Cautionary tale

[nitrogen15]

Terra-cotta pots make great hides for snakes, so I put a broken one in with Tiger. It was the larger half of a pot, so the hole at the base was still intact. When I first put it in I made sure she could easily fit through the hole, just to be safe. I didn't realize how fat she'd been getting over the past year until she tried to thread herself through the hole yesterday and got totally stuck. So stuck that she was dragging the pot around the terrarium. I had to saw through the pot with a jig-saw and break it into pieces to rescue her without causing any damage.

Anybody else had mishaps with decor they could share?

[guidofatherof5]

Glad to hear you got her out without any injury.

[PINJOHN]

a happy ending to what might have been a tragic outcome, but you story shows the fallacy of the oft quoted claim that if a snake can get its head through a gap then it can get all of its body through

[chris-uk]

Our Binky likes to "wear her coconut" as Char phrases it... there will come a day when I will need to enlarge the hole in the top of her coconut, or Binky will have to stop using it.

[guidofatherof5]

Better to enlarge it now than to forget it later.;)

[chris-uk]

Better to enlarge it now than to forget it later.;)

Sage advice.

[infernalis]

I inspect all decorations and hides and fill holes/gaps with a hot glue gun.

I found a nice looking rock formation once inended for aquariums, and I figured it would be fine for snakes so I put it in an enclosure with a litter of babies.

After the fact I discovered that there were small holes in the bottom to let the water in so it would sink to the bottom of the aquarium.

After a day I couldn't find a single baby, they had climbed inside the rock ornament through the little holes, I had a difficult time getting the snakes back out... I fill all hollow things like this with hot glue now to keep the snakes from entering.

[Char361979]

Our Binky likes to "wear her coconut"

She does indeed! We've often commented that she will get too big for it eventually... After reading this I think we need to get the drill out now to be on the safe side.

[nitrogen15]

I'm keeping a closer eye on tank ornaments after this, for sure. No more ornaments with holes, just to be safe. Tiger is a great snake, and didn't bite, musk or fight throughout the ordeal. She's also totally undamaged, so I feel pretty lucky.


a happy ending to what might have been a tragic outcome, but you story shows the fallacy of the oft quoted claim that if a snake can get its head through a gap then it can get all of its body through

In my experience that claim is true for mice, but not for snakes.


After reading this I think we need to get the drill out now to be on the safe side.

I'm glad Tiger's mishap helped to prevent a similar one with Binky. :) After this incident I'm inclined to advise against round holes altogether, and only endorse semicircular ones.

[ConcinusMan]

I got Amy as a baby. As soon as he started having trouble getting through the holes in that first hide, I ditched it like a hot potato since I have already "been there, done that" when I was first starting out with snakes. Not even 6 months later, I don't think he could have even fit under the bottom, let alone poke his head out through that hole.

He liked to play "peek-a-boo" with that hide. Or was it "jack-in-the-box" ? a little of both I think. Find the snake:
http://desmond.imageshack.us/Himg443/scaled.php?server=443&filename=gedc0916large.jpg&res=medium

[RedSidedSPR]

Yes. I don't have pics but I had the same experience as Ricahrd with a stupid hide for a store.