Please, Please Help!

[sassysnake]

I know that there have been a million of these posts on this site, but I don't know what else to do. I have (correction, had) a 23 inch amel corn, and she has been living in the same viv, a 120 gallon that I made myself for 8-9 months. Often, just like everyone, I don't see her for awile, but I just saw her 2 night ago, when I took her out for some "play time" (more fun for me that her, I'm sure). Then last night I thawed out her food and went to find her, and she couldn't. I just though she was hiding and I started to search, but 1/2 a hour later after taking every single thing out of my viv, she was gone. I pulled my room apart until 2:30 in the morning with no luck (pulled the bed apart and flipped it over, the couch, every other thing that even remotely touched the floor. She couldn't have gotten out of my room (90% sure) cuz i have a plastic gaurd under my door that seals it, but I think (I can angle my head right to see for sure) that there might be a tiny hole in the courner under my wall heater. Unfortunatly, I live in a 19 floor apartment building, and it could lead anywhere. I left two fuzzies out last night, one at each end of the room, cuz it IS feeding time of the week, and she didn't touch them by this morning, but I was afraid to leave them too close to the hole in case she went to get the food, and then found the hole if she isn't already in there. I'm also afraid to block it off in case she is. I'm going to leave water, food again in a few days, and after this I'm on my way down to alert my landlord if anyone complains about a snake. As for me, I couldn't sleep at all last night, I cried for two hours, didn't go to school today, haven't gotten dressed or eaten anything, and I keep ramdomly calling my mom and bursting into tears. I can't stop thinking about her, and I'm an absolute mess! I've never felt so aweful, and I'm hoping someone would be really nice and respond (I know you've prob all done it before) but go over with me again all the ideas those with experience have for finding them, anything at all that I can do. I didn't even sllep in my room last night, hoping the silence would lure her out to eat. I know some of you have said that you found yours after weeks went by, what did you do? I really badly need some support, and I'm hoping someone can reach out, I just can believe how bad I feel and how scared I am for her, she's just so tiny and helpless and I love her so much :crying:
Thank You

 

[stefmc24]

i'm really really sorry....

i don't really have any advice as to how to find her (i, fortunately have been lucky so far)....but i wanted to give you some reassurance....

i have read post upon post upon post on this forum of people finding their snakes hours, days weeks, even MONTHS later, and they are ok.

just don't give up hope and keep looking. it's obvious you care very much about your friend.

remember don't assume they're under something or along the floor. they like to climb, too. look up! maybe along the top of a window pane or lamp...anything really.

good luck, i hope you find her soon!!!

 

[dionythicus]

Stay Positive!

I'm so sorry, Sassy! I kicked myself day and night when our newest addition got out last October. Another baby got out just after that, and we thought we had fixed the problem! Neither one has been found. There are holes in the walls where they could have gone, and boxes out the wazoo that we have torn through to no avail. I'm hoping that they are living on the mice that seem to find their way into the attic! Explain a five foot yellow ratsnake to the people buying your house!

I feel so bad for you. It takes time after something like this to forgive yourself. What did I do/not do that allowed my baby to get out?

It sounds like a really large viv for that size of a snake. Have you pawed through all the substrate to make sure she isn't curled up in a little ball somewhere? I have to go hunting for our hognose, who lives under the substrate. I always think he's gone until I bump into him.

I hope you find her soon. She can go for a few weeks or months without eating, so you have time to keep tearing the place apart! Try putting a pinky/fuzzy in an empty 2 litre bottle so the snake may slip inside and curl up to digest. Maybe you'll find her there the next morning.

Good luck.

 

[princess]

I feel your pain. The same thing happened to me last week. My 4 foot snow got out of the most stupidly small gap and I was in an absolute fit. Thankfully I found him about an hour later but I was in tears and couldn't think straight in the meanwhile, the thought that he'd been out for up to 24 hours or so made me panic even more. Peoples comforting words will fall on your deaf ears when your snake is missing and nothing will really help you feel better but you have to remember that in the overwhelming majority of cases the snake will turn up unscathed in a short while and then you'll have a good laugh about it. You and your snake are in our thoughts,
Adèle

 

[sassysnake]

Thank so much for the quick replys! I am doing the third destruction of my room, and then I am going to close it up and set up some "traps". I read a bunch or forums, and I'm going to do the bottle, the paper bags, the flour the haet lamp spot, and put her favorite hide onr the floor (her damp peat moss dome) , and I'm definatly going to look on the top shelves of my cupboard (I don't know how she could possibly climb the walls, but I can't figure how she got out either and she did, and your right stef, gotta 'look up') other then that, I don't know. I keep getting angry and searching furiously, and then just giving up and sitting and thinking, but every time I think I've pulled myself together again, I'm sitting there and I just start to cry! I love these animals, but i just can't imagine ever even looking at another one without horrible memories if I don't find her! Thank you again for your kind words and support, going to look again. P.S. Should i cover up the hole? anyone know?
Bye for now

 

[mbdorfer]

Just a thought, but do you have any type of hollow plastic stones,cliffs,trees etc in the viv? I thought I lost one of mine last year. I took everything out including all the substrate and was totally stumped as to how she could have gotten out. It wasn't till I started putting everything back in the viv that I noticed a rock decoration had two holes on either side of the bottom, I got a flashlight and sure enough she was up in there. I laid it on it's side in the viv and she didn't come out till 3 days later. Another idea is to look high in your room, top of curtains, top of dresser etc, they will generally explore upwards before they go to the floor. Good luck and keep us posted

Mike B

 

[MegF.]

If you have blinds you might check there as one poster said they found their snake in the strip that the blinds hang from. A lot of times they don't go far from the viv, and if you have a space underneath, check there. One other person found there's in a box of shirts. Look everywhere, even if you don't think it would be a good place.

 

[KatieL]

Oh! I'm so sorry sassy! I just went through the trauma of losing Sienna two weeks ago. Jeff and I tore the entire room apart, and just when we were about to give up hope Jeff found her in the bottom corner of his closet under a pile of clothes. I know how stressful the loss of a snake can be! One other trick I've heard of (the one I had decided to try if we hadn't found her by night) was putting tissue paper or plastic shopping bags around the edges of the walls, and then when it got dark sitting very still in the room and listening for the snake rustling through them. It seemed like a good idea to me since if they were in the room you'd be able to pinpoint their location. Just an idea. I never had a chance to test it (thankfully) so I don't know how helpful it truely is, but it might be worth a shot. Good luck!!!