[Elmlee]

I'm just in a total mess. We have a female royal python. I'll be honest, I wasn't keen on her to begin with as she was my fella Christmas present but the last 3months I couldn't keep my hands off her. I've become so attached, she's everything to me...

We've been hit by an upsetting and apparently too common snake owner problem.. The little Cowbag has escaped. We noticed it yesterday morning at 7.15 and don't know 100% how long she's been missing, my fella said he hasn't seen out in a couple of days. The last time we had her out was the 3rd/4th of April.

We've ripped the house apart and searched everywhere. I'm trying to stay hopeful, but I just miss her,im in a total mess and worry cause she hasn't ate in over 2 weeks she was about to back to the shop to be helped with her feeding. xxxx

If anyone has any stories or tips for me I'd be very grateful

 

[StuG]

I once had a royal that escaped. Never saw it again.

 

[StuG]

Sorry,hit the post button by mistake. Never saw it again until i got home that night and found it curled up on some shelfs. Look everywhere, in every tight space possible. Dont forget they can climb, often the first dark, tight place they come too is where yu will find them. A few days out the viv wont harm, more often than not they turn up!

 

[lee1989]

is there anyway it could have got out of the room she is kept in? if not is there any holes she may have got in?

 

[Se7enS1ns]

The fact that she hasn't eaten is a good thing as she wont be struggling to digest food at low temperatures - but that doesn't help with finding her of course.

They're not as quite as good at squeezing through little gaps as Corns snakes, so this limits her escapes routes a little, but they're still pretty devious. Keep searching, especially anywhere that kicks out a little heat - radiators, tv's, fridges etc etc.

Other than that... good luck.

 

[Se7enS1ns]

I once had a royal that escaped. Never saw it again.

Haha!! I thought this was unusually pessimistic for you! :2thumb:

 

[lukie]

I'm just in a total mess. We have a female royal python. I'll be honest, I wasn't keen on her to begin with as she was my fella Christmas present but the last 3months I couldn't keep my hands off her. I've become so attached, she's everything to me...

We've been hit by an upsetting and apparently too common snake owner problem.. The little Cowbag has escaped. We noticed it yesterday morning at 7.15 and don't know 100% how long she's been missing, my fella said he hasn't seen out in a couple of days. The last time we had her out was the 3rd/4th of April.

We've ripped the house apart and searched everywhere. I'm trying to stay hopeful, but I just miss her,im in a total mess and worry cause she hasn't ate in over 2 weeks she was about to back to the shop to be helped with her feeding. xxxx

If anyone has any stories or tips for me I'd be very grateful

dont panic bless you, it happens to us all, relax, my rainbow boa went slithering about the other week. we found her by waiting till dark in a dark room with food placed on a mat. it requires patience and silence but it does work, and she won't come to any harm from not eating.

if you have any other pets, cats or dogs keep them well away from where you think the snake could be. in the meantime have a look under warm things like the fridge is a good on in the back cavity, good luck: victory:

 

[Desert Ghost]

She will be in a tight space close to where she escaped from, they dont go far!

 

[StuG]

I think this snake was out in the car for around 3 or 4 days before i found it!



http://www.reptileforums.co.uk/forums/snake-pictures/699256-alternative-finding-snake-lost-car.html

 

[Elmlee]

Thanks for the replies guys.
Nice to know they aren't as sqeezy as I thought, there is a good chance she can get out this room. The door is impossible to shit from the outside as the sofa was places wrong (been changes since). Can they climb stairs really well? Im just trying to think of a rough search area. I'm thinking another good luck in the lounge, dining room and kitchen... There's just so many places

I'm going mad though, my fella is like 'she'll come back eventually' it my birthday in 5 days just the worse timing lol :/ I got up at 4 am and had a scout round... Nothing yet.. Shall I put water bowls down? Her tanks bulb is on and open hoping she will just come back... She's only a baby and I'd like to think she wouldn't go too far :/

 

[lukie]

Thanks for the replies guys.
Nice to know they aren't as sqeezy as I thought, there is a good chance she can get out this room. The door is impossible to shit from the outside as the sofa was places wrong (been changes since). Can they climb stairs really well? Im just trying to think of a rough search area. I'm thinking another good luck in the lounge, dining room and kitchen... There's just so many places

I'm going mad though, my fella is like 'she'll come back eventually' it my birthday in 5 days just the worse timing lol :/ I got up at 4 am and had a scout round... Nothing yet.. Shall I put water bowls down? Her tanks bulb is on and open hoping she will just come back... She's only a baby and I'd like to think she wouldn't go too far :/

i would close all doors and methodically search one area then go out of the room and search the next. otherwish the snake could find its way back into a searched room.

im betting you will find the snake within the next day or so: victory: like people have said your lucky because they dont usually go far. i have never owned a royal so cant comment on the stair thing but most snakes are able to climb so wouldn't rule it out.

 

[RachaelBee]

I found one of mine by putting down flour and then if they went for a wriggle there was a trail; however when my royal escaped he went to sit 6 feet away from his viv.

Sent from my BlackBerry 9800 using Tapatalk

 

[MR MIYAGI]

I have found them months down the line so no need to panic just yet..

Try leaving food out over night see if it goes at least you know its still in the house..

Turn the heating on full wack it may lure him out ??

Good luck hope he turns up..:2thumb:

 

[Raul]

Good luck on finding your royal, if it's anything like mine she won't have gone too far. Last year I lost one of my corn snakes for a few hours, turned the house upside down and the little bastard eventually turned up in the lining of a zipped up suitcase.

http://www.reptileforums.co.uk/foru...ous-case-missing-moxy-night.html#post10740149

 

[Tyzer]

Before turning heating on check the radiator my corn was inside the radiator
Try flour around the boarders and bags so you will hear russling i once left my snakes viv on the floor with door open and his ceramic on found it the next day in its hide worth a try

Dont give up ive seen people find there snakes a year later and they still survived
Good luck

 

[cloggers]

Places you think it won't be it most likely will! Don't look at somewhere thinking she won't have hid in there cos the little madam probably will have done. Good places are dark and warm. Check behind radiators, the back of the fridge/freezer, washer an the dryer cos the fan at the back lets out a lot of heat. If you have a computer check around the tower aswell or under the computer desk! Royals tend to stay a lot closer to the tank then you may think

Good luck, hope you find her soon

 

[maxcherry]

First time i found my corn hanging out the wall in the kitchen (double wall she got in the crack) after 3 months.

Second time i found her in the big tub i chuked my shoes in after a month.

Dark places, under sofas, in tubs, inside sofas. Leave a mouse or rat out and turn out the lights and wait and listen.

Found one of my yellow ratsnake in the swimming in the bath after two months, try leaving water in the bath.

PS check between the radiators before you turn them on.

 

[lee anderson]

yer ive only had 2 snake that have left the room i had 9 baby sand boas escape 3 weeks ago i didn't put the lid on properly my fault and i found all of them within 4 foot of the rack

 

[Guest]

I found one of mine by putting down flour and then if they went for a wriggle there was a trail; however when my royal escaped he went to sit 6 feet away from his viv.

Sent from my BlackBerry 9800 using Tapatalk

I had a particularly nippy cali king that escaped and then simply proceeded to curl up on top of his tank near the spot lamp, quite happily.

Regarding your royal, I wouldn't worry so much, he'll just have found somewhere he feels secure (ie one of mine lived under my wardrobe for a solid week last summer - I just left him to it as I knew my room was warm enough and he'd leave in his own good time). The key is to make something better for him, something that is more appealing. Right now the main thing he'll be seeking is heat, to make sure the central heating is turned off all day and night for the next 36h, and then set up a warm, dark place for him to look for (remember, pythons have heat seeking pits, he'll find it!) - some favour a hide and a heat mat, personally I've had success with a folded/scrunched up duvet with a heatmat somewhere in there - next to the skirting board (they follow the paths of the walls etc, prefer to avoid staying out in the open). A duvet lets them wiggle in and get a crevice etc as well as getting warm, but obviously smaller snakes can be tricky to find in this situation.

Keep doors shut and leave flour trails if need be, even if he did decide to go down in to any floor boards (thats when they can be a pain to catch) - his search for heat at night should do the trick (he may also just return to his viv area for that reason, my serial escapist royal knocked over a load of rubs to get access to the heat mat under lol - note, no snakes were injured).

 

[Stephan Grundy]

Yep, definitely put down water bowls around the house - one in every room, if you can manage. Dehydration is the biggest danger faced by a snake lost in the house!

2 weeks non-eating is nothing, especially for a royal. They have been known to go months and be fine (actually I think just about every snake species is).

Inch-by-inch searching is really the only way to go - just because you can't see how a snake could have gotten into something doesn't mean the snake isn't in it. Usually the opposite. Look high as well as low, and think like a snake - pay special attention to anyplace enclosed and dark, like an empty milk carton (or medicine box if the snake is small enough). Check the bins: trash to you = penthouse apartment to snake.

Once you have established that radiators are snake-free, put hides next to them...snake is quite likely to go for "dark warm place".

The flour-tracking may tell you what room the snake is in (put it around the edges of the walls and under/around furniture - in open rooms, they tend to stick to the walls).

Google "bottle trap for snake" - this is noted to be by far the best form of snake trap, safe and often effective. Do not use sticky tape trap; it may catch your snake, but it may also kill your snake (if the snake hits it snout-first, covering nostrils and sticking mouth in shut position, the snake will suffocate). And oiling a snake off sticky tape is *not* fun and is pretty traumatic, both for you and for the snake.

The odds are massive that your snake is still in the house, highest that it's still in the room from which it escaped. And the vast majority of lost snakes are recovered - sometimes within hours, sometimes days, sometimes weeks, sometimes months, and occasionally years (admittedly that's usually corn snakes, who can take a British or Irish winter outdoors just fine).