Any tips on catching an escaped young cornsnake?

[luther]

My daughter has lost a 10" corn snake in her bedroom. Any tips on finding it? How long will a young corn last assuming it has no access to food or water?

 

[Cirith Ungol]

- Poor flour on the ground allong the walls. That will give you an indication of where it might be.

- Get bottles with really tiny openings (½-3/4 of the snakes head), press in a pinky and hope the snake gets stuck on its way out because of its fat belly.

- I guess the snake could have hidden anywhere where there is enough room for it. But you can also try putting a pinky on one of those plastic bags that make a lot of that dry sound when they're moved. Put it somewhere where it isn't too cold, turn off the lights and wait there with a flashlight until you hear the snake approaching the pinky.

How long it will last.. depends on how much it has been fed already, but arround 1-3 months. Depends also on how cold it is where it stays hidden.

 

[Mister Internet]

10" is pretty small... I'm guessing only 3-4 months old? At that size, they will die fairly quickly via dessication or starvation. They simply don't have the fat reserves or body mass to go long periods without eating like adults can. I'm guessing you have at best 3 or 4 days to locate the little bugger...

May I ask how it was able to escape?

 

[Cirith Ungol]

You talk about days...?! Really???? :? Naaah?

 

[Mister Internet]

With no ready access to water and the average Relative Humidity in most houses being under 15%? Heck yeah... unless it was able to find a humid place to hang out...

which reminds me, you should make a "humid hide" (moistened paper towels or regular towels in a hide) along one of the edges of the room as well. They may very well find that and it could save them from drying out...

 

[Cirith Ungol]

With no ready access to water and the average Relative Humidity in most houses being under 15%? Heck yeah... unless it was able to find a humid place to hang out...

That might be, yes. In that case (if there are still food reserves since the last feeding or from the yoke) it seems as if the "no food" problem would be far less severe than the "no water" one.

 

[Mister Internet]

That might be, yes. In that case (if there are still food reserves since the last feeding or from the yoke) it seems as if the "no food" problem would be far less severe than the "no water" one.

Yes, dessication from lack of water is far more dangerous in hatchlings than lack of food... however, adults can't go months without water either. It's water that's the main requirement... but hatchlings couldn't go more than a couple weeks without food at that size anyway (remember, we're talking about virtually a newborn here), even if they DID have access to water...

 

[Sheri]

My escaped snake went straight down to the furnace and hot water tank area - leaving a heat pad out may be adviseable with the pinkie in the bottle trick.

Mine however ended up stuck to a sticky trap. Not so much fun getting him off that. Took a couple of hours in a warm bath, cm by cm, cutting away the excess so that he wouldn't get restuck. Only about 12" at the time, he was missing for up to a week and I have no idea how long he was stuck on the trap for.

He did alrite though, has since shed three times and is now my favorite snake.

AND has a new enclosure.

And a name, since we bonded and all.

Good luck!

 

[david31337]

I've lost my corn twice, and both time it was 2meters from the tank. Try lookin close to where it got away, and always look in the same place twice Good Luck

 

[Imegnixs_Cinder]

We have had ours escape now 3 times! 1st time we found him curled up in a carrier bag 2 days later. 2nd time we found him in the bag of cork we used for his tank, 3rd time our cats found him when we hadn't even realised he had escaped. When we knew he had escaped the 1st 2 times, we shut the door to try n contain him in 1 room, sprinked flour on the floor to follow any tracks he left and we put down some water and a dead mouse in a tank on the floor turned on its side. Look in dark warm "safe" feeling places and leave some water on the floor. They usually do turn back up pretty quickly and usually in the evenings. Good luck, I hope you find it!

 

[Empi]

I have lost my snake in the past. Both times I found it in my bed under the blankets. The funny thing is that was when I was a kid and had a bunk bed. He was in the top bunk bed.

 

[luther]

Thanks for all the tips. I'll set up a humid area in a corner of the room with a heat mat, a water bowl, a pinky and a place to hide. Hopefully I can make something it can't resist.

 

[Kasha]

My nephew lost his and it was missing for 4 months....in Alaska. We found it while weeding our flower bed in the spring. He was in the dirt along the side of the house. Aside from his tail being a little bet at the very end, he was healthy. Testament to the instinct to survive. Still have no idea how or why he got got outside.