HELP! livvy's Corn Snake Has ESCAPED!!

[Kurovski]

Election Reform Forum's livvy is facing a crisis not seen since Eve in Eden! Any suggestions how she can snatch her snake back? Is there a herpetologist in the house?

And while you're there, you can read about the shakes-in-the-grass messing with our elections. So you'd better recommend the thread.

("you'd better" is bitter-people talk for "please".)

Thank you, DUer's :loveya:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x500764

[EFerrari]

1. I think I saw it here:

:scared:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x5579556

[scarletwoman]

2. Depends on the size of the snake. I once lost my boa constrictor -- who was just under 5 feet long

at the time -- for almost 2 weeks. I finally noticed one day that the books on the very top shelf of my floor-to-ceiling bricks-and-boards bookcase were pushed out and crooked.

There he was, my Renaissance Fair dancing partner (I'd had to borrow a python to perform with while my boa was AWOL), stretched out full-length against the wall hidden behind the books. I figured he'd headed for a high up location for the heat (since heat rises, and my dear boa was a physicist, of course).

I think corn snakes are generally much smaller, however. That's going to make it much harder to find. Snakes are definitely disinclined to come out of hiding; there's really no way to lure them since they can go weeks without eating.

And they are much too cold-blooded to care that you love them and miss them and wish they'd come back to your arms.

The only suggestion I can offer is, don't neglect to look UP. A snake is probably going to seek out a warm spot to hide out in.

sw
(Old Snake Goddess, not an actual herptologist.)

[WildClarySage]

3. Corns are notorious Houdini's and can sneak out of almost any enclosure.

And sadly, once out they usually stay out. They're just so small and can get through any cracks to the outside of the home. Your best bet is to place a heating rock with a mousysnack nearby close to the cage and hope he/she hasn't been gone long enough to get too far. Then stakeout the rock and wait patiently.

I have a lovely ghost corn called Scout. He's a sneaker and we finally found a sneak-proof enclosure for him... but sadly we lost two snow corns to faulty-designed habitats.

[livvy]

7. My mousie supply is housed next to her aquarium.

I left the lid of the tank up with the heat lamp still on. Maybe I should chill out the house so she'll come out looking for some heat?

As of last night she wasn't hungry. I gave her a mouse, but she wasn't interested. I bet when I took the mouse back out I didn't snap down the lid tight enough.

She is always more active at night, mostly snoozes all day. I think my best chance of finding her is tonight, after she sleeps off last night's adventure.

Thanks for the tips!

[yellowcanine]

4. Get a trap and bait it with corn?

[HereSince1628]

5. Snakes like places that are warm and protected.

It's just a matter of time until the lil guy shows up in a completely unexpected, but after-the-event obvious, place.

I hate it when you find them enjoying water from the toilet.

[livvy]

6. OMG...too funny! Crisis since Eve in Eden...bwahahahah!

Seriously, though I can't find her. It's not like she's some petite little worm, either. She is about 4ft long and well-fed. She pushed open the top of her aquarium sometime last night and has vanished. I started looking for her early this morning, stopped to do the ER thread, and have been looking since I finished it.

I'm hoping she'll come out tonight. I have a feeling she's slithered her way up into a piece of furniture. I have a cockatoo in the same room as she is housed in, and he's been throwing a fit all day, like he knows something I don't know. Too bad he can't talk like a good little bird. "Snake alert...under the couch. Grab it!"

Well, back to the search. Thanks for the alert! Still chuckling here.

[Kurovski]

9. Good luck to you. I sympathize.

I once house sat for Friends whose kid had some kind of speedy-zoomy pet rodents and one escaped. It took me 4 full hours of chasing it down, but I got the little twerp. I was sweating bullets for the duration. It was a horrible kind of controlled panic the entire time.

:hug:

[EFerrari]

12. He's safe, right? RIGHT?!

:scared:

[livvy]

13. Well, he made it through the night.

The cockatoo is a pretty big bird. I don't think the snake would bother him, too big to swallow. Corn snakes mostly live on rodents and small lizards. There's a cockatiel right next to the 'too, but the bars on the cage are too closely spaced (I think :scared: )for Maizie to get through. I think she could get him down.

I have looked in every room in the house, which now looks like a tornado swept through it. I was up about every 2 hours during the night, armed with the flashlight searching for her. Basements are very creepy when you go through them only with the flashlight, and I've discovered mine could use a good cleaning. Yuck.

This is so frustrating. I know she's in the house somewhere. The problem is from the living room, where her tank is, she has access to just about every other place in the house, and I know she can move surprisingly quickly when she feels like it.

Drats...damn thing.

[EFerrari]

14. My love birds used to escape outdoors and fly all over the neighborhood.

I was always so afraid they'd just ride the wind and get lost. :scared:

But, what usually happened is that Gracie would go eat in the cage I put outside on the palm tree and once she was in there, George would follow the cage when I took it indoors.

The little bastiches. :grr:

Does Maizie eat every day? Maybe she's just doing some Spring cleaning?

[livvy]

15. No, about once a week.

It really varies. If she's getting ready to shed, she won't eat for about a week before. When I first got her, she didn't eat for close to a month. First she shed, and then she laid a bunch of eggs. She'd been with a male at the store, and apparently they got along well.

Still no sign of her. I've torn apart the places where it seems she most likely would be, then cleaning and putting stuff back. The problem is, from where she is housed, she has access to almost the entire house. And being the pack rat that I am, there are plenty of hiding places. I just don't want her to be a bouvier play toy. I'm sure the furpack would find her quite an interesting item. I'm bummed. I hope she shows up soon, or I find her hiding place.

[EFerrari]

16. Have you thought of putting the furpack in a bathroom for a day or so?

Maybe that's why she's hiding. It won't hurt them --- they'll just have something to hold over your head next time. And then maybe she'll feel safe enough to come out.

:)

[livvy]

17. I'd need a really big bathroom- they're bouviers.

I have this picture in my head of the three of them together in the bathroom. One of them would have to hang out in the tub, and another would need to at least put their backend on the toilet seat. Talk about chaos! Speaking of which...yesterday I caught Roufous up on the kitchen table washing down the cat. He weighs about 115 or so, and he was standing on the table. I could not believe it. That was a first.
Maizie has no concept about the dogs at all. They've never met. I think I figured out today where she went. While putting the living room back together, I found a chink of mortar has fallen out (in?) between a couple of bricks in the fireplace wall. I'm not positive, but I think she could fit, which means she's in the walls. If so, I'm going to have to hope she comes out when she gets hungry or thirsty. I am really bummed.

If I find her, I'll post the good news. Thanks for all your suggestions!

[EFerrari]

18. I hope she comes back soon.

:hi:

[Vanje]

8. When H. Wadsworth Longfellow got out.........

We found him a few days later wrapped around the pipes under the bathroom sink.
Longfellow was a ~24" long yellow rat snake.

[Kurovski]

10. He just needed some quiet time to write.

[Voice for Peace]

11. Just put out some mice around the house