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Escaped royal python survivability?

3K views 11 replies 10 participants last post by  murinus 
#1 ·
So long story short due to moving house and painting I moved my approx 1 1/2 year old, 2.5 ft, 350g, normal ball python Luther to my mums for a month. Last Sunday I went to feed him and after not eating again (been 4 months now) I left the f/t mouse in the viv for my sis to get rid of later. This was the last I saw him. She say she binned the mouse later that night and closed the glass. When she went to change the water on Tuesday she noticed he wasn't in there. The missus and I went from work to help look but to no avail. Checked everything we could. Stripped the bed, chest of drawers, wardrobe, cupboards bedside tables ect. But found nothing. We've left the viv open on the floor and a electric blanket down with a hide on to tempt him with the heat but still nothing. After doing all we can to proactively find him I'm starting to get worried about how long he'll survive. The house isn't particularly warm, about 15-20oC and apart from his water in the viv and the toliet in bathroom there aren't that many places for him to drink and as far as I know no rodents around for him to eat. Anybody know roughly how long he'll could last? I know it's a bit of a "how longs a piece of string" type question but we are fully out of ideas now and worrying like hell.
Thanks.

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#2 ·
he could last a week, he could last well over a year, contrary to popular belief, royals are very hardy animals, they go off their food, but aren't stupid, i believe there are still very high hopes you could find him, unless he got out the house, then someone else will find him and the media will publish a story about some random woman was in the shower and a crazy human killing 'non poisonous' snake came out of her toilet and tried to kill her, lol

jokes aside,
a royal could last a very long time and i wouldn't worry too much yet

good luck though
 
#5 ·
So he was left upstairs in a 3 bed house, I've throughly checked the bedroom he was left in and checked the others less throughly. Also placed flour across the thresholds of the bedrooms so we can see if he's moved into or out of any rooms. We haven't properly checked downstairs on the basis that in a cold house after not eating for 4+ months he's not going to be too active. As we're not living there its difficult for us to throughly search and we're worried he'll succumb to the cold before we find him

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#6 ·
Last Sunday I went to feed him and after not eating again (been 4 months now) I left the f/t mouse in the viv for my sis to get rid of later. This was the last I saw him. She say she binned the mouse later that night and closed the glass. When she went to change the water on Tuesday she noticed he wasn't in there.
It amazes me how may posts like this pop up. I've never had an escapee in 30 years of snake keeping. I guess it's because I use locks on the glass doors, which prompts you to make sure both sides are fully closed before the lock is applied.

I hope you find your snake soon.... and when you do, may I suggest you invest in a lock an possibly never entrust your sister to do any favours when it comes to looking after the snake :gasp:
 
#7 ·
Set up a heat pad and some water in a few places that he might like to hide. I don't personally see the cold killing him off, remember whilst the house may not be that warm there will be little pockets of heat, behind appliences, near warm water pipes, where the sun comes through a window etc.
 
#11 ·
My hoggie escaped once when I was cleaning him out and a wasp flew in the room, he must have slipped out while I was trying to catch it in a cup. Completely my fault for forgetting to close the viv before dealing with the wasp.

I found him literally right next to the viv under my wardrobe.

So in my experience, they don't seem to travel far from where it is warm.
 
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