narrowly averted disaster!!!

I could have been a headline in Herps in the News! How embarrassing would that have been. (Nothing personal, Clay)

Par for the course, the critters I gave fresh water 2 days ago all had wet, smelly containers. Not wanting to mess around with trying to get rid of most of the wetness, then disinfecting them, I just brought them into the bathroom. Newspaper/paper towels into the garbage, snake into the tub, rinse the box, add fresh newspaper, rinse the snake, done. Quick and easy...EXCEPT I almost lost the male Savu. I had the water running, turned to put the paper in the box, and turned back to see him going down the drain! Nope, no screen; just the Xbars. He was just small enough to squeeze between the sections. I grabbed him with one hand, and shut the water off with the other - both seemed prudent at the time, lol. I wish my camera had been in the bathroom, it would have been great to post a pic with this. Anyway, there we are in a classic pose - the snake trying to disappear down a hole, me determined not to let it happen...except he was wet. I would have just cut the bars, but I didn't have my snips (or any other useful tools) in the bathroom - but there is no more reason for them to be there than the camera
Anyway, after about 5 minutes, and losing just a little bit of ground, I decided he had to come out...now. Holding him firmly with one hand, just above the drain, I put a finger of my other hand into the drain and tried to manipulate him back while moving him side to side. It was a tight fit!! Finally, he gave up and came out with a bit of pop (I suppose I might have imagined that, but I thought I heard it). He seems none the worse for wear.

When I get up later, I guess I'd better take pics of these guys, since I haven't posted them yet (well, I did post pics of the one female, but I have 3 other Savus to show off)

that sure would have been funny to see ,im starting to try and keep a camera around all the time ,its moments like yours that pictures speak a 1000 words .well atleast it was a good out come ,and sounds like the snake is all good .i could just imagine what you might have done if when you turned bacl all you saw was its tail going down the drain ,,,lol...great story

funny stuff Harald. Thank goodness you caught him in time.

Snakes getting into tight places. I had a funny bout with a snake once. I was driving home from a show when the snake I just bought, that was supposed to be in a bag, ended up on my lap from the seat next to me. So I picked it up in my left hand, placed my left hand on the steering wheel and reached for the bag with my right hand. That little punk decided to crawl into my steering column. So there I was driving down the street fighting with a snake, I pulled over as quick as I could and it took me about 2-3 minutes to get this guy to let go. He dropped his head down to grip inside the column. Needless to say I was not very happy with him.

Glad hes okay and you got him out safe and sound! that really put a smile on my face though! haha Good catch!

Nicely done Harald! i remember the time that i had just moved my diamond from a small terrarium to a larger cage because she had outgrown the one i bought her in,
and the next morning when i woke up... no snake.
after several paniced minutes past, i ran my fingers up behind the uvb light fitting and wrapped her entire body around the switch, which is about 5 millimetres in diameter!
i can't remember ever being more relieved!
i had had her for only 4 months at the time!

even after all these years, I still get that feeling when I see an empty cage that I am sure should have something in it. Losing one down the drain would have been a first for me, though, lol. Luckily, it didn't turn into "How the heck am I going to get it out of there", or worse "I wonder where it can really get from there" - though both of those thoughts were running through my mind as I was holding on to him.

I did take those pics, I just haven't had a chance to load, save, backup, resize, and post them. Savus coming soon, though.

here they are. two 05s, and my young adult male. The adult female was shown in another thread. Forgive the wet bedding - the little guys are still in their attack phase...they both spilled their waterbowls in their attempts to fend me off, lol.