HELP! Advice/peace of mind needed!!

[ckdavis9]

Okay so here it goes...

Nothing is 100% yet but it is possible that Enzo escaped his cage last night... The last time I saw him was around 8pm last night and now I can't find him anywhere! I didn't look for him today at all because he usually burrows all day and I never see him until night time.

Anyway, the situation: He is in a 20 gallon aquarium with locks on the lid. However, I just got him a new tree that I put in the corner next to the thermometer mounted on the wall. I am thinking it is possible that he could've used them to get up to the edge of the cage and maybe could've squeezed between the edge of the cage and lid but he definitely would've had to push pretty hard to get out... Here is what I'm talking about...
To make this space, however, I was lifting pretty hard on the cage and I know they're strong but I don't know if he could've figured that out! Also, we have seen him climb around the edge before and he hasn't ever TRIED to escape-- such as this (bad photo quality, sorry!), taken about a week ago and I suspected he was doing it because he was too hot so I have since gotten a dimmer for his lamp and we haven't noticed him climbing like that since that night...


On the other hand, when I added the new tree to his cage, I laid another fake log down that usually stood upright (the one in the middle).
This is the exact one... sorry the pic is dark.
I looked all over it and there are some air holes and one in particular that he may have been able to squeeze through... I tried listening really closely and didn't hear anything suspicious so if he is in there, he's being very sneaky!

I guess after all this I'm just trying to figure out what to do next or if it is even possible he got out. I searched my entire room in all the low, dark spots I could think of and found nothing. Right now, I'm just waiting because usually he comes out to explore once the room is dark so if he is in the log, maybe he will come out? I don't know... :/ it's taking a lot of will power to keep myself from just (carefully) cutting that log into pieces to find out if he really is in there.