The first time one of my snakes got loose I was lucky.
I was SO lucky in fact, that I actually found it before I even realized it had gotten out of its cage!
It was a three foot red tail boa that had pried open the top of its aquarium, then climbed under the shade of a lamp right next to the tank. When I went to turn the light on to check on my reptiles, I felt it coiled around the post of the lamp.
Not everyone gets so lucky, and finding an escaped snake can be a near impossible task if you don’t have a good plan.
If you’ve lost your snake, don’t panic! I’m going to help you.
Here is a step by step plan along with some good tips for how to find a lost snake.
1. Watch out for your dogs and cats.
If you have dogs or cats who may attack or injure your snake, you should lock them up right away. You don’t want them finding your snake before you do!
On the flip side, these guys can actually aid you in your search!
I’m getting a little ahead of myself though, because using your other pets to find your snake takes more time. I’ll explain more about that later.
Just start out by getting them safely out of the way and locking them up so you don’t have to babysit them while you’re doing step 2.
2. Start a search near the snake’s enclosure.
When you first notice your snake is missing, you’ve got a pretty good chance that it hasn’t gone very far.
Most of the time it is still in the same room. You need to check the room as thoroughly as possible. Snakes don’t like to be out in the open much, so the first thing it’s usually going to do is find a place to hide.
This means you don’t just look under a couch. You pull off every cushion, and search every square inch of that cushion to ensure there are no holes in the fabric it could slip into.
You carefully turn that couch upside down and try to check the inside of the frame. Literally examine every square inch of the furniture inside and out. And you do this with EVERY nook, cranny and object in that room.
You’ve got a better than 50/50 chance of finding your lost snake with this one step.
3. Lock down searched rooms and branch out.
Once you are 100% certain the snake is not anywhere in its room, it’s time to fan out.
Before you do so however, be sure to close the door to its room and lodge some towels or blankets under the door so your snake can’t get back in. You don’t want it sneaking back into a room you’ve already explored when you’re not looking!
As to where you should hunt next, I prefer to be methodical and begin searching adjacent rooms. Like I said earlier, your snake is not likely to go very far right away.
The longer it is out, the further it might go, but in the beginning you have to assume it has found a hiding place close by and is doing what snakes do. It’s either waiting to ambush prey, or hiding and waiting until it’s safe to come out and hunt.
The more commotion and noise you make while looking for it, the more likely it is to hunker down and stay in place.
Continue searching your entire home, room by room, until you are out of places to search. Most of the time you will find your lost snake by this point.
Thorough searching is the number one way to find a lost snake.
4. Lower the temperature in your home.
If you haven’t found your snake by now, it’s time to start getting crafty.
That little bugger must be good! That’s OK because we are too, and we’re not giving up!
Lower the temperature of your home down to around 60 degrees, turn the fan switch to “On” instead of “Auto”, and set up some heat sources. Use whatever you have, heating pads, hot water bottles, heat lamps…anything.
Place these heat sources in each room along with a good hiding place. This can be hides from their enclosure, shoe boxes, baskets, whatever you have.
The idea is to get them searching for heat, and finding it in the locations of your choice.
It’s important to do this in every room of your home. You don’t want it searching too hard to find an ideal spot, or it could end up being inside the water heater, or anything else that puts off heat like electronics.
You also want to sit quietly for up to several hours if you’ve gotten to this point. You want your snake to feel safe to come out of hiding. Don’t do anything that would alert it to your presence. It can even feel the vibration of you walking across the floor.
5. Make sure you search at night too.
If none of the above steps have netted you a safe and sound snake, it’s time to roll up our sleeves. Regardless of whether your species is diurnal or nocturnal, most snakes are active right after it gets dark.
If you haven’t caught your pet by now, this may be the best time to do so.
You’ll want to find a comfortable place to sit quietly in order to make it feel safe enough to come out. And make sure you have a flashlight with you.
You’re probably wondering how you’re going to know if it’s crawling around in the dark. Well, you’ll need to set up some noise makers throughout your home to alert you.
Here are some things you can use.
- Crinkle up some aluminum foil, then spread it back out. You’re going to set it out around the perimeters, and around furniture. If you don’t crinkle it up first, the snake may crawl over it without making enough noise for you to hear.
- Instead of foil, you can tape plastic grocery bags to the floor. If you don’t tape them down, your pet might crawl under them without you knowing.
- Another idea is to use dominoes. Place dominoes on their edges in lines of a dozen or so. Space the lines apart according to the size of your snake. They can be a few feet apart for big specimens, or close together for something smaller. Run the lines perpendicular to the wall to make them harder to go around. All you need is for the snake to bump one domino for you to be alerted.
- Something else I’ve heard of people using is clear tape. Use the generic kind because it doesn’t stick as well, and shouldn’t injure your reptile when it comes off. Set the tape sticky side up in two foot stretches and balance several coins on the end of it. If your snake goes over the tape, it will pull it and the coins will fall off.
Snakes are stealthy and move quietly, but with a little ingenuity you can gain the advantage.
6. Set up traps to track your snake.
If you haven’t found your snake by the end of the first day and night, all hope is not lost. No need to panic yet! We still have several ideas we can try.
The first of those ideas is to set a tracking trap. This isn’t a “trap” in the traditional sense where you actually catch the animal. I’m talking about a trick that will allow you to see where your pet has been, and hopefully where it is now.
- Some people suggest sprinkling flour on the floor along the baseboards, and around potential hiding spots like furniture and such.
I’m not a huge fan of this, or at least not the way others do it. It can be effective for sure, but it also leaves a huge mess to clean up. What I recommend is to tape sheets of paper to the floor in intervals, and only put the flour on the paper. Less mess afterwards.
- Another thing to try is clear tape. Leave two foot long strips, sticky side up, anywhere your snake might go. When it slither over the tape it will take some of it along the way, and hopefully lead you to its hiding spot.
- I’ve even heard of one person who put individual squares of toilet paper in organized rows. They left them in the same places I’ve mentioned in hopes of his pet moving them whenever it came out of hiding.
7. Use a lure to bring your snake out of hiding.
We’re starting to get into longer term methods now, when you’re snake has been missing for a couple of days or longer.
Some people will recommend you put a frozen/thawed (FT) mouse or rat out as bait. Personally, I don’t think that’s good enough. Most snakes won’t want to eat unless they feel safe enough to do so. By the time you put a mouse out and sit quietly for awhile, the thawed rodent will have cooled off, and won’t be putting out much scent.
Try this instead. Go get one of those cheap one or two gallon plastic aquariums with the plastic lid, and buy a couple mice.
Live mice will pee, poop and produce additional odors that will entice your snake. Carry the rodents around from room to room to really spread the scent, then set the tank down, sit quietly and wait for it to come hunting.
Make sure you’re not sitting near the caged mice. I’d set them on the opposite side of the room so your pet feels safe to investigate.
You can place the caged mice inside the snakes enclosure when you have to be away from home. Run the heat and lights on the same schedule you normally would if your pet were there. Hopefully you’ll come home to find it back in its cage!
8. Check the vents.
I haven’t mentioned this earlier for a couple of reasons.
1. It can be a major challenge to check the vents, so I like to try easier things first.
2. If you lowered the temperature as I suggested, the snake most likely left the vent if it was ever in there. Even if it’s winter, lowering your temp to 60 degrees should have kicked on your air conditioner for a short while.
I should mention that this step is for people who have floor vents. If you’re vents are high up on the wall with duct work in the attic, it is going to be near impossible for your snake to be there.
If you’ve tried all of the other steps and have had no success, it might be time to give this a shot.
Most duct work in houses is flexible. If you have a large snake, you can simply lift the duct and feel if the snake is in there. With smaller snakes, you may need to disconnect the duct and retract it all the way to see if it is in there.
9. Set up security cameras.
This can get a little pricey, but desperate times call for desperate measures.
You can pick up decent indoor security cameras for as little as $25 – $50. To be effective however, you’re probably going to want one for each room.
Most security cameras allow you to view remotely with your cell phone, which allows you to keep an eye out for your pet when you’re not home.
Don’t get your hopes up for motion activation though. Most motion sensors rely on PIR (passive infrared). They detect changes in temperature in order to trigger the camera to start filming. A snake probably won’t put off enough heat to trigger the sensor.
10. Additional tips
Here are a few final tips and methods to help you find your escaped snake.
- Use a selfie stick with your cell phone camera and/or flashlight to see hard to reach places.
- Consider passing out pictures to your neighbors. I don’t like doing this since it can freak your neighbors out, but as a last resort it’s worth considering.
- Use your other pets (cats and dogs) to help you search. You can do this by keeping your home as quiet as possible and wait for them to become alerted to something. Pets usually like to be in the same room as you, so pick a different room each day to sit quietly in for several hours.
- Move your snake’s enclosure to different rooms. Put the cage on the floor where it’s easy to get to, have all the heat and lights on, and place a FT rodent inside. Leave the enclosure in each room for a full day, then move it to a different room the next day.
Summary
Dealing with an escaped snake is never fun.
These animals were born to hide extremely well, remain still and in place for hours (sometimes even days), and keep perfectly quiet throughout it all.
I did not address finding your snake if it has gotten outside. If it happens to get out of your home, all you can really do is search and get lucky.
The steps and methods I’ve laid out for you will help you find your pet nearly every single time. If you don’t find it within the first few days however, do not give up.
Continue searching for your snake daily. Keep in mind it will shed at some point, so you have a chance of finding its skin even if it’s days or weeks after it went missing.
They are designed to go long periods of time without eating, and face many adverse situations. I would at the very least continue searching every day for a couple of months.
One last piece of advice. If you find your snake after it has been missing for several days or longer, watch it closely for signs of a respiratory infection and be prepared to take it to a vet if you see any signs of illness.