Houdini corn!

[HerpAm85]

Hi, im new to the forum,
i recently adopted a approx. 3 year old corn off my friend, he is 3 to 3 1/2 feet in length. Yesterday he managed to escape and it looks like he has found a tiny gap hole behind a radiator and gone into the wall cavity.
The hole is maybe 1/3 the size of the widest part of his body, i guess its possible for them to squeeze through something of this size?
Im worried i will not get him back, does anyone have any tips on enticing him out? i dont know where in the cavity he is!:confused: Also, he has not eaten for maybe, 7 weeks, as i think he is busy looking for a mate? any help with my situation will be greatly appreciated, thank you.

I also have a beautiful 4 month old Snow Corn, just thought id mention it, haha, thanks again :confused:

[Will0W783]

I would first of all set a trap for him. You can get one of those live animal Have-a-Heart traps at most hardware stores and load it with a pre-killed rodent of whatever kind he was eating. You can also put a live rodent in a tupperware container with holes poked in it inside the trap so the rodent can't escape. The snake will hopefully get hungry, smell the meal and go into the trap, triggering it to close and lock him in. I've used empty 2-liter soda bottles on their sides as traps for smaller snakes loaded with live pinkies, but I think an adult corn would easily escape from the soda bottle

[HerpAm85]

Thanks for your time, i have put a thawed mouse out over night,but no luck, i will try with a live one in a box, but as has not eaten in 7 weeks, i'm a bit skeptical :( i think hes too busy looking for a mate?? , once again, thanks for your time, i will let you know if i have any luck

[Will0W783]

Yes, please keep us posted. What are the temperatures like where you live? If it's too cold, he won't be doing much moving around at all.

[HerpAm85]

well, its wet and about 10 degrees c in the day, and 2 at night. but over the last 2 months he's been very active, as i mentioned before ( i think) he is looking for a mate? is this right, with it being spring time? i have another corn snake, but he's a male, would it help in attracting him back out of the cavity if i put the other corn in the room he escaped from? or is that daft, as they're both males? as you acn probably tell, ive only just starting keeping snakes :s, thank you

[shaunyboy]

hello and welcome,he will have found a warm spot in your house mate.try looking in all the warm dark places you see.coat pockets,shoes,boots,under beds,etc,etc.try braining a f/t mouse put it in a hessien sack prop open 4 to 5 inches of the sack.leave the sack in the darkest,quietest,warmest part of the room he disapeared in.i did this every night with a fresh food item,then 3 nights later i heard my missing kingsnake scuttle out from under the skirting boards across the floor.i wish you the best of luck in finding him.
cheers shaun

[HerpAm85]

thanks for your time mate, ill try this yeh, but the thing is, he hasnt seemed interested in his food for the last couple of months, but i'll give it a go, thanks again, i'll keep it updated, matt

[HerpAm85]

Still no sighting, although i have heard a few noises around the house at night, mainly in the cavity, its a 3 story house and we've all heard things on different levels of the house, so he musy be getting round!, will keep trying, thanks

[shaunyboy]

is there only the one way into the cavity for the snake? if so try putting the hessien sack near the way in to the cavity.it would be worthwhile really mashing the food items head right up.then with a bit of luck he smells all the brainmatter and comes to see where its coming from.at least your still hearing movement so the snakes found somewhere hot enough to keep it going.i hope you find him soon mate.
cheers shaun

[HerpAm85]

nah mate, ive tookk all my radiators off the walls and theres a holw behind all of them, whoever put them on put a white plastic cover, siliconed it to the wall, just above the holes, so when you look down from the top you cant see the holes, shocking! i thought about tryin that mate yeh, drilling the skull or using a live mouse, im goin turn the huse upside down again tomorrow, its been a cold few days, as you probably know yourself, so im hoping hes coem in somewhere,
cheers mate

[shaunyboy]

as gross as it sounds i usually put the f/t rats head in a bit kitchen roll and give it a good squeeze with a pair of plyers.then put the brained item into the corner of the hessien sack,then slightly prop open a few inches of the bag.then with a bit of luck you'll find a full bellied snake curled up in the morning.my wife and kids were away on holliday when my kingsnake escaped so i used to turn everything of that made a noise,turned the lights off then sat in the dark and listened.i heard him long before i saw him scuttle out from under the skirting boards.he should have found some where warm for the duration,its when he gets hungry imo will be your best chance of coming across him when he's out looking for something to eat.all the best mate.
cheers shaun

[HerpAm85]

Hes back! ive just walked into my dining room and he was there, curled up under a lamp where his Viv used to be, i had just had tea in there half an hour before haha, he's now been re-united with his viv and all is well, he did drink about a litre of water though haha, very pleased! thanks for all the help people, i was just starting to give up hope aswell!

[Lankyrob]

Thank god you got him back!! Am very glad for you.

[Will0W783]

Congrats, I am so happy for you that you got him back! Now make sure you put heavy duty cage clips on the cage so he cant' get out, or weigh down the ends of the lid with some heavy objects. :)

[HerpAm85]

thanks, yes the viv is now fully secured haha, but i have another question now, when i had him off my friend, he said that the snake hadnt eaten for a good month or so, and that was 2 months or so ago, and he has still not eaten, ive looked on the net, and it mentions breeding season and that they'll be to busy looking for a mate than to be feeding, but this was 3 months ago now, should i be worried or contact a vet? thanks, matt

[Will0W783]

It can't hurt to take him to your vet, especially since he just returned from being loose in your house for a long stretch. The thing I would be thinking is possible respiratory infection since I doubt the temps in your house walls or wherever he was were adequate for him to thermoregulate.

[HerpAm85]

to be honest, when i took him off my friends hands, i noticed a wheezing when he was breathing? he has been kept in orchid bark, i use aspen for my other corn, and he's fine, so i have thought a resp. infection myself.
Would this stop him eating? I'll call the vets tomorrow and have him checked out then, thanks

[Will0W783]

Oh yes, a respiratory infection would stop eating. Because of the anatomy of the windpipe, when snakes get RI, the windpipe (glottis) tends to get sticky with mucus and they have trouble breathing. They will stop eating because swallowing compounds the problem and all their energy goes into trying to fight the infection. If you've heard wheezing, clicking/popping, seen any bubbling from the mouth or nostrils, those are sure signs. The vet will give you antibiotics to inject into the snake and will explain how to give the shots- very shallowly, in the first 1/3 of the body, on the sides. You will also want to raise cage temperatures a bit warmer and increase humidity. The heat helps stimulate the immune system and the humidity helps with breathing.

[HerpAm85]

Yeh i think thats what it definately is then, ive seen ,like, bubbles coming from his nostrils, i'll get straight on to a vets tomorrow, he already had the Resp. Infection when i had him, and thats been about 4 months now, so it needs sorting, is it life threatening or serious in anyway? i take it is, because of starvation? Any ideas what would of caused it, maybe his substrate, the bark?? thanks for your time yet again, matt

[shaunyboy]

Yeh i think thats what it definately is then, ive seen ,like, bubbles coming from his nostrils, i'll get straight on to a vets tomorrow, he already had the Resp. Infection when i had him, and thats been about 4 months now, so it needs sorting, is it life threatening or serious in anyway? i take it is, because of starvation? Any ideas what would of caused it, maybe his substrate, the bark?? thanks for your time yet again, matt


left untreated its life threatening mate,sounds quite advanced what with bubbles coming down his nostril.an r.i. is usually caused by a drop in temperature.now you've got him set his tank up at the correct temperatures.take him to the vet he will give you the proper medicine for him.between 4 to 8 weeks later (depending on how bad the r.i. is) and you should have a happy healthy snake.all the best with the treatment.
cheers shaun

its an adult corn so i wouldnt worry too much about the length of time its not ate for,snakes have been known to go a year without eating.as soon as the respitory has been cleared up he should start eating.as willow said most snakes wont feed when they have a bad r.i. as its difficult for them to breath while eating.

[HerpAm85]

Ive taken him to the vets, the vet says the snakes seriously underweight and in a bad way, he took some samples, feaces and blood, they come back fine.
So ive got a course of meds to give the snake, injections, once every three days and been out to buy a better heat source, the vivs approx. a steady 36 degrees in the warm end and a 28 degrees at the cool, should be ok temp wise? The snake has been through his 'Blue' stage recently, and now gone back to normal, but his skin has not shed yet, ive noticed from watching my other corn, the snow, that it normally takes 24-48 hours after he's come out of the process to actually shed, its now been 3 days and only parts of him, where he's been handled by myself and the vet, have started to shed, is this something i should worry about, or will he just shed when ready? ive spray water in his viv regularly to keep it a little humid.
Thanks for answering all my questions, you've been a great help,
sincerely, matt

[HerpAm85]

oh sorry, almost forgot, ive got to try and feed him after the course of anti-biotics are over, with a scalped mouse, if he doesn't take after a week of trying, then back to the vets! im thinking about getting them both insured lol, its going to cost a small fortune in vets bills!

[Will0W783]

I don't think you can get pet insurance for snakes, can you? Anyway with pet insurance for reptiles, you are guaranteeing you will spend at least the premium every month, whereas there should be entire years where the snakes will not need any vet attention. My advice is to get him through this rough period and make sure he never gets out again and you won't need insurance. :)

[HerpAm85]

Yes i suppose, there probably is no need for insurance, once he's over this R.I, everything should be fine with both of them, but he was ill before he escaped, thanks for help again, ill post again when he's better :)

[Will0W783]

Hope he gets well really quickly for you. It's always so frightening when they're sick.