From: bw116@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Jeffery Blaine Byers)
Newsgroups: rec.pets.herp
Subject: About escapes...
Date: 12 Dec 1992 21:18:58 GMT
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio (USA)
NNTP-Posting-Host: hela.ins.cwru.edu


A few people have mentioned nake escapes recently, and someone pointed
out that a weighted-down top is not a safe top.  That's pretty true, 
unless you have a LOT of weight on it.  
   A friend and I were walkingg through the woods and came across a
young (probably around 3 years old) corn snake sunning itself in the
path this summer.  At the time, coincidentally, I had a large garter
with me (an adult, the end of whose tail had apparently been bitten off)
that I was setting free (I already had a baby garter, and I wanted to
free up some cage space, and even though Stumpy had become very tame, I figured
it'd be best to keep the baby and let him go), so I had something to
put the corn snake in.
   My friend, who at the time was snakeless (he foolishly put a baby
snapping turtle [which I now have] in with his baby water snake, and the
snapper decided to snap), decided to keep it.  When we got to his place,
he put the snake in a tank, put the screen on top, and placed two small
Samurai swords on the top of it.
   The screen top had two small plastic screws that would hold the top
on securely, but he "didn't want to mess with it."  I told him he'd
BETTER, but he thought the swords would weigh the top down enough.
   He found out quickly enough that he was WRONG.  So, the moral of
the story is, use some sort of clip, screws, etc. to hold your top
on; don't just weight it down.

On a humorous note, here's a little story about a snake escape at my
house a couple weeks ago.  
   I took the top off of the tank with the black rat snakes, so I could
pet the biggest one.  He was wild caught (he's in great condition, very
beautiful snake) just before it turned really cold, and at the time
he was still VERY untame (he still isn't quite tame), so I would put
my hand in very slowly and pet him gently fairly often, to get used to
my smell and being touched by a human.
   Unfortunately, I didn't secure the top when I put it back on very well,
and I went into the living room and took a nap in the recliner.
   A while later, I was awoke when my small emergency backup dog, a
STOOOPID toy poodle, began barking insanely.  I told him to shut up a few
times but he wouldn't.  I opened my eyes and saw him barking at the ground
in the next room, so I got up to see what his problem was.  There was 
the big black rat snake slithering across the floor!
   I grabbed him (with a towel, because I KNEW he wouldn't be real
happy about being caught...and he wasn't!) and took him to my room,
and found that the other snake (a smaller one, about 2 years old) was
also gone.
   Fortunately, I found her a couple minutes later, crawling along the 
computer desk next to the tank with my baby water snakes and garter.  She
was a lot more tolerant of being caught, since I've had her since mid-
summer and she was store-bought (for a mere $19...  I found out later
that it's apparently illegal to sell black rat snakes in this area, but
oh well).

So, all I can say is, be VERY careful about having a secure top, and
do more than just weight it down!  And keep a stooopid poodle in the
house, just in case.