beckyhiker
New member
Long story short, we played with and fed Zaya late Sunday afternoon before dropping my son off at computer camp; that was our last definitive sighting of her.
Yesterday, Tuesday, at around 9 p.m., I realized that I hadn't seen her since; usually in the evening she comes out to climb one of her vines or to explore her home. We ripped apart her terrarium, no Zaya, anywhere. We had lost our son's snake. I'm sure that you can guess how upset we were because she has become part of our family.
We spent the next couple of hours searching our unfortunately cluttered house in what felt like a really futile attempt to get her little 17" self back while my daughter read us snake finding tips off of the internet.
Our 3 cats could tell that something was up and 2 of them kept on top of us which honestly worried me. We gave up the search after a couple of hours since we get up very early for work, but we did put out a couple of pinkie baited traps and a water dish surrounded by cornstarch in our son's room in the hopes that she had stayed in there.
Then I saw (our hero!) Smudge sniffing and scratching at our daughter's closet door where I thought we had already searched, so I opened it again and unbelievably saw a little Oketee tail disappearing under a heap of old backpacks! OMG, with a bit of digging , we had her back! So relieved!! What a great cat, just like an old episode of Lassie.
It turns out that the screen on top of her home (Zoo Med Reptihabitat snake kit 20G) had come loose in 1 spot from the frame, so she must have pushed her way out from the new vine that I had so conveniently placed there just this past weekend.:face_palm_02:
My husband duck taped the screen on securely all around, both on top of, and under, the top, so hopefully she won't be able to work the screen loose again.
My question, are these "habitats" not known for being secure? There are only 2 pins holding the screen in place. I'm really concerned that somehow she'll be able to work her way out again. Where do you buy better enclosures for snakes? Or, how can I make it even more secure? We are going away for a week's vacation Saturday morning.
Also, I would just like to say to other new corn onwers, don't loose hope if your snake gets out. Even if it seems totally hopeless, they can be found! Check the closets!
Yesterday, Tuesday, at around 9 p.m., I realized that I hadn't seen her since; usually in the evening she comes out to climb one of her vines or to explore her home. We ripped apart her terrarium, no Zaya, anywhere. We had lost our son's snake. I'm sure that you can guess how upset we were because she has become part of our family.
We spent the next couple of hours searching our unfortunately cluttered house in what felt like a really futile attempt to get her little 17" self back while my daughter read us snake finding tips off of the internet.
Our 3 cats could tell that something was up and 2 of them kept on top of us which honestly worried me. We gave up the search after a couple of hours since we get up very early for work, but we did put out a couple of pinkie baited traps and a water dish surrounded by cornstarch in our son's room in the hopes that she had stayed in there.
Then I saw (our hero!) Smudge sniffing and scratching at our daughter's closet door where I thought we had already searched, so I opened it again and unbelievably saw a little Oketee tail disappearing under a heap of old backpacks! OMG, with a bit of digging , we had her back! So relieved!! What a great cat, just like an old episode of Lassie.
It turns out that the screen on top of her home (Zoo Med Reptihabitat snake kit 20G) had come loose in 1 spot from the frame, so she must have pushed her way out from the new vine that I had so conveniently placed there just this past weekend.:face_palm_02:
My husband duck taped the screen on securely all around, both on top of, and under, the top, so hopefully she won't be able to work the screen loose again.
My question, are these "habitats" not known for being secure? There are only 2 pins holding the screen in place. I'm really concerned that somehow she'll be able to work her way out again. Where do you buy better enclosures for snakes? Or, how can I make it even more secure? We are going away for a week's vacation Saturday morning.
Also, I would just like to say to other new corn onwers, don't loose hope if your snake gets out. Even if it seems totally hopeless, they can be found! Check the closets!
I'd actually love to know the brand of it...you can always tell the high-quality ones by the build, seal, and locking mechanisms.