Corn Snake's Minor Meltdown

[Mayday]

Hi! My son has a corn snake and he set the snake down on a freshly laundered sheet this morning on my bed. The snake is mellow, but for some reason BOLTED off the bed, onto the floor and was moving pretty quickly before my wife grabbed him.
Our dog was on the bed but was not paying any attention to the snake. They usually get along fine.
My son rarely brings the snake into our bedroom, and if he does, is usually holding the snake.
He is quite worried about this. Anyone else have a similar experience? I'm guessing it's just an animal acting like an animal but he is concerned.
Thank you.

[chairman]

There are a lot of reasons why the snake may have bolted.

There could have been a scent on the sheet that triggered a flight response.

You usually handle the snake after he's been hanging out on the cool side of the enclosure but on that day he had just finished basking and was full of energy. (i.e. bolting would be his typical response, he's just been docile because he's cold/lethargic)

A subtle (to you) movement caught his eye that just screamed, "death from above!" in his mind.

Etc, etc.

Corn snakes are generally fairly active snakes. Mine rarely stay still when I handle them, though bolting generally requires special stimulus.

I would generally recommend keeping the dog out of the same room as the snake. Dogs are gentle, always ignore the snake, are best friends with the snake, etc, until one day your dog acts like a dog and kills the snake (accidentally or intentionally).

[Andy_G]

Pretty normal behaviour. They see a chance to escape what they perceive as harm and dart. Sometimes docility in the common pet species is actually an effort on their behalf to move slowly or remain still, thinking they are camouflaged, so keep that in mind as well.