escapees ...

[mikm]

It's been a VERY long 2 weeks for me ... Last week I had a major bronchitis problem which had me literally 'resting' for days. For some reason the antibiotics did not seem to have the curative effect they have in the past. Anyway I had fed the O_Reds and removed all of their cage furniture as I intended to clean their cage. I left them in their feeding containers for a day then decided to put them back in their cage as I had not scooped out the bedding yet and I was not up to the cleaning their cage. Perhaps two days later I bolted upright in response to panic screams coming from my kitchen. I have central air/heating and there in my kitchen was the male O_Red, sticking straight up like a cobra coming out from the floor air vent/grate !! He spotted me and retreated a bit, I tried to grab him but he was gone in an instant. I stood there for a few moments weighing my options. Scare him further and risk him dropping all the way down or dismantling the grate. I decided to take my chances and remove the grate. Unbeknownst to me, once I removed the grate there was a lip of sorts around the opening and there he was all curled up in the corner. GREAT ... or so I thought ... I was puzzled a bit as to how he got out in the first place, but he has developed a habit of diving straight out of his cage when I slide the plexi front open so I thought in my illness I somehow missed it as I open the cages every day to turn on/off the lights. A few moments after returning him to his cage that explanation just did not feel right so I removed him again and started looking for the female. They are both big time burrowers and I do not see them out & about too much. As I sifted through the bedding I saw the escape route. After I bought these cages (5 years ago) I had added a thermostat. I had to drill a hole in the back of the cage to accomadate it and then plugged up the hole with a hard plastic plug. Apparently when I was fishing them out to feed them I had inadvertly knocked out the plug !!! As you can guess, the FEMALE was GONE TOO !!! That beautiful O_Red girl I have posted pics of ... G-O-N-E ..

SO ... Luckily the weather is comfortable here in NJ as of late hovering in the low 70's. I made sure the heat/air was off then searched ALL OVER the house for her. I went into the basement and banged on metal ducts hoping to hear her moving IF in fact she was in there. She had just been fed, weather good so I was mulling over how to take apart the ducts and perhaps frighten her out ... I checked for her routinely every day this week. There was also the possibilty that she got outside ... When you start looking around like that, on that level, you notice nooks & crannies seemingly EVERYWHERE as my house is circa 1960's ??? I figured this weekend we would start dismantling things as roasted snake in the heat vent was not a good thing.

This morning I was eating breakfast in my office room whilst perusing the news on the web and I hear ... thwack, thwack, thwack !!! I jump to my feet, leap over the dog and there in the living room is my recently rescued cat (Ted) batting the O_Red girl as she thrashed against one of the rubbermaid feeding containers that was on my hardwood floors !!! YES !!! I cannot believe my luck as except for a slight scratch on her nose she is none worse for the wear. Ted is probably about 5 to 7 years old so while he is curious he does not have the determination to go too much out of his way to 'get' something. He sits and watches the Puget girls as they are always out. When I turn on the lights in their enclosure in the morning it's like I turned on the feline Nickelodeon channel, lol ...

I LUV THIS CAT

[Lori P]

Oh my gosh, what an adventure!!!! Good going Ted!!!! I was reading this and holding my breath, hoping you were end with finding both of them... phew!!

Ted gets extra tuna tonight.... :-)

[Lori P]

Oh, sorry, I forgot: I hope you're feeling better!!! :-)

[adamanteus]

Glad you got them both back, Marian. Get well soon.

[zooplan]

would like to shoot fireworks for you
congratulations

[Sid]

Congrat's on the happy ending.

[Snaky]

What a story, luckily with a happy ending!

[drache]

whew!
I'm so glad it turned out alright
whenever I'm ill, stuff like that is much more likely to happen
hope you're getting better fast

[anji1971]

Thank goodness that ended well!! That has always been my biggest fear- what if the snake gets out/takes off and ends up in the heat ducts?? So glad to hear she's back safe and sound! Hope you feel better soon!

[enigma200316]

glad to hear it ended well, and you take care of yourself..........