Houdini Snakes

uhhlise_nacole · 01-22-17, 08:26 PM

I'm sure you all have that one particular snake (if not more) in your care that will attempt to 'Houdini' their way out of their enclosure at any given time..What are some of your wildest 'attempt at the great escape' stories?

ThirteenRavens · 01-22-17, 08:36 PM

Any of them will make the attempt at any given time, they're snakes and I think they would rather *not* be kept in a box, however, that being said...

My wee hognose made his great attempt and succeeded although it was completely my fault. His tank wasn't secured properly (it is now) and he managed to worm his way out of the viv and managed to get completely across the room he was kept in, past the floor vent, past the door to the garage, (past my 2 completely useless cats) and sequestered himself behind a pile of stuff for honestly, a few days if I can admit that *sigh* I noticed he was missing and ransacked the room before my ex came inside (he would've flipped out....................) and found him buried under boxes and rather annoyed that I found him lol. He has since been secured and hasn't escaped but given the chance I have no doubt he would again.

mattd · 01-22-17, 09:04 PM

i had a 75 gallon tank i use to leave the glass in one side for help with heat and humidity. it was under neath the screen lid. i woke up one night and sammy was smashed between the screen and the glass. she could not get out but when u wake up at 3 am to pee and see a snake on top of her cage u freak out a lil.

Jim Smith · 01-22-17, 10:12 PM

I have Hondurans and I think they are born escape artists. You'll swear that there is no way that the snake could have gotten out of your enclosure, except that it is no longer in it. They are also extremely good at hiding and it can take weeks to find one even if it never leaves a 10x10 room.

GyGbeetle · 01-23-17, 09:45 AM

My Burmese Iris made her great escape her first night home. We didn't have the proper setup, had her sequestered in one of the walk-in closets, went out to dinner, came home and she was gone. I had a panic attack and ripped through the closet. She was nowhere. Looked all over the house for almost an hour. Turns out, she has flattened her body and made her way underneath the closet door, went under the bed in the room (by my own useless cats) to the other side of the bedroom, and managed to wedge herself UNDERNEATH one of the solid wood nightstands. How my husband even thought to look there is beyond me, because it seemed so random.

She did it one other time with the help of one of my aforementioned useless cats. We had purchased an extra low boy tank, and started moving some of the snakes around enclosures to see who fit best where. She got moved into the enclosure. In the middle of the night, ancat managed to jump on the screen on top, causing the screen to separate. Woke up in the middle of the night with her wrapped around the footboard, just staring at us while we slept. She's albino, so for a second I freaked out thinking we had a ghost in the room. Took awhile to register that it was a snake, wrapped around the footboard. Staring. Angry. Judging us for having cats in the first place.

**Minkness** · 01-23-17, 09:59 AM

I have had a few escape artists, but none will ever live up to my extreme red western hognose. He has escaped like 5 times!!! Luckily I have found him wvery time. And each time...I could never figure out HOW he got out! Now, I have forgotten to secure some enclosures and other snakes have gotten out because of that, but I never did that for this particular snake to get out.

He's since beennout in a rack I got and so far no wscapes to report. Lol

cat001 · 01-23-17, 05:44 PM

Whoops, duplicate post.

cat001 · 01-23-17, 05:45 PM

When my Spike (a corn snake) was a yearling he somehow got out of the enclosure (still not sure how as it looked secure) and we found him 9 months later outside under the wheelie bin! It was pretty nippy out so he was fairly unresponsive at first but after a few days of slowly warming him to temperature and giving him a small dinner he was his usual bitey self (he's always had a wild streak). He's 9 this year and has occasionally escaped, almost always find him in one of my bedroom drawers, it seems to be his favourite place.

My JD used to pull the vents out of her viv, once she learnt the trick to it she'd keep doing it! Had to glue the vents into place in the end. One time she escape into a gap in the wall so we had to lure her out with food, luckily she was never a shy snake so was happy to come out for her dinner. Another time I woke up and she was under my blanket position by my feet, and think she was using my heat to keep warm.

Jim Smith · 01-23-17, 06:01 PM

I had one of my Hondurans escape once but I noticed within ten minutes that she was missing. After looking around for a few moments, I spotted her behind a very heavy set of drawers that also holds two of my large snake enclosures. There was no way I was going to move those drawers if I could help it, so I tried something else that seemed to work great. I placed a large Maglite flashlight on the floor, shining at the snake behind the drawers. Within 2 minutes, she crawled out from behind the drawers and started touching the light with her nose, perhaps thinking it represented an escape route out of the house. I calmly picked her up and put her back in her enclosure. I'd love to hear if anyone else has had a similar experience with their snake being attracted to light like this.