Well, we can safely remove the eating thing, and also the human hands, The kids were away from Friday (day Max went in) til Monday (Found him gone on Sunday), and now the log can be removed. We just hacked all the way through it.
As far as escaping goes, it would have been near impossible for him to get out of the tank, but now I am wondering if he got out of the container he was in BEFORE I put him in the tank. Here is my reasoning:
On Thursday night Max had a handling session. Coped pretty well and then was put back in the tupperware container by my husband (Striking point number one). I am sure that I saw him in the container Friday morning, though now I am not sure if it was Thursday (been pondering on this alot, so am now second guessing myself).
When I put Max and Cleo together, I put them in at the same time, Cleo had just been fed a large fuzzy and Max was 'still' in the tupperware box. I took the lid off of the tupperware box and assumed that Max was still in there. The newspaper in the box was lumpy, he sleeps under it (Dont they all!) so I just then shut the lid and kept an eye on the tank. Watiing to see if they were going to play fisty cuffs.
So...on Saturday I check in the tank more closely, see that the tupperware container is empty, and have a little prod around the cage. I found Cleo, and due to the newspaper lumpage further past Cleo assumed that Max was further up (the newspaper usually sits flat in the tank).
Well On sunday I wanted to try Max again with some food. He has been a bit hard to feed, probably due to his moving. This is when I went on a full scale search for Max pulling stuff out left right and centre. I of course checked everything that I took out of the tank (plastic plants, etc) before putting it down, I do that everytime I am unsure of someones whereabouts...And then I discovered him gone.
Now...thinking back, it may have been that he escaped BEFORE going in, which is a possibility and one I am thinking is more of the case.
Chris put Max back on Thursday night and so it is possible that all of the corners may not have been pushed down securely?
Argh....It is so frustrating. To have gone through so much to get Maxy, to have this happen. I feel like I am fated to permanent misery.
You guys must be wondering why you bothered nominating me to get Max in the first place.