# Has your snake ever escaped? Share stories



## Classabear (Mar 24, 2014)

Mine did this morning for the first time (and hopefully last) at about 4am. I was fast asleep and woke up out of instinct I guess, then heard a noise and went over to inspect to find Amity was 3/4 through a hole in the wall. I grabbed her tail and tried to slow her moving down while I tried to break the wall open to get her. By the time I was just hanging on to the end of her tail I felt her let go of whatever she was holding onto inside there and pulled her through. 

Very lucky for me to get her back, especially with no injuries.. There would have probably been near no chance of getting her out of there... She must have pushed open her glass doors while I was asleep. Looks like i'm fixing the locks and the wall today...

Have your snakes ever escaped and been lost? Where did you find them?


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## emmadactryl (Mar 24, 2014)

My spotted python, Indie, got out of her upgraded click clack when she was about four months old. She pushed through the tiniest gap between the lid and the sides; I tried afterwards to force it open and could barely move it, so I'm kind of impressed that she not only pushed it up but managed to squeeze her body through the tiny gap. She was out overnight, possibly for almost a full day, before I realised- and it wasn't by opening up her enclosure and realising she was missing. I opened my cupboard in my bedroom to get something out and had her fall onto me from one of the top shelves (again, no idea how she managed to do that; freaky little critter). I screamed and automatically jumped and she ended up slipping off me onto the ground. There was a pause of about ten seconds when I thought there was a baby wild python in my room, then I realised it was _my _baby python. She was one very grumpy baby as well, having been hanging out in what she thought was a nice warm spot in a cold room, only to then drop six down onto a concrete floor. She was demoted back to her little Sistema click clack and I still can't believe how lucky I was to get her back; if she hadn't dropped on me, I wouldn't have noticed she was missing for at least a couple more days as I was leaving her alone to let her adjust to the more roomy quarters. I also have two kelpies that spend most of the day in my room, and the younger one would have chomped her in half if he'd found her- and then probably brought her body to me with a "Look at the toy I found! Play?" request. I'm now absolutely paranoid about her escaping, and the two other times I've moved her up into bigger enclosures, for the first couple of nights I don't sleep at all  It was made even worse by the fact that the next time I upgraded her from the Sistema a couple of months later, I had baby chickens living in my room as well, and even though they probably would have had more of a go at her than she would have been able to them, it was a bit nerve wracking. Indie doesn't help the paranoia by spending the first few hours in a new enclosure doing laps of the perimeter and trying to push her way against every possible point of exit; even in her tank now she regularly tries to squeeze out through the tiny gauge mesh in the lid, even though she can't get even the tip of her nose through it now she's a bit bigger.


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## Classabear (Mar 24, 2014)

emmadactryl said:


> Indie doesn't help the paranoia by spending the first few hours in a new enclosure doing laps of the perimeter and trying to push her way against every possible point of exit; even in her tank now she regularly tries to squeeze out through the tiny gauge mesh in the lid, even though she can't get even the tip of her nose through it now she's a bit bigger.



I was exactly the same all this morning. Did not have sleep after that happened at all, and stayed up all night watching her trying to find an exit of the sistema tub I put her in while I fixed her enclosure up. I think I finally fell asleep 3 hours after for about an hour and a half.. now im super paranoid!!!


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## princessparrot (Mar 24, 2014)

I had my woma in the bathroom to just have abit of a stretch and slither then she somehow got past me(I think I had a seizure) and under the door even though there was a towel tucked In tightly on both sides. When I realised I freaked and went and locked all my birds up(they useually have free run of the house) and moved my guineapig up higher(even though she is probably too big to eat) then went looking for her. I found her in my dad's room woven through his thongs then tucked up in his ugg boot(she loves them)


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## Gizmo101 (Mar 24, 2014)

When I was about 14 my dad forgot he had our diamond python Bundy out on the back lawn and Bundy went missing, we put out notices to people in the houses around us to call and about 2 weeks later I was in the yard cleaning out my budgies cage and I turned around to Bundy standing his head off the ground.
i finally caught him while he was flailing about and got him back into his cage.


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## Focus (Mar 24, 2014)

Classabear said:


> I was fast asleep and woke up out of instinct I guess



Ah, that well documented human instinct that warns one when a snake is escaping from its enclosure, an important evolutionary benefit. 

How old is your snake? If it's housed in a standard reptile enclosure it's highly unlikely that it slid the glass open itself. Even full grown olives don't manage that (I think). If it's a smaller snake it probably escaped through an opening somewhere in the enclosure. Or the glass wasn't full slid closed. Keeper error is often the reason snakes go missing. Look over your enclosure carefully and see whether there's anywhere it could get through, ideally a (properly built and designed) snake enclosure is not escapable. Not having a go, just hoping it doesn't happen again. Glad you got it back!


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## Classabear (Mar 24, 2014)

Focus said:


> Ah, that well documented human instinct that warns one when a snake is escaping from its enclosure, an important evolutionary benefit.
> 
> How old is your snake? If it's housed in a standard reptile enclosure it's highly unlikely that it slid the glass open itself. Even full grown olives don't manage that (I think). If it's a smaller snake it probably escaped through an opening somewhere in the enclosure. Or the glass wasn't full slid closed. Keeper error is often the reason snakes go missing. Look over your enclosure carefully and see whether there's anywhere it could get through, ideally a (properly built and designed) snake enclosure is not escapable. Not having a go, just hoping it doesn't happen again. Glad you got it back!



Thats what confused me, she's only just turned a year old. There are literally no other ways, and the doors were open when I checked, so it was the only way. I have a chrod going through one of the glass doors for the thermostat though, and forgot to lock the door, so she must have wedges herself at the small opening where the chord was going in and opened it. it was completely my fault for not locking it. It is a really well built, sturdy enclosure.. but I still didnt think she'd be strong enough to pull that... it's definitely how she got out, though.


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## rockethead (Mar 24, 2014)

My mate did not lock my exo terra after trying to scare his father with my stimson.
He closed the glass doors and though it locked it self[ stuipid idoit].
I did not noticed until about 24 hrs later.
I checked my reptile room then the rest of the house, fridge, oven, lounges any spot that it could hide i thought it must of got out the window looked around the unit block nothing this was around june.
Then in january i was in the kitchen getting the garbage and heard something move in the laundry i turned on the light and he was sitting in the sink most likely looking for water.He had grown in lenght but looked skinny.He smashed the food for about a month.


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## Classabear (Mar 24, 2014)

rockethead said:


> My mate did not lock my exo terra after trying to scare his father with my stimson.
> He closed the glass doors and though it locked it self[ stuipid idoit].
> I did not noticed until about 24 hrs later.
> I checked my reptile room then the rest of the house, fridge, oven, lounges any spot that it could hide i thought it must of got out the window looked around the unit block nothing this was around june.
> Then in january i was in the kitchen getting the garbage and heard something move in the laundry i turned on the light and he was sitting in the sink most likely looking for water.He had grown in lenght but looked skinny.He smashed the food for about a month.



Wow, how long was he missing for? I'm surprised how lucky everyone is finding their snakes.. amazing!


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## damian83 (Mar 24, 2014)

My yearling coastal was let out by my 20mth old who climbed enclosures to open the door 12 an inch to look at her. It wasnt till I got home from work to feed them that we noticed. I looked outside under bins plants and all through the downstairs of the house toy rooms and laundtlry. And under the machine. Taught my dog to growl and sit beside them when ive got them in the yard. She started barking two nights ago and she was barking at the back door. Turned the light on and thought colourwise from the distance. Went to kove the dog. And whammy it was my anna whos head was coming out from under the laundry door. She wss in there for 3 weeks.


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## rockethead (Mar 24, 2014)

> Wow, how long was he missing for? I'm surprised how lucky everyone is finding their snakes.. amazing!


7 months on the the run. I think he was hiding in the washing machine.I was lucky cause he is a fuzzy eater and sometimes does not eat much so glad he was able to go so long without food


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## PythonLegs (Mar 24, 2014)

Rolled over in bed onto a diamond that had escaped from the back shed. Luckily it only bit my arm...could have been far more painful, and embarrassing.


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## giggles (Mar 24, 2014)

My partner accidentally left my hatchy jungle's clickclack open one night! luckily she was found in a bag of junk due to be thrown out that was right next where she lives. funnily we have a 5cm gap under our front door that was less than a metre away, she could of easily escaped, oh and my cat was inside. could of ended badly for her/us.


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## CrystalMoon (Mar 24, 2014)

Mine is still AWOL and I have moved towns so I would say I am never going to see her again :cry: My Daughter did not clip the lid closed properly and I was stupid enough not to check. My Coastal Boy was forgotten about recently, I was cleaning enclosures and I always let him loose in my office/snake room whilst I am doing his. He climbs up over the door frame and curtain rods etc, I went out to clean his water dish and got side tracked. A few hours later I remembered him and ran into the snake room, he was gone I looked every-where, he is a big 3 year old and hard to lose. All the doors were open, I was a blubbering mess by this stage. I went into the snake room to grab a spare heat pad, I glimpsed into his enclosure and there his Highness is curled up in his hide. In my defence I work 6 days a week and get rather tired plus I am sure I have the onset of Dementia(thats my excuse lol)


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## Classabear (Mar 25, 2014)

rockethead said:


> 7 months on the the run. I think he was hiding in the washing machine.I was lucky cause he is a fuzzy eater and sometimes does not eat much so glad he was able to go so long without food



 OMG. That's a pure miracle!


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## Mr_48Volts (Mar 30, 2014)

My 8 year old male diamond got out of his enclosure in the garage (long story) he crawled up under my Mrs XR5 Focus (she hadn't worked out HSV's are better) she drove 5km to work, then he decided to crawl out from underneath the car, luckily he was spotted by a work mate, the Mrs wrangled him up and brought him home. He was no worse for the ideal. Me? I was a wreck lol


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## pinefamily (Mar 30, 2014)

We've had four occasions of escapees, one of them on two occasions. The first time was our Darwin python, who had always been a feisty individual at that time. He had somehow squeezed out of his click clack where the temp probe cord was. Turned the family room and kitchen upside down, was about to move the fridge when we spotted a stack of photo boxes in the corner we had been sorting. There he was, curled up in the bottom box. 
Second time, our very placid MD somehow got out of his click clack by moving his pole and getting out through the hole the pole sat in. And only to get into his hide that was sitting outside his click clack from when we cleaned him. He did it again when we bought two taller click clacks of a different brand, and he managed to slip out the smallest of cracks at the edge of the lid. Was found slithering along the floor.
Third time was our full-grown jungle. While away in Melbourne at the VHS expo, she had lain across the cord from the CHE, and it had pulled out the plastic fitting in the back of the enclosure. She was also found in a box across the room. Have since cable clipped the cord to the roof of the enclosure. 
@Focus Yes they can open glass doors. We probably are guilty of complacency by not fitting locks to all of the sliding glass doors, but have never had a snake even look like pushing the glass open. Until last night. This morning one of our Gammons was on top of the floor lampshade in the lounge room; he had made it from his enclosure (opening the glass door) in an adjacent room, to the lampshade. This Gammon Ranges python is just over a year old.
So yes, they do escape. Most times they don't go far.


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## Ellannn (Mar 31, 2014)

I lost my jungle 6months + back and at the time she was just a hatchie and oh so tiny. 
Turned out that one of the clips on the top of her enclosure was broken. She was missing for about a week. Turned the whole house upside down and pretty much gave up hope. Went to work one morning, a week later and drew the curtains so I could walk out my glass sliding door and as I pulled the curtains aside and walked out the door my jungle fell on my head. It was the best shock of my life.


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## JAS101 (Mar 31, 2014)

iv had a woma escape , at the time my youngest niece and her small dog was staying at my house . I went and watched tv in my room , then at about 10.30pm I hear her dog barking in the lounge room . so I went out to see what was going on , only to find that the dog was backed up into a corner and there was one of my womas striking at it like a cobra . I stared at it for what seemed to be an hour [ I bet it was 2 secs] then I quickly grabbed a pillow to put in between the woma and the dog so I wouldn't get a bite from either . everything turned out fine , neither one was hurt . im just glad it wasn't one of my big coastals otherwise I think the dog would have been killed .


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## LJ77 (Mar 31, 2014)

I had my jungle jag go missing at Christmas after I left the tub open slightly a jar , after looking high and low I could not find it , about 2 weeks a of I had my next door neighbours knock on my door asking if I knew of anyone who keep snakes , I said I do then he asked if I was missing one and yes I was , I showed him a pic of mine , he said yeah it looks like that and it had eaten my female cannery , I went over and sure enough the was my snake with a belly full , it was the most expense feed any of my snakes have ever had , but at least it only cost me $50 to get my snake back .


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## rockethead (Mar 31, 2014)

> iv had a woma escape


At least it was not that croc that you have.
Your dog would of got a shock of a life time.


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## someday (Mar 31, 2014)

I woke to my EWD scratching at my door this morning to find my Scrubbie cruising around Think its time for a stronger lock..


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## BARRAMUNDI (Mar 31, 2014)

Got home from fishing Sunday morning, notice some things in the bathroom knocked over, looked in the study, more things knocked over, looked in the kitchen only to find more things out of order.

Check snake room and there is a tub with lid forced open by overgrown bhp, Search the house for 1/2 hr for missing bhp, no sign anywhere. Check the tub and there it is back in its tub inside its hide.......lol

The bugger has escaped, done a lap or 2 of the house and helped itself back into its own tub and hide box......how good is that


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## Gizmo101 (Mar 31, 2014)

So just this evening I had my diamond gizmo out and I was sitting on my bed on my laptop and gizmo had curled up in his usual spot in my hand bag, my partner came in and asked if I wanted to come down town with him. Completely forgetting gizmo was hidden in there I grabbed my bag and off we went. 
I didn't realise, he must of stayed very still until we got the checkout and went looking for my wallet.
It was a very awkward/interesting kmart trip lol


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## pinefamily (Apr 1, 2014)

Lucky Kmart don't ask to look in bags, lol.


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## brothrofthhighwy (Apr 1, 2014)

I had our capeyork jungle and baby wheatbelt out wondering on the pavement for some early mornin sun, 1 mtr from where i was watching them. I was distracted for a min on the computer as its right at the back door and I turned back and couldnt see the wheatbelt, I thought it had gotten up with the cape in our little money tree, so i got up to look if this where true and nope our wheatbelt, well my partners first, had vanished, honestly. I searched for 3 hrs totally off my head. partner come home ohh my. anyway my next door neighbor hates snakes, he has seen some of my collection and likes them from a distance but thats it. So me and the partner think the birds took her, she was tiny ay. I decide not to say anything to next door thinking my god shes dead for sure. Well 3 months passes and my neighbors knocking on my door early one morning, he says quick come to my house, big house with pool and everything. He takes me into his spare room where his young grandkids play when they come over, hes packing to leave to do an interstate run in his semi, he's an interstate trucker. hes only been home 2 days as well and is going again. He takes me over to his bag hes packing his clothes in and heres this little wheatbelt girl, not a scratch on her, same size, well i was freaked, with goosebumps ahahahahaha. man we celebrated, he knew not to kill it because he had seen some of mine beforehand. If his wife had seen it well different story she says. she wasnt impressed, still to this day. She is growing well and we have brought her a male friend a year older, ken his name is, and we will breed them in the future. Im more watchful nowa days... as u do...


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## kwaka (Apr 11, 2014)

Elliott escaped out of his tank twice so far...first time my fault, didn't close the door properly...found him UNDER the tank snuggled up to the heat cord. Made a twitch for the front door, can't make that mistake again.

Second time he forced up one corner of the mesh lid of the tank (Knockdown brand, similar to Exoterra), got out a space no wider than a pencil, only to be found snuggled up underneath the tank again!! 

He likes to cruise around the top of the background and push up against the lid - my options now are to replace the tank completely and re-do the background, since the background is glued in place; or fill up the space where he cruises around with silicone or similar. That would involve him being back in a small click-clack for a few days while it cured....I might get him a bigger click-clack for a temporary home while the silicone is curing.


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## Stringess (Apr 13, 2014)

My first ever snake escaped within 2 hours of me getting her home. She escaped through the vents in the click clack. I found her curled up in the sewing cabinet. I was freaking out. It hasn't happened again, I am anal in checking her enclosure.


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## Jumby (Jul 30, 2014)

The woma one time, three days later he was back in the room in front of his cage. 0_o Was lucky!


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## arevenant (Jul 31, 2014)

Classabear said:


> Have your snakes ever escaped and been lost? Where did you find them?




No. I'm a responsible owner.


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## pinefamily (Aug 2, 2014)

Most, if not all of the people who have shared their stories on this thread are responsible owners. 
This thread was started to share these stories to help others avoid the same pitfalls.


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## Chris1 (Aug 2, 2014)

arevenant said:


> No. I'm a responsible owner.



Im a responsible owner, but one of my darwins pushed the cord holder out of the enclosure after 2 years of being in there and trashed my bedroom. I found him when i tried to push the bedroom door open and a 'door snake' was making it difficult,....he was covered in dust and seemed to have had a really good time!!


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## Dexter_84 (Aug 3, 2014)

my hatchy did temporary today. I had him in an exo terra glass style enclosure just to see if it was safe ebough for it. It has little holes for the cords to go through and from what I can gather it climbed the cord for the thermometer and slid through one on the holes and feel behind. Luckily I when I was just about to grab him out and noticed it was on the wrong side of the glass. Beginner Mistake. 

Todays Lesson
Hatchys=Click Clack containers.


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## Rainbow-Serpent (Aug 4, 2014)

arevenant said:


> No. I'm a responsible owner.


One of the things that I don't like about this hobby is how judgmental some reptile keepers can be. We're spending our time on a forum sharing information, we obviously care about our reptiles. Even the most experienced keepers sometimes lose their snakes, it happens to everyone at some point, sometimes it's human error, sometimes it's a manufacturing error. Either way, your judgment of everybody in this thread is unnecessary and, frankly, rude.


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## Beans (Aug 4, 2014)

My stimmie escaped many many times. But I ALWAYS found her in the same drawer xD


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## bladesmurray (Aug 7, 2014)

Rainbow-Serpent said:


> One of the things that I don't like about this hobby is how judgmental some reptile keepers can be. We're spending our time on a forum sharing information, we obviously care about our reptiles. Even the most experienced keepers sometimes lose their snakes, it happens to everyone at some point, sometimes it's human error, sometimes it's a manufacturing error. Either way, your judgment of everybody in this thread is unnecessary and, frankly, rude.


Very well said thumbs up to you


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## bdav70 (Aug 7, 2014)

I was at work one day and asked my girlfriend to grab a shirt for me for the evening. She swung past the house to pick it up and my little hatchie wheaty was curled up under the shirt, and gave her the fright of her life! 
Turns out he'd escaped out of the tiny gap between the cables and the hole for the thermostat probe out of the click-clack. I just couldn't believe that out of all places to escape to, he chose the only one where my girlfriend would have noticed him!


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## critterguy (Aug 8, 2014)

Nope, had her about 2.7yrs, though she does keep her tail wrapped around you and keep on getting back out of the enclosure when you go to put her back after handling if she wants more time out, she knows we can't close the lid while some of her body is out of the tank, smart girl.

Since accidently lifting the lid off the tank about 5 months ago (lifted the tank up one end but grabbed it by the lid) we had been putting weights on the doors. 
Just recently lifted the lid to remove the old silicone and re-siliconed it before putting it back on, still using the weights though because of her size and strength she has. 
Also have been tying some strong string around the latches for the lid the whole time we'd had her.

Unfortunately can't say the same for the odd woodroach, centipede and baby stick insects.


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## paultheo (Aug 8, 2014)

I"d just got a pair of hatchie jullatens from qld, I put them in a click clack each and went to bed. When i woke up the female was missing, i obviously didn't close the click clack properly and after searching high and low for a week i figured it was gone forever... Two years later i was in my snake room about to start feeding my collection when i noticed a snake slithering out of a hole that i had knocked in the wall to add another power point, the snake was in good condition and had obviously been feeding on the plentiful mice that were living in the roof and wall at that time (two years of mouse plagues) I was blown away to say the least.


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## kpross (Aug 8, 2014)

I didn't close the glass completely on one of my children's tanks. Came home one morning from work to find my male missing. Automatically assumed with the dog around she has had a nice snake snack. 4 weeks later when I was cleaning one of the rooms I found him coiled up inside a dvd case. Yes a dvd case! Instantly chucked him in a tub with some heat and threw in a couple of mice. Smashed them down quick smart. Lesson learnt. Always tripple check that the glass is solid against the tank.


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## Gizmo101 (Oct 26, 2014)

So last night at about 430, my boyfriend and I woke up to one of our bredli's Louis joining us in bed after somehow managing to open the door of his enclosure.


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## Blazed (Oct 26, 2014)

I've had this happen 3 times to me, twice was my own personal fault. Came home from a night shift and opened the tank to check on my children's and must have gotten distracted and end result was when i went to bed 14 hours later I checked on them again and found the tank open. Had a panic attack but looked around the room which at the time had my computer in it etc. Found my male curled up around my computer, the female hadn't left the tank thank god.

Then another time, similar thing but I was going a late night feeding and just mustn't have shut my coastal x's tank. A whole day later found the door open and he was gone... again panic attack, but by this stage I had a hatchling rack and as I found my last escapee near heat I checked in the rack and there he was curled up on my baby darwin's tub.

Now the third time literally happened to me a week ago. Same children's as before, the male managed to open his tank the one day the lock wasn't on (can't remember why). I had been on night shift and came home to find it open and them both gone this time. My female has always been a picky eater so she is considerably smaller. After my iminent panic attack I looked around the room and saw two inches of tail sticking out of a double knotted plastic bag that was FULL of snake poo and substrate that i hadn't taken out yet. Had to cut it open but there he was looking at me. His mate, didn't find her for 4 days. And only did my accident. My thermostat alarm was going off and I came in to check and found my temps were too hot, so I removed all my hatchies out and adjusted temps only to have my partner come in an exclaim that I'd found her. I said no the temps were too hot and she repeated NO YOU FOUND HER! Turned around and there she was in the rack wrapped around the heat cord. Who knows where she went in the meantime, I turned my house upside down and was having a heart attack that one of my cats would get her. Lucky me and lucky snake.


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## Snakewoman (Oct 27, 2014)

I had my proserpine escape when she was little. She'd been moved into a 3ft tank after being in a click clack and she was small enough get slither through the gap between the glass doors. We had 2 indoor cats which could have found her and there are so many places a small snake could get into. A couple of hours later I found her hiding under the couch which was about 5 feet away from her enclosure. Poor little thing was very cold. I put weather strip in that gap after that and didn't have another escape from her.

The other one was when I had a 6ft Atherton jungle. He must have slid against the glass door and opened it, my brother woke me up at around 11pm because he'd found the snake out. He wrapped around the two small black tables his enclosure was sitting on and it took a while for him to let them go. I have locks on the tanks to prevent this from happening again. 

Escapes can happen to anyone, snakes are masters of escape and they'll find any weakness in their enclosure/click clack and get out if they can. I've seen some of my snakes trying to push the air vents out with their noses.


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