missing hognose?

hey, my western hognose got loose... dont ask me how he's a strong little bugger. only about 3 months old and only about 12 inches long. i can't seem to find him and i'm worried. it's wicked cole in the house except for the bedroom i keep him in, but he can still go out into the rest of the house. i have 4 rats, two cants and three dogs. the animals haven't found him yet so i was wondering if you guys might have some tricks to find them or might know unique places to look. i'm cleaning out my closet now... lol. Anything would help, thank you!

Well, if the rest of the house is colder than that room, chances are he will stay in that room. One neat little trick is to put down some powder or flour on the floor, and let it be for a few hours. If he is still in the room, you will be able to see where he goes by following the tracks in the powder. Another thing to try would be to put a hide on top of a heat pad that's on the floor. If it's cold enough, he will seek out the warm hide.

Good luck!

awsome, thanks. i'll give it a shot. One quick question for you too. I have doors that are large enough for him to travel under, and on top of that i rent and the majority of the small animals and all my stuff, and my fiance's stuff are shoved into one room. If he does manage to go out of the room under the door will he come back if it's the warmest room? i'm worried he might have traveled into the cold basement and might be hiding in the cat little box (ew). possibility? or is that a little far fetched of an idea?

It's possible that he could be outside the room. I would highly advise putting down a towel rolled-up in front of the door to keep him from wandering out (if he hasn't already).

It is a small chance that he will go to a colder room, unless he was scared or chased in that direction, but it could still be a possibility. Now the litter box, it's unlikely due to the odors associated with cats and their waste....but I guess anything is possible.

Also, be sure to look in tight spaces as well. Security, in addition to heat, will also be a comfort for a wandering snake. Sometimes the least likely place is where they end up, so don't rule out anything until you have chekced it twice.

Again, I hope you find your little guy!
Robert

You could try a funnel trap, two funnels on the end of a 4" plastic pipe. You can buy one or make one. See the picture at The Bean Farm to get an idea.

http://www.beanfarm.com/store/agora....id=14051&xm=on

You can also make one out of two liter pop bottles cut the top off and invert the top or put an inverted funnel in the bottle.

Place a food item (dead) inside the trap, place in a warm area against a wall and wait. Replace the food daily. Make sure the funnel opening is large enough for your snake to enter but not too large to allow easy exit.

Don't leave any sticky tape or glue surfaces exposed on which you snake could get stuck.

hmmm, another thought. if he did get outside the room the door outside the house is right there. and thanks to my landlord is broken ans has gaping holes everywhere. we took down our pool a few months ago and still have all the sand there. i raked it and didn't find anything, i also tried the flour and nothing yet. think he could be hiding in the sand outside? the only reason this hadn't concerned me before was because it was warmer inside the house thn outside and the dogs didn't pick up any scent. i still think he's in the house but i'm running out of stuff to clean. luckily though, because of this i found a dead mouse under my stove which was stinkin up the joint. lol.
I'll def try the soda bottles too. i have been putting a human heat pad in the middle of the floor with a shirt on top and the AC on, but not too high closing off the bottom of the door too. so fr, nothing yet. i think i might try the high shelves even though he's a bad climber.

sorry, i keep asking so many question. He was my first snake and i really liked him. i only got him about two weeks ago and he stopped eating, so the kid at the store told me to leave him in his cage and not to disturb him except to give him water. so when he pushed his was out of the cage it pissed me off because all i wanted to do for the past few days was hold him. i'll never listen to that kid again, grrrr.

hognose are tricky dickies...LOL! I have had a hognose get away before. He of them turned up a year later. I was on the side of my house taking care of the rodents that I keep in the shed. I heard a hiss come from over where our cat was. I thought it was the cat @ first. Then I heard it again. At the same time the cat jumped back. I ran over to see my male hognose coiled up on the ground. I do not know where it was for a whole year, but I was glad to find him. I wish he turned up a month earlier though, because I bought another male to match up with my females. Anyhow, they are doing fine in a more secure enclosure now. And to top it off, I had 2 sets of twins from them this year!

Aww, I'm so sorry to hear you can't find him. I know how you feel. Mine got loose for the day and I was a wreck. Good think I live in a tiny studio apt. I found her hiding in my shoes in my closet!! Make sure you check before you put your shoes on! For some reason I wouldn't think that he would go far. Since it's not familiar territory, I seem to think that he might hide somewhere for a while. Best of luck, keep us posted!

awww, congrats on the twins!
So far no luck here, still looking. brained a pinky last night, closed all the openings in the room, put flour down, heating pad, and ac to 60 and so far no luck, so we'll see what the next (year?) holds. lol. I'll keep posting though and see what i find.
You know it's funny you mention shoes. When i was in Iraq i left my boots outside and some guys decided it would be a good joke (they were bored) to put a snake in my shoes. so they loaded three snakes and put them in my boots. i got back outside, threw the shoes on and freaked out! luckily no snakes were harmed, but now to this day i worry that one of my friends is doing something evil and going to fill my shoes with something creepy. he he