baby escaped.....

[Spiritwolf]

I've found in my experiences, that cats weren't too interested in killing snakes. The ones my cats brought me when I was on the farm, were in good shape except for minor puncture wounds that healed after a few days of treatment.

One baby snake that escaped last fall, was found a week later when I heard one of the cats making a "trilling" call that cats make to call their kittens or call another cat to come see something they've found.
I went into the living room and saw a circle of cats sitting and watching something in the center of their circle. That something turned out to be the escaped baby snake, unharmed, and the cats were just watching it and one sometimes would reach out to try to touch it and the snake would move and the cat would yank its paw back right away.

When I've been handling the snakes outside their cages, the cats would keep their distance, clearly wary of this weird creature that doesn't have legs and whose head and tail look much alike (in the cat's point of view).

When I had my smaller rescue garter escape, the cats had plenty of chances to have caught it before the snake found me. The snake found me when I went over near my dresser, which has shelves and a variety of objects on those shelves. When I came close to the dresser, the snake came out of a vase of artificial roses and started trying to come over to get onto my shoulder from the vase! I was so relieved and happy that my fugitive snake decided to find ME!
And as long as I see no evidence of death of the fugitives that haven't been found yet, I keep leaving pcv and bottle traps, water dishes, etc, around for them in hope that they will turn up one day alive and ready to go home where food is served to them by their willing human servant while the snakes enjoy their cushy lives in captivity!

[Snake lover 3-25]

yeah.... but my cat has picked one up and shaken it..... i def think she would have killed it if i hadent thrown her acros the room...... but she hasn't come near since except to sniff.... but i'm just afraid of what she'll do when i'm not there to punish her......

i've lost three... but i'm pretty sure that they either got outside or down the vents

but whenever i let meadow my 30 in female wander she always finds me or goes to her feeding cage and each time she gets a special treat... but she def. notices that her baby is missing..... together since birth this is the longest they have ever been apart... and i'm responsible.......

i've made the bottle traps and set them around the house... but do you have a plan for your pvc trap???

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

cats, without a doubt, kill snakes. The petco in my area gave me a baby snow cornsnake that starved itself for the first 6 months of its life. "well did you try live?" "oh we dont do that here" I took her home and she INSTANTLY took a live pinky. I had her for 3 months... she escaped somehow and my mom found her dead on the stairs before I even knew she was missing. Bite wounds all over her and her tail had been eaten. This is the second occurence I've had of cats killing snakes. They may be curious about it for a while before they go for it, but they will eventaully kill it, they can't help it, it's their instinct.

I see Raja, a cat we sent to my grandparents farm seeing as he didnt work out in a house, eating a snake or two every summer.

[drache]

my cats are very clear about the fact that snakes are toys first and foremost
if I don't pay attention for one moment, they will come and start batting at a snake that I'm holding
I am positive that they would kill any snake that got out and what's worse is that they would take a long time to do it - it takes them hours to kill an escaped roach

[Sputnik]

I've found in my experiences, that cats weren't too interested in killing snakes. !

I have to say my experience is the total opposite! There is absolutely no way you can trust a cat not to kill a snake. When I first had my garter babies, my cats managed to knock the tank down, when I hadn't secured it enough for them not to. They had taken great interest in the wriggly little things for days. I found one soon after with many puncture wounds, it died a few hours later, one managed to escape the cats and is living on happily in a new tank, but the last one I found a couple of months later in the garden, again with severe bite wounds which had killed it.

Anytime I open the vivs, the cats come running and if I take the snakes out, there are sneaky paws trying to make a swift swipe.

But throwing your cat across the room, is also certainly not the way to punish your cat! Keeping the snakes safe is YOUR responsibility and keeping different kinds of animals together means that you have to respect how each kind behaves. Shout a short sharp "no", or shoo the cat away with your hand (DO NOT hit her!), splash a little water at her or hiss at her and best of all keep your snakes well out of reach! It's not hard to keep the door shut and the cat outside if you feel you really have to let the snake "wander".

[anji1971]

Cats are not snakes' friends. Period.
They will play with them to death, even if they aren't interested in eating them. It's not a pretty way to let a snake die.
I've seen what they do to mice.

[Garter_Gertie]

While all this is true, can you imagine the effect it's having on Shanley?

And while it is a lessoned learned, I hope I don't have to go thru posts like this because I did something not very bright and learned the hard way how to properly care for my boys.

[anji1971]

We're not posting these responses to make Shanley or anyone else feel bad. We are all sympathetic when someone's snake goes missing, regardless of the circumstances.
Unfortunately, it is a harsh reality, and sometimes those are the lessons that hit home the most.

[Garter_Gertie]

We're not posting these responses to make Shanley or anyone else feel bad. We are all sympathetic when someone's snake goes missing, regardless of the circumstances.
Unfortunately, it is a harsh reality, and sometimes those are the lessons that hit home the most.

You may not be meaning to make anyone feel bad. But you are - I for one. I think continued examples, under the circumstances, is very insensitive. The point has been made regarding cats.

While it is a harsh reality, who are we to see the lesson hits home? Is it our responsibility to post after post discuss something that is probably Shanely's worst fear? If it were in her place all I'd be learning is how insensitive people can. I would be hurt and offended at the lack of empathy.

Also, at this point, it's still conjecture regarding the cat. The lesson needing learning is to close cages - always. And I do think Shanley's picked up on that.

[adamanteus]

I hear you. But if someone makes a post... they will get responses. The responses here are honest and truthful.
I hope that this time Shanley has picked up on our hints that these constant escapes are dangerous for her snakes. She didn't last time, or the time before.
I really feel for Shanley and hope she finds her little snake alive and well very soon, I'm sure we all do. This is one lesson nobody wants to learn 'the hard way'.
Fingers crosed for you Shanley.