Hi , can anybody help me. One of my snakes , a year old Corn has escaped. I think he is still in the house , my son saw him last week but could not catch him. Any suggestions on how to tempt him from his hiding place? I would be grateful for any help , thanks
One thing we tried that work really well was a bottle trap. We took an empty, 2-Liter soda bottle. Cut it in half and put the top part down into the bottom part like a funnel. Before that though, sorry, we took small strips of plastic (or cardboard), about 15-20 strips about 2 inches long and taped them around the mouth of the bottle (like you would be extending the funnel) and put a frozen-thawed pinky mouse (or whatever size prey your snake is eating) in the bottom. Then we put the two pieces together with the top inverted. The idea is, the snake is lured to the trap by the prey, squeezes into the bottle and can easily push past the plastic strips. But once his is inside the bottle and has eaten, the strips are facing the other way and are too close together to get in between so he can't get out. I hope that makes sense. Another thing we did once to track where a snake was going, was to sprinkle baking soda in areas we thought he would hide. That way, you could see his tracks if he went through it and could get a better idea of where he was going and how often. Hope this helps! Good luck!
I heard you could sprinkle powder on the ground to see where it is going - you may want to do this if you are worried he is gone or to isolate the room where he is.
my corn got out twice i found it the first time but the second time i couldn't.i have bad luck with snakes the only one snake i can keep for long is a garter snake.
wow that bottle trap is a great idea, i going to use it if my king ever escapes agian, hopefully not though.
one of my snakes got out, back when i was in like 6th grade and me and my friend were looking under the rocks in my front yard for some reason i forget. but it was under there it was still alive and good then we put it back in a cage and kept it in my sisters room and it got out again some how i dont even know how because this was a little snake like inches
Some other good suggestions is checking behind appliances in your home that put off heat such as the ref., t.v., dry, also heat vent. They will go where it is warm. Also you can set up a heating pad in one of your rooms turn the heat down low not to low but enough to make the snake look for warm spots and check it through the night. They are more active at night and you may just luck up and find him warming himself up. But they can live along time with out food and water and as young as yours is it will be hard to find. But good luck and I would try some of the other things to the pinkie trap sounds like a good idea.
if you guys havnt found them yet, and are sure that theyre still aound somewhere, try crumpling up some newspaper and puting it around the corners of the rooms....snakes will seldom go straight out the middle of a room, and this way, if they are still around, youll hear them cross the paper.
LostCorn Bad news Im afraid. Our cornsnake has turned up but he is dead. He was found last week in a neighbours garage. Looking at him I dont think he had been dead for more than a few days , he has grown quite a lot since we last saw him. He has been gone for 6 months through the winter but has obviously been feeding judging by his size .I think I would prefer him to be just missing rather than know he is dead. I am more determined than ever to make sure nothing like this happens ever again John
I'm sorry to hear about your loss Just a quick question, what precautions were you using to prevent escapes? I'm thinking of getting a Corn, and with so many stories of escapes I want to make sure I know as much as possible.
Sorry to hear about that. I've lost snakes before myself so I know what you mean about not wanting to know what happens to them. One of the best methods we've found to prevent escapes are locks on the cage lids/doors. For us it works to keep people out (the collection is in a university) but also as a reminder that we have to lock up the cage every time we put animals back. Especially since the locks won't work unless the lid is on perfect. Just an idea and one that can work with any type of cage with a little imagination and some creative shopping at the local hardware store.
Sorry to hear about your snake. Lately I've been using luggage straps around my tanks. They keep the lid on real tight if needed.
that eally sucks about your snake.....but what a lot of people dont know about these guys, is that they can fit through tiny spaces. make sure that if you have a wire top, that the wires are close enough together that he cant sqeeze through them, screen tops are better.....and also, the clamps are a good idea.....good luck
SOOOOOOOOo sorry to hear that Lost corn--- I remember you writing that a long time ago..... so sad you didn't find him in time Brado---- I have lost a corn(heard somewhere you are a true cornsnakekeeper when you lose one- then find it) luckily found it I recrommmend locking & TAPING the sliding screen lid(assumption this is what you have) I had to TAPE the entire front of the sliding lid--- caught my cute little baby (back in Sep '04) putting his whole body lengthwise along the top of the cage and lid & was attempting to roll out the lid. He was able to lift the lid ever so slightly along his body even though it was locked-- there was a slight gap when he did that........ actually saw him do it----- so when they say they can get out of the smallest little hole- - they can....... believe me
Hi I realise now that it was my fault our snake escaped. He was in a glass tank with a tight fitting lid.However the lid was not very heavy.I have since built a viv with sliding glass doors with which we have also had problems , hatchlings can squeeze through the gap between the two pieces of glass , so we had to cover this gap with clear tape until the snakes grow bigger.We now keep hatchlings in Exo Terra type Faunarium cages until they grow bigger , not good to look at but secure.Larger (yearlings +) in vivs with sliding doors. Still use glass tanks but have heavy ,tight fitting wooden lids fitted with vents. Have had no further problems but we learnt a hard lesson. regards John
