Royal Python has escaped!

[Belvedeer]

My daughter’s royal python escaped on New Year’s Eve and is still missing. I followed tips online to search room by room and then sealing the door off if she’s not in there but can’t find her anywhere! I’ve literally ransacked the place, every piece of clothing has been removed and checked even the hanging clothes, every drawer has been removed, I even pulled the fridge freezer out and took the plinths off in the kitchen! We’ve left her viv door open with a mouse inside, tried leaving a hot water bottle with hide on the top next to a mouse at night but still no sign. Does anyone have any other tips of what we can do? I have a distraught 8 year old on my hands!

@EssexLioness

As someone else mentioned, my biggest fear is finding a snake in the loo one night. I’m very phobic and have seen several adders as I live in the country, which also scare the pants off me. Currently, laying on the sofa hoping there isn’t some escaped snake inside and feeling relieved I’m not in Dorset!

Just for you! www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-46996559

@EssexLioness

As someone else mentioned, my biggest fear is finding a snake in the loo one night. I’m very phobic and have seen several adders as I live in the country, which also scare the pants off me. Currently, laying on the sofa hoping there isn’t some escaped snake inside and feeling relieved I’m not in Dorset!

Same biggest phobia along with rats and mice. My toilet lid stays firmly shut. When my friend was in Spain he went to go to the toilet and there was a massive rat inside it!!

@MangoSeason thanks for that lovely link! 😆I have seen several of those sort of reports, hence my anxiety. My brother used to work with a guy who lost his penis after getting bitten by some poisonous snake in South Africa! It was so badly dangled from the venom drs had to remove it!
@ThatsNotTheTeaHunty, not got a rat phobia but wouldn’t want one coming out the loo! 😧

@fraggleshinglebellrock why did you have to wrap a tortoise penis in sugar?

Curiosity got the better of me and I've just googled "tortoise penis".

That's a sentence I never though I'd write.

I hope you find her OP!

Fraggle you're a legend

@FraggleShingleBellRock thankyou for cheering me up this evening

@ChristMyArse Your google algorithms are going to be interesting now. Let us know what ads you get!

@FraggleShingleBellRock

All the people horrified about having to puncture the cranium of a dead rat and give it a wash and blow dry 😂

Ten years ago or so I used to breed total amongst other reptiles . They really are a gateway pet. Anyway, somebody dumped a very large but sadly burned, 6ft 4kg female royal python and it was breeding/egg laying season. The burn on her neck was easy to treat but she refused every single god source apart from day old chicks. There is not enough calcium in chicks to sustain egg production and plus she would need 10+ chicks every few days. So I had to cut the Chick open from its groin to its chest and basically sew it like a hat onto a medium size rat. She would take 2 a feed and we were increasing her feed to help her heal. Within 3-4 weeks I had her taking a an adult Guinea pig with a chick hat and after egg laying she went straight into the biggest rats. The scar healed beautifully and she laid 10 fertile eggs that showed some calcium deficiency. 9 eggs hatched in as variety of colours / patterns.

And I thought injecting liquid calcium supplements into wax worms for a chameleon with MBD was dedicated pet ownership!

[quote thelake]@fraggleshinglebellrock why did you have to wrap a tortoise penis in sugar?[/quote]
I'm guessing it draws out the water, reducing the swelling? (Disclaimer: my veterinary knowledge comes from James Herriot and Animal Ark. He once put sugar on a cow's prolapsed uterus to shrink it.)

I hope your snake turns up soon OP!

Another one reading (and giggling hysterically) at fraggles anecdotes.

OP, I hope you find your snake, soon.

Op, you have my sympathy. It's one of my biggest fears finding one of my balls has finally escaped her/his enclosure

One of my larger females now hasn't eaten for 10 weeks, I've tried again tonight with a rat and a day old chick (thought this might have tempted her) but no, she sailed past it with a look as if to say 'WTF do you want me to do with that?'

Could you call at your local pet shop and ask for some used gerbil bedding? The smell alone might attract her.

I hope you find her soon, finger and toes crossed for you!

*Fingers and toes, I have them all. Promise

Oh my...I've been crying tears of laughter and wheezing away like Mutley.

It just kept getting better.

@FraggleShingleBellRock I salute you

OP good luck finding the little bugger.

I honestly think I'd shit myself if I saw snake

That Aussie woman who was bit on the fanjo!

And this chap:

www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-37481251

I lost my royal for three months once. I found her the day after my ophidiophobic mother arrived to stay. Luckily, before my mum did. 😄🐍

Haven’t RTFT, sorry, but you’re on the right track with putting heat mats around the house (near to walls/in corners/under stuff, as obvs they like to be hidden). Try sprinkling bicarb of soda/flour/icing sugar around the mats and in spring cupboard/ warm places - you’ll see marks if she goes through it.

@Fckingfuming

Op, you have my sympathy. It's one of my biggest fears finding one of my balls has finally escaped her/his enclosure

One of my larger females now hasn't eaten for 10 weeks, I've tried again tonight with a rat and a day old chick (thought this might have tempted her) but no, she sailed past it with a look as if to say 'WTF do you want me to do with that?'

Could you call at your local pet shop and ask for some used gerbil bedding? The smell alone might attract her.

I hope you find her soon, finger and toes crossed for you!

Have you tried sewing the chick onto the rat in a delightful hat shape?

Hope you find her soon. Will keep my fingers crossed.

Mine wouldn't touch the chicks when I bought them, I might trying sewing some rat hats onto them...

Also can I just say, anyone whose royal is hungry enough to try to eat them has to own a seriously record breaking royal!! Even anacondas would struggle to eat an adult human 😂

@thelake the sugar draws the excess moisture and liquid out of the penis and allows it to shrink down to a more natural sharp/size. Then you rinse it off, lube it up and it normally goes back in. If it's recurrent then often the tortoise will need to have its penis removed as they only have one opening, called a cloaca, for mating, urinating and pooping. Females lay eggs from their cloaca too.

For those of strong heart. Tortoises also "quack" or grunt when mating too. The females just carry on eating their food.

[quote grassisjeweled]That Aussie woman who was bit on the fanjo!

And this chap:

www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-37481251[/quote]
just read that. how unlucky do you have to be to get bitten on the peen twice...?! HAHA!

@FraggleShingleBellRock
The females just carry on eating their food

Sounds like female tortoises have it sussed. I dont think my DH would impressed if I continued to dig into my cheese and crackers but I'll ask.

@FraggleShingleBellRock do you want to be my friend IRL? Please

No advice but please warn your neighbours- this could really frighten people.

This is my absolute worst nightmare!

I think it should be against the law to keep reptiles

Against the law to keep reptiles 🤣 maybe we should ban dogs because they cause way more injuries than a small snake and my daughter is petrified of them. You never see a gecko chasing the postman or a iguana attacking a child 😂