Ziggy Escaped

[Chris89]

Earlier on today ( now yesterday ) before I went to work around 1pm. I decided to get Ziggy out etc then put have back into her enclosure and put the lock on as well as the newspaper down the gaps of the glass.

While I was at work, ( working 2.30pm to 10.30pm ) mum decided to check on Ziggy around 7.30pm she noticed that the top piece of newspaper was on the ground and thought ( ok it's fallen out ) so she opened up the enclosure and looked in all the hides and Ziggy wasn't there. She's done that before and has ended up being under the marine carpet. So mum took the glass off took everything out and then removed the marine carpet and Ziggy wasn't in the enclosure at all.

After about 5 mintues of her trashing my room looking for Ziggy her partner came into my room and then lifted the blanket off my bed ( I have a waterbed, which is still heated ) He saw Ziggy curled up asleep on my bed, mum picked her up and she was warm and content and didn't even seem phased at all that she wasn't in her enclosure.

Mum then put Ziggy back into her enclosure and put the newspaper back in and Ziggy automatically went straight back to the gap and started to push the newspaper out. So mum went and cut 1 piece ( before there were 2 seperate pieces ) and folded it up so it was thicker than the previous pieces and wedged it into the gap, It's a really tight fit now and Ziggy looked over it and then just left it.

I didn't know that she had escaped at all until I got home at around 11.15pm. I didn't think that it would of been possible for her to fit through the small gap between the glass, it's only a couple of mm gap, and Ziggy is alot thicker than the gap. It's kind of suprising.

Ziggy had never tryed to escape from her old enclosure ( well never when I've been wathcing her. The gap between the glass was bigger than the gap in the new enclosure ) I guess it just goes to show that you can never be too carefull, even if you think that your snake isn't going to escape or even if the snake in question has never showed any signs of escaping.

Someone said with the size of the gap between the glass on Ziggy's new enclosure that she wouldn't fit through it and that I wouldn't have to put the newspaper in, but I did anyway but it probably wasn't as thick as it could of been.. Now you have to use a fair bit of force to be able to fit the newspaper in lol.

Well I'm just happy that she didn't get out, otherwise the cats would of killed her. As the cats have wrecked some of the snakes sheds before.

Just going to re-check on Ziggy again lol.

Chris

 

[Landscaper]

...nice story. It happend to me twice last year. I think I´m going to by a waterbed, too. That´s easier then to tidy up the whole house

Cheers Carsten

 

[Ozzie Python]

Hey chris glad to hear you found ziggy. my childreni used to try the same thing and i found blowing gently through the gap everytime he went near it to try squeaze out worked a treat. even though he won't fit out of the gap now he won't go near it. took a while but he learnt it's a bad place.

I also put my little fella in the enclosure too soon and ended up putting his click clack inside the enclosre for a while, and while i watched him, let him out for a roam around. when i was comfortable that he can't get out (after many modifications- he now has flyscreen over the vents after one incident) i took the click clack out. Just some food for thought.

 

[Aslan]

...and people still recommend housing other than click-clacks for young snakes...

 

[Bung-Eye]

haha nice story, at least you didn't lost him forever!

I agree with you Aslan. I've only been keeping snakes a couple of months, but I wouldn't put my little snakies in anything BUT a click clack until they grow into their big enclosure (which their click clacks are currently sitting in.)

 

[The-Guy]

By click clack, are you refering to chines take away thingys, ive heard it a lot and just want to clarify, since i may be having my first bunch of hatchlings this year.

But nice story, my male stimsons(think it is macdonnel range, i kind of didnt know much when i got him), only escaped once, i think the door was left open by a friend though. lol.

 

[Bung-Eye]

click clacks as in the tubs you buy from woolies or coles or crazy clarks or something with a lid that clasps under the rim of the tub to lock it closed.

 

[Chris89]

Ziggy is 8 months old, plus she's alot thicker than the glass is lol... She wont be escaping again as I've put so much thick news paper in there that the glass has no give lol.

 

[lilmissrazz]

hahaha thats the cutest story..... maybe you need to get ziggy his own lil water bed and he will stay in his enclosure.... hehehe

 

[spilota_variegata]

I agree with AsLan... Click clacks or similar are the safest thing to keep small snakes in. I used to keep my smaller snakes in a variety of enclosures and have had several escapes over the years, but since switching to click clacks about 3 years ago, have never had one get out since.

BTW, what are you doing with your electric blanket on when you're at work? My mother would have stern words if I left me electric blanket on all day

Great news that you found your snake....

 

[Chris89]

It's not an electric blanket.

It's a waterbed, which has a large heat mat under the bladder which is controlled by a thermostat type of thing, which has a summer and winter mode.

 

[The-Guy]

ok thanks on the click clacks, i think we have some, are they expensive? im a little short on cash...

It's not an electric blanket.

It's a waterbed, which has a large heat mat under the bladder which is controlled by a thermostat type of thing, which has a summer and winter mode.

exactly, i wouldnt want to leave the heater in a water bed off, have u ever slept in water, it is quite cold.

 

[Chris89]

Plus if you sleep on the water bed with no heat at all it can cause kidney stones etc.

 

[lilmissrazz]

from what i can gather click clacks are pretty cheap.... could probably pick one up from a cheap shop or woolies for no more than 20 bucks depending on which size you need. go to bunnings they have heaps of diff sizes and shapes lol

 

[The-Guy]

yeah, $20 is a lot if you need 12 and you are only 13.

 

[Chris89]

I don't need click clacks, My snakes are content in their enclosures and they happily come out and explore their houses.. Plus I've spent too much on their enclosures to chuck them into click clacks....

 

[spilota_variegata]

It's not an electric blanket.
It's a waterbed, which has a large heat mat under the bladder which is controlled by a thermostat type of thing, which has a summer and winter mode.

My bad... sorry I remember the thermostat broke in my waterbed once. It got as hot as hell in the bed.

 

[.....Newbie.....]

Glad you got your snake back..........
I don't go for the newspaper ( as you found out it can be moved ). I use stick on door/window seal, thick,can't be moved and slides open with the glass door ( so you don't have to take it in and out ). White strip in pic below....

 

[mama croc]

Hey chris glad to hear you found ziggy. my childreni used to try the same thing and i found blowing gently through the gap everytime he went near it to try squeaze out worked a treat. even though he won't fit out of the gap now he won't go near it. took a while but he learnt it's a bad place.

I also put my little fella in the enclosure too soon and ended up putting his click clack inside the enclosre for a while, and while i watched him, let him out for a roam around. when i was comfortable that he can't get out (after many modifications- he now has flyscreen over the vents after one incident) i took the click clack out. Just some food for thought.

Hey there - the same thing happened to us. We coped by keeping him in a click-clack too. When he died unexpectedly by choking on a pinkie. we decided to get a bigger snake. sure beats looking for a tiny one again. The new guy is very clever and I actually filmed him opening his glass with his nose!!! He escaped and was on the loose for 3 weeks until we found him. We now make sure that his cage is locked - although today he got out again and was exploring the TV which was on while we changed his water.

 

[Viridae]

Plus if you sleep on the water bed with no heat at all it can cause kidney stones etc.

Off topic, but I find that pretty unlikely.