Heeelp! MISSING: Escaped Corn Snake!

JinxtheBP · 03-01-15, 11:11 AM

I just went to clean the enclosures and do a bit of rearranging for a new stand I got, before feeding time tonight. Finch the corn snake is gone.

She hasn't eaten in two weeks. She was very very overweight when I rescued her this summer, so she's been on a slow diet. She should be GOOOOD and hungry at this point. I'm thinking a trap of some kind might do the trick...

REALLY trying not to freak the F out. There are a BILLIONDY places she could be in my cluttered apartment. My main concern is that I have baseboard radiators that are open on the bottom. She could very easily have gone into any one of those. I think that is honestly the most likely because it is easily the warmest place in this poorly insulated Chicago apartment. It also could easily have just cooked her by now. They get very hot.

Any tips or tricks or advice or emotional support would be welcome.

-goes off to cry and continue searching-

Jim Smith · 03-01-15, 12:24 PM

First off, don't freak out too much. It has happened to many of us and I can easily relate to the feeling you must have experienced when you kept looking in different places within her cage and she just wasn't there. I had a young adult Honduran milk snake (around 3-4 feet long) escape and she spent 9 days on the lamb in my man cave. I tore the place apart and there was no sign of her. Then one evening, I heard a noise behind me and she had knocked over a board I had placed by the heating vent as she crawled along the wall. I would recommend that you find some way to restrict her access to the heating vents however. Perhaps some window screening which would allow the air flow, but keep her out. Also, consider placing a large towel in the floor perhaps with a heating pad set on low under it. This may entice her into it during the night. Other than that, just keep your eyes open and chances are she will show up where and when you least expect it. Good luck and keep us posted.

JinxtheBP · 03-01-15, 12:41 PM

My house and I are now covered in flour. I've put plastic bags along the baseboards. There are different types of "traps" in each room, baited with f/t mice. The living room has her tank with heating pad and mouse. Bedroom has a hide on top of a heating pad, plus a mouse. Office has a trash can with a mouse and a ring of flour on the hardwood floor. Kitchen has a milk jug with a mouse in it, between the wall and the back of the stove.

I also took apart one of the heaters and upon closer inspection, I don't think she could actually get inside. Underneath, yes, but I'd be able to see her. Whew.

I've dropped the temperature, hoping she'll go to one of the spots with heating pads...It's been more than two weeks since she's eaten, because I'm in the process of getting her switched to rats and she's been a bit picky. She's got to be hungry for a nice familiar mouse.

I just want to see some sign of her, even if I don't catch her yet. I'm really afraid she has somehow gotten into the walls or under the floor or downstairs to the other apartment!

This is the absolute worst.

**EL Ziggy** · 03-01-15, 01:06 PM

Hang in there Jinx. Sounds like you're doing all you can. I hope she turns up soon. Have you figured out how she escaped? Best wishes and keep us posted.

JinxtheBP · 03-01-15, 01:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EL-Ziggy

Hang in there Jinx. Sounds like you're doing all you can. I hope she turns up soon. Have you figured out how she escaped? Best wishes and keep us posted.

My best guess is that she somehow nosed her way through the lid of the tank, in spite of the fact that it has clips at each corner. If she ever makes it back in there, I'm going to have to find a better way to secure it.

toddnbecka · 03-01-15, 04:51 PM

I'm using the Tera tie down straps on my screen tops, much more secure than clips. If you order them get the 18" size for a 12" tank though, the 12" really should be a little longer for a standard aquarium IMO.
One of my new 4'+ DRMB's escaped from a 33 long with a pegboard top weighted down with bricks. He'll turn up sooner or later, I'm sure. He's in the basement somewhere, has access to food and water since the breeding mice are in open topped plastic totes and there are a number of aquariums down there too. Good luck to us both on finding the MIA's sooner...

JinxtheBP · 03-02-15, 09:27 AM

No sign of her last night. I suspect she's gone out of my apartment, with is also home to two small dogs. I live in a two flat with my gramma in the apartment below and a vacant garden apartment below that. My dad actually grew up in this building and he had snakes. He said the two times that he had escapees, my gramma found them in and around the laundry! Maybe she'll make her way there, like some kinda time honored snake pilgrimage. Lol.

I'm leaving her tank open with water and a mouse. And I put a bottle trap with a mouse in the basement, near the laundry. Keeping my fingers crossed she turns up alive at some point.

Now to clean up all the flour and feeder mice throughout the rest of the house...

Rattlehead · 03-02-15, 09:59 AM

Best of luck guys!

ManSlaughter33 · 03-02-15, 11:48 AM

<y boa got out yesterday!!!! I couldnt believe it... I found her in my video game box!! lol silly snake

dave himself · 03-02-15, 01:47 PM

Good luck and keep us posted on how you get on

toddnbecka · 03-04-15, 02:35 AM

Sigh of relief, found the wandering snake just a little while ago. He was on top of the 55 that houses a yearling pair of the same species, tail wrapped around the pole lamp beside the tank. I put him into the 75 with 2 other similar-size males, not giving him another chance to escape the 33 long. Unlike the rest, this one just won't settle down and/or settle in, also hasn't eaten anything yet, while the others have taken f/t mice twice.