All Forums  Corn Snake Posts  General Posts  A cautionary tale with an unhappy ending.

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Screensize: 640 x 480 800 x 600 1024 x 768 1280 x 1024 UserName: Password: Format Mode: Basic  Help  Prompt  Format: Font Andale Mono Arial Arial Black Book Antiqua Century Gothic Comic Sans MS Courier New Georgia Impact Lucida Console Script MT Bold Stencil Tahoma Times New Roman Trebuchet MS Verdana   Size 1 2 3 4 5 6   Color Black Red Yellow Pink Green Orange Purple Blue Beige Brown Teal Navy Maroon LimeGreen Message: * HTML is OFF * Forum Code is ON Smilies [quote][i]Originally posted by SexyBear77[/i] [br]A few weeks back my gravid golddust motley, Aurelia, managed to escape from her viv. Its the bottom unit on a home-made wardrobe conversion, with sliding glass doors on plastic runners. The doors are tall, wide and heavy. Upon inspection I saw that the wood at the side had angled slightly, leaving a gap a few MM across which she had pushed open. I fixed this with plastic stripping glued down the side of the wood, and once dry she went back in, having been found a few hours after we discovered she was missing. A few days later she was out again. More searching revealed a gap about 1mm across at the bottom of the plastic stripping- although tiny, it was evidently enough for her to get the tip of her nose into and push open again. This time we didn't find her. On Friday, I received a call from my landlord who told me that a 2 metre long "dangerous" snake had been found in the offices directly below our flat. Aurelia was only about 3 feet and soft as butter. It took 4 teams of police officers and the RSPCA to "contain" her, during which time someone dropped a box on her and caused her to prolapse. She was taken by the police to a local vets, who looked after her until I arrived to pick her up. She seemed well enough, tongue flicking, no flat or squashed areas, strength all through her body, and the prolapse was small. The vets she was at, having no idea about reps, had spoken to a reptile vet who seemingly was happy to be treated at home by me. She was soaked in a sugar solution and the prolapse disappeared within 2 hours, whereupon she was then put into a clean RUB lined with paper. She was doing well. Upon speaking to my downstairs neighbour, an Indian lady, it became clear that all the drama was the result of a lot of hysteria and ignorance- the police had been told the snake was "trying to eat her baby" and was 2 metres long, hence the massive overkill. She then asked me if the snake had been killed, and was very annoyed when I told her it hadn't. (Don't get me wrong, I can understand her shock and was mortified by what happened, just slightly taken aback by her attitude.) Well, it would seem she got her wish. Aurelia is dead. I am totally gutted and despite spending well over £100 and most of my Saturday buying viv locks, door wedges and new RUB's for the little'uns I am totally paranoid about it happening again. Moral of the story- never underestimate a determined snake, never leave a gap unplugged, and check for gaps regularly. It just isn't worth the risk. [/quote]   Check here to include your profile signature.