Ratsnake Escaped

[verymoistcrayon]

Hello there, I am new here as a snake owner and a forum member so forgive me for any mistakes.
I have owned my scaleless rat snake for a month now. A family member got him from an independent reptile shop around 2 years ago but had no more time for the poor guy, so he was given to me as I had been looking into getting a snake. He was being kept in a 40g breeder with a screen lid and multiple tank clips to keep it secure. But of course, the one day when I forget a clip or two off the lid, he makes his escape-and i'm loosing hope fast.

He's been missing for nearly a week now, and i'm loosing hope quickly. I have tried everything-put flour in any places he may have been, ripped my entire room to shreds, and much more. And let me tell you right now, putting out a mouse is hopeless, because the thing is...I already have other rodents in the room. Yeah yeah I know, a dumb idea. I have three guinea pigs and a giant rabbit in the same room. So even if I put a mouse out, the mouse's smell will just mix with the other rodents's smells, so it won't even be effective. Also another dumb thing on my part, I have the tank on a low table that is right next to a radiator-the clips I left off were the clips closest to the radiator.That means he could've easily slipped out from under the lid, take a turn, and gone into the radiator.

I'm absolutely heartbroken. While he was quite snippy and did bite me once, he was my first snake so he means a lot to me. I have wanted a snake since sixth grade, and of course when I finally get one he escapes due to my own irresponsibility. I have done all I could by wanted some second opinions. Feel free to be honest, I can use anything now, as this forum is my last hope.

Thank you in advance.

[Herpin' Man]

Snakes tend to dehydrate quickly when loose in the house, and will seek moisture. That is why they are often found around plumbing, or under piles of laundry. I suggest placing damp towels along walls in areas of the house where the snake might be. Assuming that the snake is still in the house, it should eventually turn up under the towels.
I realize that a lot of snake keepers use aquariums with various tops, but they aren't escape proof. Investing in an actual snake cage might prevent this from happening again.

[dannybgoode]

To find a snake you must think like a snake. It could be anywhere in the house but it's like to be somewhere dark, warm, humid and snug.

One of mine is currently on the run but they they very nearly always turn up so I'm not panicking - I just keep checking likely spots and I'm sure she'll appear.

Snakes are generally incredibly robust so assuming it was well fed and watered before it got out it will more likely than not survive months of not longer without issue.

[verymoistcrayon]

Thank you for responding.
I never thought about the damp towels! I'll definitely try that out.
I always keep my bedroom door closed and the opening underneath is very tight to the floor, so he's either roaming the room or journeyed into the radiator. I am truly praying he didn't go into the radiator, but seeing as they go into dark, warm and humid areas, there's a pretty big possibility. I really hope not though, there's a lot of dust and I don't think there is anyway I can get to him. the radiators lead down to the basement-and ill never find him there.
I fed him around two weeks before he escaped since I switched to small rats, but i'm not too worried about him starving. I do think he did try to get a bite to eat though-I woke up one morning to find the rabbit's cage absolutely demolished. This has never happened before as my rabbit isn't one to destroy her cage, so the only thing I can think of happening is that the snake may have spooked her which caused her to have a breakdown, destroying her cage. But i doubt that happened.
Im getting quite close to giving up, but ill keep looking. I guess I'm just pampered to whenever a rodent escapes-put out a trap and you find them the next morning!

[Minkness]

Here's a story for hope....I lost a teeny tiny baby western hognose in my car if all places before. Didn't even know that was where he got lost. Thought it was inside the house. Well. Like a week later, the bigger just cruised out into my radio knobs like nuthin was up....ih, and it was the middle of summer, AND I didn't know the last time he had been fed or watered. Still got the little Houdini snake too. He has gotten out several other times as well. Longest to go missing (in the house this time) was 3 weeks.

Good luck, and don't loose hope. This thing happens. =)

[jjhill001]

I've found they normally don't go very far from where they escaped at least within the first week or so. REALLLY check within a 10 foot radius of it's enclosure. Any possible place it could hide.

[verymoistcrayon]

So I'm feeling a lot better about finding him. Not only did Minkness's story help, but I was poking around with the radiator and I found no traces of him so the search continues! My radiator is the type built into the wall with a pipe leading down to a boiler. The only possible way he could've gone through the radiator is through the small hole where the pipe leads through, which was completely dusted over, meaning he didn't touch it! I blocked it off just in case. I had already patched up some previous holes in the walls to prevent any escapee hamsters from finding their way into the walls, so I don't need to worry about thise. I only stress that I really hope he didn't wriggle his way into my garbage bag full of used animal bedding, while I severely doubt he did my anxiety gets the best of me in situations like this.
The same family member I had gotten the snake from had lost a python in my same house and found it alive 5 months later, and Minkness's story really helped. Wherever this snake's hiding it's pretty dang good, I've gone through every bag,box,corner and closet I can think of, but it turns out I need to look harder. A LOT harder.
Any other tips are appreciated at this time! Ever since the hermit crab incident I've become very nervous upon loosing non-rodent animals, so this forum is a great help.

[dannybgoode]

See - in a drawer not 1' from her viv. How she got in the drawer I don't know because it wasn't open but hey...

http://www.dannybower.co.uk/photos/Mbkdrawer.jpg

[verymoistcrayon]

Ha, that's too funny. I have a few drawers to the left of his tank, but they can only open a few inches since they're blocked by the table with his tank on it. I'll take a look in them. I tried looking in them before but it was a tight squeeze so I didn't get a good look. I'll also take a look through my book closet since it's not to far from his tank.

[dannybgoode]

I've often wondered why snakes bother escaping. I lost a corn snake one who turned up a few months later - he had been on the bookcase by my bed that his viv sat on the whole time. Hardly worth the effort!

[dannybgoode]

And it's a good job I found it before it wife did. She doesn't know I've bought this one! Would have given her the fright of her life!

[Minkness]

Omg, Danny! Lol

[Bandit]

Agreed, check drawers lol. Both my milk and my king have been found in the dresser drawers (which were closed). Make sure you dig through clothes and stuff that are in the drawers - they may be underneath or curled up in between stuff. Also, when I found my milk snake, he saw me and shot up to the other drawers. So it may be worth taking all drawers physically out and checking the interior frame of any drawers or anything, a small rat snake could definitely hide up in the back/top of it.

Don't lose hope, it's likely still in the area. Also, he may be more inclined to move when no one is there or at night. So don't rule out checking places you've already checked.

[verymoistcrayon]

Well I've looked pretty much everywhere within the ten feet and most of the beyond. I cannot for the love of all things fuzzy find this snake. He hasn't touched the radiator, so that's good, and i've sifted through any garbages in my room, so he's not in the trash. I went through my drawers in which he was not there, stripped my bed bare, checked in all the little crevices around my bed in which he could've gone, ripped my closet and bookshelf apart, looked under all furniture and guinea pig cage, etc. He is nowhere. He's either nowhere, or in plain sight. I've even checked the blinds.
I'm at a loss.
You would've thought that a living noodle would be easy to find, huh?

[verymoistcrayon]

I just keep reminding myself of the python that got lost in my house for five months and was found alive, as well as many other stories of runaway (slitheraway?) snakes to keep my hopes up. Guy isn't that long, only about two feet, so that makes it a bit harder. I'll being putting down the damp towels tonight. The tank is close by to my room door, but if a snake slithered out the doorway I would notice it. Sorry for making this a big deal, he's my first snake and the longest one of my critters has been out for (longest was three days,held by one of my many past hamsters). Wish me luck, I really need it!

(Oh, the hermit crab incident. Long story short, Olivia the crab was being kept in a critter keeper, critter keeper fell over,crab escapes, and is never seen again. Most of the family thinks we threw it out during an intense room cleaning, sort of explaining my fear of the snake being in the trash.It's because of Olivia the crab I never owned a hermit crab again.)

[Albert Clark]

Well I've looked pretty much everywhere within the ten feet and most of the beyond. I cannot for the love of all things fuzzy find this snake. He hasn't touched the radiator, so that's good, and i've sifted through any garbages in my room, so he's not in the trash. I went through my drawers in which he was not there, stripped my bed bare, checked in all the little crevices around my bed in which he could've gone, ripped my closet and bookshelf apart, looked under all furniture and guinea pig cage, etc. He is nowhere. He's either nowhere, or in plain sight. I've even checked the blinds.
I'm at a loss.
You would've thought that a living noodle would be easy to find, huh?
The main thing is not to be so hard on yourself but to realize these reptiles are escape artists. Do however, take the precautions of sealing off the spaces and gaps between the doors and the floor where you can either with a rug or rubber door flange. Be and stay hopeful that you will find him bc when you least expect it he will come crawling out into plain view. Especially as his hunger and thirst grows. Remember rat snakes are very good climbers so look high as well as low and in between. Get and keep a good flashlight handy bc he probably will be more active at night when its quiet. I think you will find him soon.

[akane]

Don't rely on aquarium lid clips. I've found any solid snake will escape eventually and small snakes are tricky things getting out of little spaces they can manage to make sometimes. Snakes can fit in amazing tiny spaces. My several inch diameter rosy boa had to be extracted from maybe inch wide gaps in a folded up dog crate by just annoying her until she wiggled herself free. Heavily weigh or hook down any lid. You can glue/silicone latches to the frame or directly to the glass. My rosy boa is not quite 3' and now has 4 bricks going in pairs down the ends of her 20gallon. Her lid is hinged down the middle and with 2 bricks she could still lift one side or the other. Luckily they don't go far being some of the slowest snakes in the world and fairly lazy. The last time she just went up a level to lay next to the light over the king snake tank. However, I was cleaning my new desk up and as I wiped into a drawer I got bit by a corn snake that should have been in it's new tank upgrade a room over. I automatically grabbed it given we have extremely limited poisonous snakes around and none that would be found indoors. The lid now fits tighter with a piece of coroplast as a slightly compressing filler because it's a bow tank so it has a separate curved front piece and regular rectangle back piece that is the section usually opened. Apparently the latch allowed enough wiggle room to force between the 2 sections.

If it gets in a cool space like the basement it's quite possible it will decide to just brumate there through this time of year. If not too dry they can survive months resting down in the cool, damp concrete of many basements and they won't travel far. People frequently find snakes the next spring when they travel back up if they found enough moisture for all that time or they should be in the same spot even if a sweep takes awhile to complete. A real pain if your basement is cluttered or has unsealed structures but lots of time to look. Otherwise look in even the tiniest space. Over 6' of bullsnake just proved it can pretty much completely obscure itself in a 12x12" space. Not that he was escaped but I was redoing his enclosure, took out his main cave to clean the stone slab of some snake poop, and thought I'd lost the snake until he knocked the single tile obstacle down on himself trying to cram under it better as a backup hiding place.

[verymoistcrayon]

Thank you all for your great replies. I am currently out right now, but when I get back home I'll check the damp towels and all the other places he may be. While underneath my bedroom door is pretty tightly sealed, I'll expand my perimeters and see if I can take a look near the boiler in the basement in case he did decide to take a journey through the hole with the pipe. I'm trying not to stress about it too much and just keeping an eye out is the best option currently. I just keep reminding myself that he's only been gone a week, others have had them on the lam for years. It is getting quite cold in the house though, so I'm a bit concerned about that.

[dannybgoode]

Don't be concerned about the cold. As akane has mentioned most rat snake species will naturally brumate over the winter anyway.

All my temperate species are starting to be put into brumation over the colder months - does them good.

[Mowgliozzy]

I know you said putting a mouse out is useless but..one time I lost my snake in my car for a few hours...long story. Anyway I put one live mouse in a deli cup with holes and one freshly killed mouse with its brain cut open also in a delay cup with holes) I know it’s gross and I couldn’t handle doing it myself so I asked the guys at the shop that sold them to me to do it) but anyway that made the scent stronger I guess and I left the car for an hour with the mice on the floor and when I came back he was just chilling by them. I know my car is a small space but it Might work for you you never know. Worth a try.
Edit: probably an obvious add on but the lids were closed so he couldn’t eat them and leave again lol

[Minkness]

That is actually kind of brilliant!

[verymoistcrayon]

The radiators are on today, hopefully that either warms him up or chases him out of the radiator if he's in it. Now that the weekend is coming up I can really do a thorough search for him. I'm not exactly comfortable with the whole mouse brain idea but if push comes to shove I'll consider it. I originally was thinking of getting a live mouse as a lure, but I doubt it would actually do anything and I'd end up with another pet rodent (I'm not so comfortable with feeding live at the moment, maybe in the future though). I'll be spending this weekend searching and coming up with any other ideas to draw him out, so any other tips are greatly appreciated.

(Side note, while I was searching the radiator I found a very large piece of chalk lodged in there? I can find a piece of chalk and a paintbrush, but can't find a living noodle. Figures.)

[Bandit]

(Side note, while I was searching the radiator I found a very large piece of chalk lodged in there? I can find a piece of chalk and a paintbrush, but can't find a living noodle. Figures.)Chalk and paintbrushes aren't trying to hide from you lol. Check inside shoes, in laundry hampers, and in any buckets/baskets that may be used for storage. Also, if it has easy access to a bathroom make sure you plug up the drains when you're not using them. I think it would be unlikely that it would go down them, but you never know with a juvenile rat snake.

[Scubadiver59]

I check on my snakes every morning and night, but if I don't see them I figure that they're in their hides; well, when I decided to do a cleaning of my Yellow Rat's enclosure the other day, and removed all the hides, he wasn't in the enclosure.

I gave him a bath one evening, he had a suspect growth about where his stomach starts and that was part of his treatment regimen outside of the shots he was receiving, and I put him back in his 40gal after the bath but forgot to add the weights back on the screen top until later that evening. Well, when I put the weights back on, I didn't check if he was in there, thinking he wouldn't try getting out. Not a good idea it turned out.

Any, I went room by room, all my snakes are in my upstairs bedrooms, checking each room and when I got to the one bedroom where my Bull Snake lives, I was checking around some suitcases against one of the walls. Well, up on the top of those "large" suitcases was a zippered duffel bag that opens up on the top...and when I peeled open the top, which was un-zippered, there was my Yellow Rat laying inside.

Needless to say he went back in the enclosure and all the weights, plus a few extras, went on top. He's been in there since.

I consider myself lucky to have found mine, around three days after he probably escaped, but not all of us will be that lucky. All I can say is keep looking, follow everyone's advice about heat, food, etc. and hopefully you'll get lucky one of these days and find it again.

[Heidyth]

I had a rat snake get loose and didn't notice since I had just woke up. I opened the bathroom drawer and screamed from being startled by my snake. It was the only time she got out thankfully. Nothing like a snake in a drawer before morning coffee.

[verymoistcrayon]

I love all these stories,snakes end up in places you'd never think they would! This weekend is the weekend of extreme snake-finding. I'll also be putting signs up around my house letting other family members know that if they see him to let me know. I really,really hope I find him soon.

[verymoistcrayon]

Going on two weeks of him missing on Tuesday, and while it may not seem like a long time to you all, it feels like he's been missing for a year. I'll admit that I do feel like giving up at some points, but I not ready to yet. I am determined to find this snake.
Turns out that my radiator, the one next to his tank, is connected to the one below in my parents' room. If he truly went did go down the hole I would know, since there's an abundance of cobwebs throughout it and he would leave a little hole through them.
My uncle, the one who gave me the snake, considered me using an infrared app, but for those you need an infrared camera to connect it to, so that's out of the question.
Another thing we considered is making sort of a snake station? I'm planning on getting a live mouse in a small cage as a lure, and put some flour around it to create some tracks. I really hope that it works,and if not, then I guess I have another pet!

[EL Ziggy]

Don't lose hope vmc. I had a BP that once went missing for more than 3 months before mysteriously reappearing. All is not lost. :)

[Albert Clark]

You can't give up bc it will always remain ever present in your mind that he's missing. I would seriously consider targeting my searches at night with the flashlights. You maybe want to invite some friends and family for a sleepover and have more eyes and hands with more flashlights for everyone. Keep talking and noise to a miinimum. Concentrate on the warm areas on the floors and upper areas. Under fridge, under stove , electrical connections under desks, etc. Good luck and remember they usually don't travel far from their enclosures after an escape. Stay positive that its just a matter of time b4 he shows up.

[dannybgoode]

Agree with Albert. I've never not found a snake and that includes when I lived in a house with all kinds of gaps and cracks into the foundations etc (old 1890's house could have been a nightmare).

I'd still suspect he's in the room where his viv is.

[Minkness]

Don't give up, but don't over stress it. They pop up when you least expect it in the most unlikely, surprising places!

[verymoistcrayon]

On Tuesday it'll be 3 weeks he's been missing, and oddly enough, I'm not all that concerned anymore. My only concern is that he'll go hungry, but not too concerned that i'm stressing over it.
Any place we went did not have a big enough mouse, so that's another plan shot down. However, when my sister went in my room to get something she said she saw something moving around in a pile of clothes, so it's a possibility that it could've been him as all the other animals were in their cages at the time and that pile of clothes hasn't been touched recently. I took a look in it and he wasn't there, but it wasn't a good enough look so I don't exactly know. Fingers crossed!

[jjhill001]

On Tuesday it'll be 3 weeks he's been missing, and oddly enough, I'm not all that concerned anymore. My only concern is that he'll go hungry, but not too concerned that i'm stressing over it.
Any place we went did not have a big enough mouse, so that's another plan shot down. However, when my sister went in my room to get something she said she saw something moving around in a pile of clothes, so it's a possibility that it could've been him as all the other animals were in their cages at the time and that pile of clothes hasn't been touched recently. I took a look in it and he wasn't there, but it wasn't a good enough look so I don't exactly know. Fingers crossed!

Gonna be kind of gross but a secure dark box in a warmish area of the house with a bunch of mouse blood in it might draw it out.

[daisymaisy]

When I was in college I came home for Christmas break with my BF's corn snake. Kind of snuck it in the house because my dad hates snakes. Well, sure enough I went into my room one evening to see an empty cage with the top loose. Much tiptoeing around and surreptitious snake hunting ensued, with my mom and sister poking around looking. Eventually, my sister shouted, "there is goes!" as the snake made a speedy escape under a closet door that led to a crawl space. Well dang. Snake was gone. The BF was sad but life went on.
In April, my mom opened up the washing machine to find a nice fat healthy corn snake curled up inside. No idea how that happened (and yes, it was the same snake!). We figure it was hiding out under the house, eating mice. The BF had the snake for many more years.

[verymoistcrayon]

Haha, awesome story! It's because of these I haven't given up. I'm a bit confused as to what part of the mouse snakes are attracted to, because I've heard of mouse brains, dander and now blood being used to draw them out.

[DJC Reptiles]

Good luck on finding your snake!

[akane]

Someone said they found their corn snake in the roof when it was being redone a year later. Corns, which I think are even in the same species group as the ratsnakes with the scaleless gene, seem to be common things to lose and find long periods later all over the country. Once they are no longer tiny babies that have more difficulty finding water and the correct size food frequently my biggest worry is actually how easy it is to get out of this house with US natives. Overall they are likely to stop somewhere else first since only 2 stacked rooms and the basement have any pipes but previous owners decided adding plumbing meant smash random size/shape holes in the wall and leave them that way. With the fields of mice, prairie restoration attempts, and underground streams with rock areas below frostline there is no reason to stay in my house and tons of perfect year round snake needs in city limits before you even get to what's around it. If only my dog wasn't better at tripping over the high wild population than I was at hunting them. The one way I can definitely never find a lost snake is if they aren't here anymore.

[verymoistcrayon]

So it's been a month and a week since he's gone missing, and I'm trying really hard to not loose hope. I still have some left, but it's not much. I'm still determined to find him, but snakes can basically hide anywhere. I have a feeling he's still in my room somewhere considering I keep finding random scabs on my rabbit? Garnet (my bun) is generally very careful and doesn't get hurt often, so I find it rather odd that these start popping up all of a sudden. I don't know, it's just a thought.
I've noticed that when in his viv he was quite the hider unless it was feeding time,which is later on in the evening. Knowing him, he's either hiding somewhere extremely good or in plain sight. I just want this to be over with already, I just wanna find my noodle :(

[Bandit]

You never know when it'll show up. Being so small, he could be in clothes which are in the dressers, or even in hanging clothes if you have any.

I just lost my king snake a couple days ago. Hoping she shows up fairly soon but I'm not really counting on it.

[verymoistcrayon]

I don't think I'm going to find this snake. And even if I do, it'll probably be dead since it's brutally cold where I am currently. He either found his way into the walls, outside or to a completely separate part of the house. While I don't think he went through the radiator, he could've gotten out any other way. I had a second dream of finding him, but of course it's just a dream unfortunately. There is still spring, but I'm not counting on it. It's been three months since he escaped I believe, so I've lost most of my hope.

Sorry for being a Debby Downer, this has never happened to me before so I'm really upset. Now that I have lost this guy, my mom who absolutely hates snakes will never allow me to own another. I'm just really upset for loosing him and disappointed in myself.

[Scubadiver59]

Didn't someone just find their snake around the refrigerator? That's a warm place due to the compressor...put down some flour and watch it for trails.

[Bandit]

Didn't someone just find their snake around the refrigerator? That's a warm place due to the compressor...put down some flour and watch it for trails.I just found mine who was missing for two weeks. I found her in the bath tub although I'm almost positive she had been holed up in the fridge for at least part of that time.

[verymoistcrayon]

So I found him...but not alive, unfortunately.
I was cleaning up the bathroom attached to my bedroom as I plan on moving my rabbit into there (the bathroom hasn't been used in years), I moved a bin and...there he was.
I don't know how long he'd been there for, probably for a while, as he was in pretty dire shape.

I'm crushed. Though this snake disliked me, I loved him. He was my first snake, and he escaped to be met with an awful end. I didn't want to find him like this. I really didn't.

My mom agreed to allow me to get another as long as I have a proper locking terrarium, but I'll worry about that later.

I'm sorry, Crusher. Though you hated me and preferred being on your own, at least you got what you wanted in the end-freedom. May you rest in peace.

[Bandit]

Sorry to hear that bud. At least that feeling of uncertainty is gone and you can put this all behind you. Don't be too hard on yourself...it happens and you can take it as a learning experience. Good luck with your future snakes, I'm sure you'll do great with them.

[Fee]

I read through this whole suspenseful thread and when I got to the end, I cried. I really thought he'd turn up. I'm sorry about your little guy.

[EL Ziggy]

Sorry for your loss vmc. These things happen. When you're ready you can always try again. RIP Crusher.