Lost ridge tail monitor

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Micksreps

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Yesterday when I checked his tank I noticed he has escaped, his only 2 months old. I never thought he could fit through the gap of the 1/4 inch square wire mesh that I use on top of his enclosure.
i have looked almost everywhere, but he could be anywhere being such a small monitor.

i have decided to stack some tiles and ceramic pot bases on the floor with a heat mat underneath and a 75 watt spotlight pointed at it, I'm hoping he will find the heat and feel secure between the ties. Still no sign of him.
I have no pets that could hurt him but it is possible for him to fit under the front or back door and escape outside.

Has as anyone got any ideas on where to look or anything else I can do?
Im worried that without high temps that he will just stay where he is and end up freezing. It's starting to get really cold here.
 
Are you 100% he has escaped, and isn't hiding in the enclosure? Turned our enclosure upside down when one couldn't be found, only to find him burrowed under the water bowl, in between the stones underneath supporting the bowl.
 
Yes I took everything out and sifted the sand for 10 minutes..
 
Good piece of advice I took when my adult ackie escaped once, is make sure you check everywhere close to the enclosure... because sometimes they don't go far.
(Found my little guy in the sewing machine cover beside his enclosure).

Hope you find him!
 
You need to try and seal up the front and back door gaps asap so he doesn't get outside.

I had a female gilleni escape about 3 weeks after purchasing her and I made sure the room was in lock down as soon as I discovered her missing. The room where she went missing was basically a store room cross reptile room so the amount of junk that she could hide in there was no way of searching everything.

Put out some water dishes and spread flour around doorways and the water dishes to see if it has been moving around at all. I also crafted a trap which you might be able to do, however in the end it was not warm enough for her to go looking for food due to the change in season.

Eventually we found our girl while I was looking for something else entirely, turns out she was curled up beside my reptiles of Australia field guide in my work bag.

Don't give up though as our girl was on the run for about a month and a half.
 
follow all the walls from the enclosure , where they get out they tend to hug the walls and hide in the first place they usually find.
 
Grab a couple of possum traps (cheap online) cover it in mesh with a tub of crickets in it (lid closed) and put it near any heat sources, if he's hungry he will try and open the tub of crickets setting off the tap and boom you will have him. Also block off those doors of any crevices so he can't get out. Monitors are like geckos in that they get pretty much anywhere if it's not completely sealed off. Don't give up, I put a deposits on a BHP and it escaped, a month and half latter they found her in between a couple of tubs.
 
Thanks for all the advice guys, I didn't give up searching and I finally found him in the garage on the cold concrete under and between some bags of substrate.
Not close to its tank and must of been the coldest place in my house.
Once I found it I spent the next 3 hours making an escape proof tank for it.
Ohh and I have decided to call it Houdini..
 
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