- Joined
- Dec 22, 2004
- Messages
- 3,883
Well, this is how I "lost" a snake yesterday:
I was doing a long overdue clean up job in my large corn tank. I picked out poo, changed water, did some general cleaning, put one hide outside the tank, then the other hide outside the tank... and no snake! And it wasn't in the climbing tree. Dude...!
Had it snuck out while I had taken the hides out of the tank? Naaaah! That couldn't be, I only looked away for 10-20 seconds! But - the tank doors don't close entirely. Between one door and the tank wall there is a 5mm gap and if I push I can make the gap open to 1cm. I though - Naaaaaah! It's a full grown corn! It can't get out through a 1cm gap! Much less push it open like that!
So I took one of my long brushes and carefully poked through the substrate. And I poked. And then I poked some more. No snake.
By then I could feel the cold swet. I finished the cleaning job, closed up the tank and took out my flashlight. I thought, if the snake had escaped then my cat would have alarmed me! And it hadn't. But who knows, right? So I looked under one sofa, the other sofa, under the bed, behind the bed, behind the big tank shelf, under the fridge, on top of the fridge, in the bathroom behind the toilet, in the shower, under the aquarium and finally I noticed that the snake could crawl into the closed cupboard under the sink because there is a ventilation hole. I opened up, took all the cardboard boxes out and saw a large hole in the bottom of the cupboard where the pipes go down below the cupboard. I checked with the flashlight and lo and behold - nada. I thought - Naaaaaaah! This can't be true. The snake can't be gone!
I slept with one eye open last night and at one point I noticed my cat half freaked out and investigating a corner with cardboard boxes. I got up, checked it myself... nothing. After that I gave up.
And this morning what do I see? Yes, a perfectly fine snake inside its tank, looking for a good place to lay some eggs. Phew!
I have since then made an effort to close the 5mm gap and to block the doors from being pushed open further. I think I would have freaked out if I hadn't seen the snake for a few days. I'd have started looking through the entire flat. For a time there this wasn't very much fun
I can now see her dug down in the substrate, only about 2-3 inches of her tail sticking out. That's probably the only spot I didn't check yesterday...
I was doing a long overdue clean up job in my large corn tank. I picked out poo, changed water, did some general cleaning, put one hide outside the tank, then the other hide outside the tank... and no snake! And it wasn't in the climbing tree. Dude...!
Had it snuck out while I had taken the hides out of the tank? Naaaah! That couldn't be, I only looked away for 10-20 seconds! But - the tank doors don't close entirely. Between one door and the tank wall there is a 5mm gap and if I push I can make the gap open to 1cm. I though - Naaaaaah! It's a full grown corn! It can't get out through a 1cm gap! Much less push it open like that!
So I took one of my long brushes and carefully poked through the substrate. And I poked. And then I poked some more. No snake.
By then I could feel the cold swet. I finished the cleaning job, closed up the tank and took out my flashlight. I thought, if the snake had escaped then my cat would have alarmed me! And it hadn't. But who knows, right? So I looked under one sofa, the other sofa, under the bed, behind the bed, behind the big tank shelf, under the fridge, on top of the fridge, in the bathroom behind the toilet, in the shower, under the aquarium and finally I noticed that the snake could crawl into the closed cupboard under the sink because there is a ventilation hole. I opened up, took all the cardboard boxes out and saw a large hole in the bottom of the cupboard where the pipes go down below the cupboard. I checked with the flashlight and lo and behold - nada. I thought - Naaaaaaah! This can't be true. The snake can't be gone!
I slept with one eye open last night and at one point I noticed my cat half freaked out and investigating a corner with cardboard boxes. I got up, checked it myself... nothing. After that I gave up.
And this morning what do I see? Yes, a perfectly fine snake inside its tank, looking for a good place to lay some eggs.
Phew!I have since then made an effort to close the 5mm gap and to block the doors from being pushed open further. I think I would have freaked out if I hadn't seen the snake for a few days. I'd have started looking through the entire flat. For a time there this wasn't very much fun
I can now see her dug down in the substrate, only about 2-3 inches of her tail sticking out. That's probably the only spot I didn't check yesterday...