Escape into vents?

My juvenile 8 month old corn escaped in a huge carpeted room with floor-set warm air vents, one of which was just two feet from her tank. It's cold out so we have the heating on, and she's small enough to have slipped through the grating covering the vent.

I've searched wherever I could and set 'caves' against walls, and left out water dishes, but the vents will be warmer and more dark and enclosed than anywhere else. She's a couple of days late for her feeding now. I tried leaving some pinkies out, but I'm only in this house for about half of each week and I've had to discard them - when I'm at work I don't come back here at all, and the other residents won't swap out dead animals.

Even though I've done a whole lot of google searching and there's a lot of advice, I haven't been able to find advice about small snakes getting into vents. Can they get back out? Do they get back out? I've stuck a hand towel halfway down the closest vent for traction hopefully.

I've used a flashlight and cellphone camera/video to check the inside of vents when I've had little ones escape.

Most vents have an elbow just below it which is typically about 6-8" to the bottom of the duct. I've seen baby corns able to climb the side of a 10gal tank with about only 10-20% of their body touching the floor. I would think they would be able to get out of the vent on their own most of the time.

Typical warm air vents are just pushed into the duct work. You should be able to lift the vent out of the floor. I've done that before to check on a missing snake. Then I used a small mirror and flashlight to check the vent. Unfortunately, most houses have duct work that has many branches going to different rooms, and the snake could travel a long way. Let's hope she is staying right in the area of her vent.

Good ideas.

I've checked using a phone camera with flash and haven't seen her. Our ducts do connect in branches under the floor. It would be very dark but I suppose that wouldn't bother her much. I've put a little dish of water into the duct closest to her tank in case she comes back, but I don't know if she'll do that. This is on the second floor, too.

I'm going to brain a pinkie and try dragging it in a trail up some paper to a bottle trap I'll leave overnight. The ducts blow hot air out so I imagine it's harder to smell things out here in the rooms though.

Just a thought, but you mentioned the air flow pushing the mouse smell away from where your snake could be. Do you have an intake air vent? This would be where you change out your air filter. While it may cause your whole house smell like death for a while; could you put the mouse at the intake, near the air filter? With a snakes keen sense of smell, maybe your snake would follow the smell through the duct work and locate the mouse. Could you have your bottle trap there? Again, just a thought. Best of luck to you!


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Unfortunately I share this house with some other people, who don't like snakes and definitely don't like corpse smells. Plus this is a two-story house and the room I put the tank in is on the second floor. If I can work out a couple of days where I'm off work and here by myself I'll try it though, thanks!

I created a four foot track of paper, smashed a frozen pinkie in the head until it turned to moosh, smeared that on the paper, and shoved it into the ductwork then put the rest of the pinkie and the bottle trap outside of the vent under a towel propped up by kiddie chairs.

Nothing.

It's a large house, two stories and a basement, and the ducts are fit to warm all of it. She's had plenty of time by now to wander far from the starting point. I don't know if she'll remember where that was and come back when she's thirsty enough, or if she'll seek out the light of duct openings at all.

If this was a warm month then she'd probably seek to leave the ducts as they would be circulating cold air but it's not, and it won't be for half a year.

Don’t give up. I’ve heard stories of little slithery friends being gone for much longer and then all of the sudden showing back up out of the blue. That’s definitely what I’m hoping will be the case for you!


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