Please help!! Snake Emergency!

A day ago, I had two red corns, now I have one. Either he got out(very, VERY unlikely), or two, the female ate him.

1)is it possible for a corn to cannibalize a cage mate?

2) if not, WHERE do i start looking?

they are live in a zed med 35, squarish thing...open in the front, locks closed and has two latches I installed. the tops snaps in and out, locks in place, flexes when pushes, but it would break before the lid ever opened even 1/4 inch. the snake in question is 3 1/2 feet long and about 1" wide at his widest.


PLEASE HELP!!

female is still in cage, has always been the larger snake, and does look a little bigger than usual, but not bulgy, like after feedings.

its rare for corns to be canniblistic. it has been recorded though. I have a similiar experience. My corn (wild caught) was in with a female (wild caught) and i noticed one was missing. Sometimes on those zoo med tanks there are smalll openings. corn snakes and rat snakes and especially milks and kings are escape artists. If they can get their head into a crack, they can somehow get their body into it or through it. I would assume it escaped, i dont think the female corn ate it, unless the breeding conditions werent right, then i could see it as a possibilty.
If i got out, start looking under stuff like under carpets or in closets and etc. I hope this helps
Good luck
Jordan Schmitt

Cannibalism in corns can happen sometimes, but honestly I've never heard of it with adults, only hatchlings. If one ate a 3,5 foot cagemate you would certainly see it.
So I'm going with an escape too. If the top of the cage flexes a bit like you say, I'd guess that's were he got out, you'd be amazed how tiny a crack they need to squeeze through.

I'd say start looking. Everything that's small and cozy is a possibility. I've heard people dump a heap of clothes on the floor where the snake might crawl into.
To know wether he is still in the same room, you can put some flower on the floor, especially next to walls and furniture, and check the next morning for trails.
You can try and use a "snake trap", although I've only heard of that for escaped hatchlings, but I guess it might work on adults too. You make one by cutting the top third off a plactic bottle, and putting it back in backwards (with the top on the inside). Tape it together after you put a small mouse in it, or maybe a bit of the bedding from the viv (familiar smell).
You can also put a heat mat on the floor to put it on if you like (maybe without the mouse then...)

Lots of luck and I hope you find him very soon!

I had a 24" Black Rat Snake squeeze out between the two panes of glass on a sliding track door system. Clearance is less than 1/4" and overlap is 2". I had not had an escape in many years, not since the missing 4' King Snake resurfaced on top of mom's refrigerator.

I searched everywhere for a month for the Rat Snake. I turned the place upside-down, left water out at strategic points, just couldn't find him and finally gave up, assuming he got out of the house through the crawlspace or someplace.

One afternoon three or four months later, I was sitting at my desk and something caught my eye. I glanced over through the doorway and there he was, slithering across the kitchen floor 10 feet away.

He was really hyper, and I was lucky he was on ceramic or I'd have never caught him. He looked to be in great shape and freshly shed, not dirty, scratched up or even thin, and I have no idea where he was the whole time.

Hmmm...until reading this, I was convinced he'd been eaten. maybe not.

Yes, corns do eat each other. I've heard many accounts. Keeping two corns together is dangerous. Cannibalism, fighting, sickness, stress, and other problems happen. One could get pregnant, get egg bound and die.

But, your snake probably escaped. If it was eaten, both your snakes would probably be dead. I haven't seen many corns survive eating another corn.

why don't they survive eating another corn? just that they don't usually eat other snakes when wild, as opposed to a king that specifically dines on other snakes?

Well they can survive it, but in most cases (i.e. hatchlings eating each other) the prey (the other snake) is just way too big and it can't handle the load. If a bigger corn eats a small one, I guess it could survive with no problems. (unless I'm missing something here...)

That is what I was saying. Corns are usually too close to the same size, so they die trying to eat another corn. I don't know why they don't just regurge, but they usually both end up dead.