeeze but it didn't stop him. I just looked over and saw that he was trying to climb down the side of his enclosure. Now, sand boas are one of the snakes where I feel confident that if I left the enclosure doors open all night, they'd still be in there but that's not something I recommend testing. Normally when my snakes do that, they're stressed and the environment isn't appropriate. I keep all of my sand boas in 18"x18"X12" exo terras and the size seems mostly appropriate. Very rarely do I see behavior like that now, although if the enclosure is too small or inappropriate I do see them trying to scale the walls, which I should emphasis is unusual for this species.

This probably isn't a hunger driven behavior. Normally sand boas are ambush predators, so a "hunting" sand boa is buried under the substrate with just its head exposed.

What's your setup like? Temperatures? How are you heating it? How big is the enclosure? How old is the snake? Pictures of your setup would help.

[Memory94]

Her cage is pretty big now. It use to be a ten gallon now its a 20 but it's longer. Her mid temp it 83. High temp 85-90 and low side 79-80

[Memory94]

Took me a while to figure out how to post a photo

[Memory94]

Comparison from old home to new home. I use a heat lamp

[TeamSlitherin]

I've never owned a snake that didn't manage to escape at least once! In fact, when I was a kid (12 or so), I had a ball python that managed to wriggle out so many times we stopped worrying and knew he'd come out of hiding when he got hungry. And he always did!

[regi375]

Probably just exploring it's new home. Just make sure any of those heavier pieces are sitting securely on the bottom of the tank. Otherwise you risk a collapse happening if she tries to bury underneath it. All of my snakes try to escape. I think it's practically required of them to attempt to do so.

[Tiny Boidae]

It looks pretty good. I will say that the substrate is way too shallow. They need at least four inches of substrate to burrow in, but they'd appreciate more as well. I'd also bump up the heating spot. Mine gets up to about 93-94 and I don't normally witness this kind of behavior, although part of it could be that she's adjusting.

[EL Ziggy]

With the proper enclosure and security protocols a snake should never escape. I know mistakes happens but it's usually due to the keeper's error. I lost a BP many years ago because I didn't have a proper lid and the books and bungy cords weren't enough. Now I'm super conscious and ALWAYS double check to make sure my enclosures are locked when I put the animals away. Batten down your hatces and your snakes will stay put. :)

[Scubadiver59]

I left one half of a ZooMed enclosure open one day, the one with my juvenile Blotched King in it. I did a spot clean and water change and got distracted--and when I came home, I found the top open!

So, I frantically started removing items and combing through the Aspen substrate that she loves to burrow into...and lo and behold I finally scooped her up in one of the last handfuls of substrate. She had me sweating there for a minute!

Now I make it a point to check all 11 enclosures before I leave in the morning and at night before going to sleep. Better safe than sorry!


With the proper enclosure and security protocols a snake should never escape. I know mistakes happens but it's usually due to the keeper's error. I lost a BP many years ago because I didn't have a proper lid and the books and bungy cords weren't enough. Now I'm super conscious and ALWAYS double check to make sure my enclosures are locked when I put the animals away. Batten down your hatces and your snakes will stay put. :)

[Memory94]

Should I get her an under tank heater? The heat lamp only does so much but last time I had a little under tank heater it would get way too hot 105 and such and I had to get rid of it.
Her sand is pretty deep you can't tell due to how the cage is but it's fair deeper than it looks and it's deeper than what it use to be from her old cage. Used a 10 lb by and a half to fill it up. She disappears in it super quick unlike before lol.
I've noticed that she likes to stay under the sand in the colder side (which she spends a lot of time at) and then above the sand or climbing the log and the warmer side.

[Tiny Boidae]

Should I get her an under tank heater? The heat lamp only does so much but last time I had a little under tank heater it would get way too hot 105 and such and I had to get rid of it.
Her sand is pretty deep you can't tell due to how the cage is but it's fair deeper than it looks and it's deeper than what it use to be from her old cage. Used a 10 lb by and a half to fill it up. She disappears in it super quick unlike before lol.
I've noticed that she likes to stay under the sand in the colder side (which she spends a lot of time at) and then above the sand or climbing the log and the warmer side.

I wouldn't use the UTH, especially with yours being an open top enclosure. I have in the past and while they survived it, they didn't thrive as well as they do now. What I use is a 100watt che hooked up to a thermostat in all of my sand boas enclosures. The thermostat is absolutely necessary. A uth doesn't do squat for ambient temperature, and so with it your sand boa will try to get as close to that heat source as it can, to the extent that I've had them get under the reptile carpet that I had as a barrier, and they'd stay there 24 hours a day. That's how burns happen, and it obviously wasn't healthy. Now they pick a cozy spot between the heat source and the cold side, usually under a water dish or cork flat or some other cover, and don't usually move much from that spot except on occasion, but I don't usually see behavior like that.

How deep exactly is the substrate? If it's shallower than four inches, it needs to be adjusted. It's like not giving a green tree python a place to perch. Sand is usually expensive and heavy and I've had problems with it getting stuck in my snakes' mouths after a feeding or a shed, so I have them on eco earth which is better in every area so long as you don't get it wet. I prefer the bag for convenience, although it's a little more expensive than the bricks.

[Memory94]

Oh okay thank you. Her sub is about 2 inches.
She's pretty active honestly. When I first got her from this person she was lethargic and didn't eat so I took her to the vet and had blood work done and turns out she was anemic and had low nutrition deficiency. I started to feed her more because the previous owner had said they fed her once a month. Now I have her eating every other week (except for recently since we moved she hasn't ate because I had to switch her from live to frozen). Ever since I started feeding her more tho and handling her she came alive. She would try climbing around or zoom in the sand. If I got her she would start exploring rather than droop around like she use to. But since the move she's been scaling her walls a lot trying to escape and hasn't ate.

[Tiny Boidae]

It sounds like you're doing right then. Again, most of her behavior can probably be linked to her just needing to adjust to the enclosure, but another two inches of substrate would probably help that. An adjusted sand boa stays buried, but I can almost always see their heads exposed.

[Memory94]

It sounds like you're doing right then. Again, most of her behavior can probably be linked to her just needing to adjust to the enclosure, but another two inches of substrate would probably help that. An adjusted sand boa stays buried, but I can almost always see their heads exposed.

Okay thank you. I'll add the rest of the sand in then I still have a half a bag hopefully that helps. Thank you