There's nothing worse than coming home to an empty house.... or cage for that matter. After a nice vacation, I arrived home and promptly checked up on my pets. Lo and behold, there was a snake cage but no snake. This is always a cause of panic... first, there is the concern for the snake. Second, there is the worry that certain family members or roommates might not be too happy about having a snake loose in the house. Finally, there is the fact that the landlord is not going to be happy when they find snake skins lying around the house.

There are a few steps you can take to try to find your snake. First, you want to find most of the warm places in the house. Check under your dryer, oven (if possible), hot water heater, furnace, etc. Next, check underneath large and close to the ground objects. Couches, dirty clothes piles, pillows, and beds resting on the floor are good places to look. Next place to look is in cabinets and drawers, and under sinks. My snake, oddly enough, was underneath the washing machine.

If after all that you still cannot find him, then just be patient; soon enough you are going to find snake skin, feces, or even the snake himself lying under some object that will scare you half to death. Long ago, I lost a corn snake and we thought he was long gone until one week we found a shedding in one of the bedrooms. Less than a week later, I was curling up on the couch when I moved a pillow and there he was, sleeping like a baby! So don't fret too much (at least about the snake), he may even catch a few mice while on the loose!

(01/17/07)Added Note: After walking away from my snake for maybe 10 min while he was eating, I return and he is not there! I panic, mostly because I now have pet rats which he would love to get ahold of, and also because I am in an apartment complex and I'm sure my neighbors wouldn't like to have a snake in their apartment. I search the house for about an hour, and then turn to the web. I stumbled across http://www.anapsid.org/escapedsnake.html and see a little part about how a snake would prefer being behind a toilet than go down in. Well, there he is! This leads to a new problem though....

How do you remove a snake who is determined to stay where he is?

Well, in my case, you don't. (Unless you get a plumber to completely remove the toilet!) In a situation where you know where your snake is but can't get him out, forcing is not a good idea unless enough of him is already out to prevent injury. The key... patience. There are a few ways to try to coax a snake out. Food can sometimes lure them out, and so can heat. You can put heat directly on him (not too hot!) and hope he gets more active, though in my case this backfired and he was content to sleep and digest his last meal. You can also move the heat source and hope that he decides to leave his spot and move to the heat source. Put a box near the heat source for him to hide in and walk away. If you hang around, your snake will never move. Anyway, getting a snake un-stuck is a battle of will and patience; can you wait for him to come out on his own (which can take days) or do you take drastic measures (like the plumber, in my case)? Either way, it is never a happy situation for you or the snake. Once you get him, put him in his cage and LEAVE HIM ALONE!~