Oh NO.....Max has escaped

[stretch]

I went to take him out today so I could try and get him fed...he has not eaten since getting here.....and he is gone...

I cannot see anyway in which he got out eitherr! Everything is really well sealed or only the tiniest of tiny holes...

ARGHHHH....any ideas?

 

[lutzd]

escapee

Blimey! Poor Stretch! You don't have much luck, do you Sue! :cry:

All I can suggest is the usual :

Block all gaps that might let him escape outdoors.

Talcum power on floors

Put a heat mat on the floor in the room where you THINK he might be.

Put several small hides around the house and hope he picks one of them to hide in.

Have a look at night after the lights have been out for a while.

Can't think of any other suggestions - anything from the rest of you guys?

 

[Nicole]

Oh no Sue!
Same advice as everyone else....
...and best of luck!

 

[grahamh]

Maybe a red light bulb in the suspect room and what about a mouse (weaner or whatever) left in a likely place. Could even leave a scent trail from a mouse across a room and put a mouse in each of the hides.

good luck

 

[stretch]

Thanks everyone I shall try and block off all the exits. He really could be anywhere now though. I have no idea how long he has been out for! Could be up to a couple of days.

Thanks for the great ideas David!! I will do them all now in the lounge room. I will soon find out if he is still in the lounge.

He should be pretty hungry by now too.

Sue the Unlucky

 

[saikrett]

They are usually in the same room that they escaped from.

One of my friends lost a jungle carpet python, so his dad bought him another.
A few weeks latter the original python was found trying to get back into the enclosure!!!!

 

[Alexahnder]

try talcome powdering the doors between the rooms. I really hope you can find him!! Good luck

 

[Greebo]

I was told they dont go far.
But last week,when mine got out,he turned up four days later in the laundry which is basically the other side of the house.
I suppose that there are always exceptions to rules.
Obviously my snake doesnt know the rules.

 

[Hawkeye]

How about a hot water bottle in the middle of the room and let it (the room) get cold overnight. Snakes sense heat and will gravitate towards it generally.

All this being said my "expertise" comes from what seems like a good idea rather than any real experience.

Cheers Hawkeye

 

[Alexahnder]

Good idea hawkeye

 

[grahamh]

Any sign of Max yet - I guess you'd have told us. Did you try the baby powder idea.

 

[stretch]

Hi everyone,

Still no word on Max. I have tried the talcum powder idea, the big problem there is that I have five chldren................I can see where they have been though! I even found itty bitty foot marks on the coffee table.

I hope that he shows up. There may be tons of spots where he could have escaped. I am hoping that he did not try to go into one of the little holes in the log that is in the enclosure. We have carefully split open the holes but so far no luck. I honestly cannot see how he got out of the cage!!! Its 3 foot deep with non climbable sides, and no logs to help him get up, they are all low inthe cage. He is only 3 months old and so I cannot see how he got up, unless he climbed up the heating mat cord. Even if he got up to the top, there are no gaps! The biggest holes being the vent and these are of course too small for him to get through. It really is a mystery.

I actually told the kids today.I was not going to tell them, but then I saw their room and figured it was a good way to get them to clean up. And boy did it work.

I miss my maxxxyyyyyyyyyy....I am going to go to great lengths this week to locate him. He has to be around somewhere!!

 

[stretch]

This may seem like a totally bizarre question. But hatchlings dont eat each other do they.....

 

[stretch]

. There may be tons of spots where he could have escaped.

THought I would clarify. This means that he may have escaped to outside or under the house.

I dont know how he got out of the cage, there are no excape points.

 

[grahamh]

I'm a bit confused.

1. Was Max in with other snakes?
2. Is the enclosure inside the house?
3. Does the heating cord exit point from the enclosure leave room for an escape.

If he's still in the log maybe you could flush him out with the smell of a mouse or pouring water in to each of the holes. Is it possible that one of he kids let him out accidentally?

 

[stretch]

1. Max was in with Cleo, another Childrens hatchling, they are roughly the same size.

2. Enclosure is in my lounge room. I have noticed though that there are some escape points between the floor and skirters in my house (Its 100 years old!) He could also have climbed to the window sill and escaped through there, or even gone through the kitchen and may out under the door. He could have been out for up to two days before we discovered him gone, so these places were not covered.

3. Impossible for him to get out of the heat mat cord hole, there is only room for the cord and that had to be forced through as it was. Its a drill hole made to a size smaller than the cord width to prevent providing an escape route!

 

[stretch]

Whoops forgot to answer the rest of your questions under the numbered ones!!

The holes would be a one way only deal I think, they are pretty small and I think the likelihood of him going in there is minimal, but it is obviously a possibility. I might just have to keep going through the whole log just to make sure.

It is impossible for the kids to have let him out. A) they are under threat of death if they even tried. B) the lid is far too heavy for them to lift, in fact it gave me concussion one day when it fell down. It is solid wood and 4ftx3ft. C) The tank is on a table in a corner of the room, I have to stand on a chair to open the top of it, and I can just reach the bottom of it when I lean in.

I setup with kids in mind...hehehehe

 

[grahamh]

Does Cleo look like she has been fed?

 

[stretch]

Cleo is fed every two days....She always looks like she has been fed...

 

[James]

The breader I got my pair of Stimson hatchlings from in december said don't keep them togeather as they can eat each other