King Snake got out... [Archive] - sSNAKESs : Reptile Forum

Bandit

11-19-17, 09:48 PM

Well, my female Florida King has escaped (again). This is the third time. My record of snake escapes was flawless until I got her. The first time I walked in the room right as she was getting out. The second time took about 30 minutes and then I found her in the dresser drawer a couple feet away from her tank.

This time, no luck after a hard search. She's pushing 4 feet so she's not super small. I left town yesterday morning and got back tonight to find her gone, so there was about an 18 hour window when she could have gotten out. Between the time I left and got back she shed and pooped. The poop was pretty fresh so I'm thinking she probably escaped only a couple hours before I got back.

I live in a small apartment and as far as I can tell there are no ways for her to escape the apartment. Now, her getting into things like the fridge, dishwasher, etc. are still on the table, although I'm not sure she would've made her way out the bedroom to the kitchen (although I'm not ruling it out). I'll be searching intermittently every day, as I have finals so I need to stay focused on that. She loves her food, so I'm placing a couple rats out on the floor in an attempt to catch her while she's searching, and she's always starving after a shed. It's cooling down here in Louisiana (although not getting really cold), so I'm thinking she may veer towards the indoor redfoot tortoise enclosure since it has heat lamps on it 24/7.

Anyway, not really posting this for any reason besides venting. Although I think I'll find her, I'm hoping it's sooner than later.

jjhill001

11-19-17, 11:48 PM

I'd try baiting a hide with a mouse.

jjhill001

11-20-17, 12:00 AM

Also, what kind of setup do you have?

dannybgoode

11-20-17, 12:48 AM

toddnbecka

11-20-17, 01:39 AM

I just recaptured one of my yearling Dominicans a few days ago. He was roaming the basement for several weeks. I checked the whole basement every night and never saw the bugger, then one night last week when I was putting my largest female back into her enclosure after giving her a few hours to hang out on top of the bookshelves in the living room I found the escapee right beside her enclosure stack. Definitely check around an hour or so after the lights have been off, they're usually active then.

SerpentineDream

11-20-17, 04:51 AM

I never had escapees until I started keeping kings and milks. A black milk snake spent 2 months or better on the lam in our basement and a Florida king snake is hiding somewhere in our snake room even now. They are little Houdinis.

I suggest baiting a milk jug or soda bottle with a rodent if the animal is slim enough to fit inside. Otherwise perhaps make a tent with some newspaper and bait with both food and water. Place it next to a wall as they like to move along walls. Appliances that get warm will be attractive hiding spots too. I found one in a bookcase wedged between a couple of books once. Snakes are territorial and I have sometimes found them only a few feet from their cages, by all appearances just wanting to go back home.

Bandit

11-20-17, 09:00 AM

I've checked everywhere accessible...like I said, it's a small apartment. Now I know that doesn't mean she's not somewhere obvious and I missed her. I'm going to be baiting the bedroom and the kitchen. Her tank is in the bedroom so I'm thinking she's still in there somewhere. It's low to the ground, so I'm leaving the tank open with the UTH on so maybe she'll make her way back in for some warmth. The main reason I'm baiting the kitchen is because if she slid under the bedroom door (which is definitely an option), she could travel against the wall through the open door to the living room/kitchen area, and she could be up in the fridge, dishwasher, or under the cabinets.

My concern is that she travelled to the small closet with the water heater. It would've been a pretty tight squeeze for her to get under that door. There some sort of hole behind it. I can't get back there to see where it leads though. I think the chances are slim that she went in there but I'm really hoping she didn't get back there because if she went down that hole, she could be gone for good for all I know.

Bandit

11-20-17, 11:33 AM

So I was thinking, and I'd like some thoughts on this:

As I said, she loves her food and I'm sure she'll be looking for some food soon. Of course I'm trying to bait her with rats, but those can only be left there so long before they start to rot. I was thinking of moving my gopher snake's tank down to the floor. One side is screened, so I'm wondering if that my peak her interest and I may at least get her into the area. What do y'all think?

The alternative is just leave her tank open and hope she wants to move back in to warm up.

SerpentineDream

11-20-17, 12:07 PM

Maybe lay her tank on its side on the floor for her?

Bandit

11-20-17, 12:13 PM

Maybe lay her tank on its side on the floor for her?It already is. It's actually a vertical tank which I laid on its side to give her more floor space. And she's on the lowest level which is only an inch or two off the ground.

jjhill001

11-20-17, 05:21 PM

I've had a few escapes and they've always turned up eventually. Check *everywhere* - two off mine turned up in drawers that were closed so how they got in I don't know.

Another turned up when I pulled the lever on a recliner chair and she was in the foot rest mechanism (had to be careful with that one!).

Another had gone under the floorboards and then through a hole that carried the plumbing and had got into a small high up cupboard.

They'll get anywhere that they can but they always turn up.

Hahaha, my brother found my gopher snake about 10 years ago with the recliner method. He flipped backwards and screamed like a little girl it was hilarious.

I've had two escapees both from me just leaving the top open like an idiot. The baby corn snake (my first purchased snake ever dang near 20 years ago) I never found, it was the middle of winter and we never smelled anything dead, literally no idea what happened.

And the gopher snake from the recliner story.

For those with escapist issues I highly recommend checking out the zilla sliding screen lid tanks. If its closed its physically impossible for a snake to get out of those enclosures which is why I've only ever had the two and both were my fault due to being in a rush.

toddnbecka

11-21-17, 04:05 AM

I'd use a live mouse or weaned rat in a 10 gallon tank with a screened top for baiting. Worked very well when my IJ carpet python got out once, found her a couple hours later heading for the tank with the mouse in it.

EL Ziggy

11-22-17, 09:02 PM

Bandit

11-22-17, 09:09 PM

Best wishes finding your critter Bandit. I had two BPs escape decades ago. One I found and one I never saw again. In both cases it was my own user error. Always double/ triple check those lids, locks, and clips people.This was most certainly user error. Still haven't seen any signs of her, but I'm not losing hope. We're out of town for a few days. I cranked the heat up and laid blankets and other items around the floor. Hoping that the quiet and warm atmosphere makes her more comfortable moving around, and when I get back on Sunday I find her.

jjhill001

11-23-17, 10:25 AM

This was most certainly user error. Still haven't seen any signs of her, but I'm not losing hope. We're out of town for a few days. I cranked the heat up and laid blankets and other items around the floor. Hoping that the quiet and warm atmosphere makes her more comfortable moving around, and when I get back on Sunday I find her.

Turn the heat down and leave the tank open but warm.

SerpentineDream

11-23-17, 12:01 PM

Turn the heat down and leave the tank open but warm.

Agreed. And make sure to leave her some water.

Bandit

11-23-17, 05:15 PM

Will do guys, thanks. She has a water bowl in her tank (which is on the ground) and then the dog has water bowls both in the bedroom and in the living room.

Albert Clark

11-23-17, 06:10 PM

Wow, good luck finding her. Remember that kingsnakes are great climbers too so look high as well as low. And I agree that a night time search is a good bet. Get that dura cell into that flashlight and happy herping.

akane

11-23-17, 09:24 PM

For those with escapist issues I highly recommend checking out the zilla sliding screen lid tanks. If its closed its physically impossible for a snake to get out of those enclosures which is why I've only ever had the two and both were my fault due to being in a rush.

I had a dekay brown snake wiggle out a sliding lid when the latch didn't quite catch after it was slid shut. It's hard to see if the tab has dropped down or not because it's such a tiny difference between being on the rim of the sliding lid versus past it to the screen so it's locked in place. Slim little things. He also slipped out a vent hole in a plastic container. He always just sat on top after escaping or I doubt I ever would have found him. I went to move a light on top of the 10gallon with sliding lid and there he was tangled around the cord.

My rosy boa is my escape artist. She was perfectly content for a year and then I put a corn snake nearby in the room and found tank lid clips are not sufficient. She refused to stay in her tank after that. 4 bricks later to hold every corner of the hinged lid she's finally stuck. The corn snake escape was my husband building a custom lid for a bow tank and the bull snake escape was because it turned out the 75gallon we bought with the snake thinking we had a lid that fit turned out to be 21" wide and 18" tall instead of the reverse. We tried to temporarily setup the lid for the night until we could make a frame to fill the extra space and again my husband miscalculated the ability of a snake to fit through a gap.

Bandit

11-23-17, 09:47 PM

I figure she's still in the apartment, so I think with some good searching and her getting hungry I'll find her. I figure if I can find the snakes I do in the wild, I should be able to find one trapped in a small apartment lol.

Bandit

11-29-17, 11:19 AM

Update: Still haven't found her. However, I think she may be up inside the fridge. I've been home studying for finals a lot over the past week, and two or three times I've heard something in there that sounds like it's coming from the fridge area (but didn't sound like the ice machine). Each time had been when I was sitting here studying for a while in the quiet, and all of the sudden I heard something loud enough to catch my attention, but it's still somewhat subtle. I was pushing it off as me just trying to make something out of nothing, until my girlfriend brought it up, and said she'd heard some small noise twice over the past couple days come from over there. Both times she said she had been in the living room watching tv when she heard it.

I'll keep everyone updated. I tried leaving a f/t rat in a minnow trap next to the fridge to no avail. I may try to just leave one under the fridge and if she takes it I'll at least know she's definitely there.

SerpentineDream

11-29-17, 01:31 PM

You might try sprinkling flour around the fridge and see if you find any squiggles in it later. If she's going in and out she'll have to crawl through it and will leave a "footprint."

Bandit

11-29-17, 04:30 PM

I've been thinking about that. Just haven't had the nerve to ask the girlfriend about it yet. She's been really good about the whole ordeal, so maybe she'll go for it if it means figuring out where the snake is.

Bandit

12-03-17, 10:31 AM

Update: She's been found!

After I posted about hearing those noises from the refrigerator area, they completely stopped and I hadn't heard a peep since then. Well I was in the living room last night and I heard a noise come from the bathroom like something fell. I went to check it out (somehow it being her didn't even cross my mind) and sure enough, I see a shampoo bottle that had fallen into the tub and the back end of a snake with the rest of her crawling up the shower curtain. I picked her up, and she acted like nothing was up, like she hadn't been gone for two weeks. Glad to have her back.

REM955

12-03-17, 11:20 AM

Glad to hear you found her.
If I recall correctly, the more senior members here will say to treat it as a new animal and quarantine the animal. Hopefully one will confirm.

Bandit

12-03-17, 02:07 PM

She already ate and drank, and she seems alert. I'm going to be keeping a close eye on her for the next few weeks just to make sure she's all good though.

EL Ziggy

12-03-17, 09:15 PM

Woo-hoo! Im glad you got her back B. Did you cut off her escape route?

Bandit

12-03-17, 09:42 PM

Woo-hoo! Im glad you got her back B. Did you cut off her escape route?I basically have her in the snake version of Alcatraz right now lol. No way she's getting out on my watch again.

Albert Clark

12-04-17, 01:11 AM

Fantastic! Congrats, and I know you can rest a little easier now. Lol.

Bandit

12-04-17, 05:55 AM

I've been so relieved. On top of the fact that I just felt terrible about her escaping, it kept running through my head that I'd be hanging out and hear a neighbor (through these paper thin walls) scream "snake!" and then a couple big whacks. That's what had me the most nervous.

jjhill001

12-05-17, 07:11 PM

Glad to hear you found her.
If I recall correctly, the more senior members here will say to treat it as a new animal and quarantine the animal. Hopefully one will confirm.

Idk, it would depend on how many animals I have for me to take those kinds of precautions, plus I live in an area that's not likely to have any wild pests that could get on my snakes that were out of the cage. It is probably a good idea to watch for respiratory issues from being out and away from the warmth if your house gets cold though.

Bandit

12-05-17, 10:49 PM

Like I said, I'm keeping an eye on her. She seems okay thus far. After having worked with reptiles (for a job), I've made it a habit to take precautions to prevent transfer of diseases and whatnot, and it's carried over to my pet care as well. Even while she was out, the only other animals she could've come across were the dog and the tortoise (although I don't think she ever made it over that way). The apartment stays at about 73°F. Of course she was cooler than usual when I grabbed her, but still active and alert as ever. I'm thinking that if she was in the fridge, she probably stayed pretty warm. I also don't spray the house for bugs or anything like that.

On another note...nothing has changed with her. She sees me walking by her enclosure and she follows. She is constantly on the lookout for food. I just fed her two days ago and she's was giving me that look again last night. She's definitely the best eater I have, which probably explains why in the year I've had her (will be a year on the 10th) she's grown a lot. I'll post pics soon.