Crazy Corn Story Help Needed

About 10 days ago my 1 year old corn got out of his viv. Yes it was my fault as I did not have the lid secured. We keep the snake in my sons bedroom as it really is his. We looked and looked, but we unable to find it. We pretty much gave up hope as we are in a 3 story home and there are tons of hiding places as I have two kids and lots of junk around. We were out of town for the Memorial day weekend and as I was putting my son to bed I looked over and noticed a shed in the viv and a fresh poop. Yes we left the lid off of the viv, but this was crazy to think he came back. I looked around and he was now where to be found. So I place a hopper in the viv last night and it was gone this morning.

The snake has to be near by, but I have no idea where. I am looking for some trap ideas and anything you could suggest. I would love to make a trap of of some sort. I thought of tying some dental floss to a pinky and hoping the lid would come down on his viv so I could hear it, but I don't want my corn to eat dental floss. Any ideas or suggestions would be helpful. I need to look some more tonight.

Are you sure you completely searched the viv? Underneath all the woodchips and everything?

You could do the pop bottle trick. Take a 2 liter plastic bottle, cut the top off (so you cut off a funnel shape), invert it and stick it back into the bottle. That way the snake crawls in and can't get back out because it's always searching along the perimeter, and the exit is in the middle of the container. Not sure if that made sense. Do a search for it if you can't find it.

Anyway, you can bait that with a mouse.

Other than that I would just keep leaving mice in the viv regularly so it gets in the habit of going back in there and keep an eye out. Make sure you put lots of good hiding spots in there to encourage him to take shelter in the viv after a meal.

Sounds like he is still in your son's room. One thing I have heard here is to put down flour around. This way you could see where he is going. You might want to check different spots were it is warm. The only thing else I could say is a night of staying up and watching for him. But you would have to be careful not to scare him when you do see him. Dental floss wouldnt be a good idea. This probably would promote regurge and you dont want that.

Is there any hollow tank ornaments?

in Don Soderbergs book, "Corn Snakes in Captivity" he has a great trick - using masking or painters tape, leave a piece where they will get stuck. When corns are loose they tend to follow wall, so put tape next to the wall in the room where the escape happened. all walls is recommended. either curl the ends so tape will stick to floor, with sticky side up or drop it like ribbon.

Hope you find it

I'd vote for the little beggar still being somewhere in the tank.

One of mine "escaped" a couple of years ago. I emptied the viv TWICE looking for her but no sign. Two weeks later I found her hiding right in the top of a hide - I'd taken it out and left it on the lounge floor twice while I was looking for her.

Thanks for the tips guys. There is a artificial tree limb in the viv. I wonder if he is in it or even if it is hollow? Heck the lid is still off the viv, I hope he was not in the entire time and is now out around the house. If I worked closer to home, I would drive and check. I will try the bottle trick if he is not there.

maybe leave some water out, so he doesn't end up roaming to find some and end up stuck in the washer. I hope you find your little guy soon!

I thought one of mine escaped, but there was a hole big enough in one of the fake branches I had in his enclosure for him to hide in it, you could not see the hole but one day I looked and his head was sticking out of the thing. He could still be ther just hidden. Good luck!

There have been many people who have had success with the bottle trick. Definitely do that. I think you should search the viv also. After eating, they will usually find a place to hide and rest. Since he took the mouse, he may have found a good hiding place in the viv.

The mystery is now solved. Thank you all so much for your input and ideas. My wife went home for lunch and I asked her to check one of the tree branches that we have and there it was looking at her. I had no idea it was hollow. My wife said she had no idea how it could fit in the little hole, but it was there. The crazy part of this story is, I had the lid off for over 7 days and it never left. This same corn was know to hide at the top of the cage and glass. I would have bet money the snake was not in the viv. I checked many times, but then again I am told I can't find the milk in the fridge and it is right between my eyes.

Thanks again.

like I said the same thing happened to me. It really upset me because I am careful to secure the screen! Thank goodness I put everything back after searching for the brat and for some reason secured the top and a couple days later he had his head sticking out looking at me! What was really funny is I placed tape traps and flour.

Does the branch look like this?

Mine did! :dancer:

I also lost one years ago to find out it was still in the viv. I was using an old wooden cage with wire screen and could not for the life of me figure out how she got out. I searched for days and could not find her. I ended up pulling everything out of the cage and realized the floor of it was loose and pulled it up. The wood had started to rot and she worked her way inside of it.

one time mine climbed up in an artificial tree limb and got stuck for two days. he finally got out and i plugged the holes with the lids from coke bottles. works like a charm

Glad your snake is safe at home!

I'm so glad you've found the little monster - and I'm so glad it's not just me!