Great Corn Snake Escape

[TheVoid]

A few days ago, I happened to go to an aquarium. I've been wanting to own a snake for a long time, so of course, I looked for the snakes. There was one snake: a two y/o corn. He was kept in a 20x20 (I'm assuming) tank with an old towel and a small bowl of water.

He looked miserable. I had to help him.

Beforehand, my mother said no whenever I asked for a snake. The weekend before, I looked up snakes and how to take care of them. I didn't know enough about them to take care of one, but I knew that this snake wasn't very healthy here.

My mom looked at him, and then told me to ask the owner about him (it was a large shop that kept mostly fish, and owned by one man). The owner explained that the snake had been brought in two weeks earlier by someone who needed to get rid of him, and he was desperate to get him off his hands. I had an idea of what my dad was going to say, but the verdict ended up being: Take him home, and if your dad says no, take him back tomorrow.

To spare you, my father ended up saying no. I was devastated; I had spent hours scouring the internet on everything to take care of him. I wanted to make sure this corn would get a happy and healthy home. Not only did I want a snake, but, I was worried about the Corn himself. I knew nobody else would buy him (he didn't look too appealing, according to my mom), and I didn't want him to die in that musty, sad cage.

Despite that, I respect my father and his rules. The shop had closed and it was too late to return him then, so we decided to wait until the next day. I kept him in his tank on my outside porch, because I wanted to make sure he had enough humidity.

The next morning, I woke up and the first thing I did was check on the Corn. Unfortunately, there was no corn to check on. The lid was open, and the snake was gone. I was incredibly mad at myself; I read up on cages, but I didn't put the lid properly on this one (I didn't know what clips looked like), and mind you, all the shop guy did was hand me the corn. I'm still upset at myself as I'm typing this.

I did a little more research, and I felt a little calmer. I live on the southeast coast of Florida, a little ways from the beach, and corns are native to areas like these. We have rats and mice around our house, multicolored foliage, damp, warm hiding spaces, and a lake near our backyard. Since snakes are more reliant on instincts than other animals, I feel like he might be fine. The environment outside is EXTREMELY better than the conditions he was living in before. The cage didn't have a heating pad or a lamp, nothing for him to relax on, and nothing for him to hide in.

The decision, overall, was impulsive and bad for a first time snake owner, and I will NEVER do anything like that again. Though it was somewhat justifiable, I learned my lesson.