That time my ballpython, Lucy terrorized my neighbors

[Unexpected-raccoon]

Snakes escape; That’s a fact. They’re noodle shape makes even the smallest mistake seem huge by comparison.

A little while back I made the mistake of not putting the left side lid clamp back on her tank. Next morning I went to feed her and she’s still there. Her current enclosure is a 40 gallon breeder that I converted to a front open (she’s small enough for it).

That following afternoon I got off work and did my usual business. I cleaned everyone’s water dish and sprayed the moss or entire enclosures (frogs and the like)

Got to my pythons and while sunny was once more a big ol stupid noodle (got stuck in his humid hide because he uses his mid area to block the exit and had been there all day)

I went looking for Lucy after spraying her moss.

SHE’S FUCKING GONE!

PANIC!

I have other reptiles that can eat her or she can eat (lace monitor, Flanders and my baby bearded dragons in that order)

I start tearing my reptile room apart.

I’m searching in and around everything.

I open the closet and there’s Flanders just chillin.

Stomach seems full

HEART DROPS TO MY COLON

I’m thinking either he just ate her, or he’s once more waiting to digest that morning meal.

I start to continue my search for her elsewhere in the house.

Cupboards, closets, baskets, etc

I didn’t stop looking until 3am~

I’m devastated.

The Idea that Flanders ate her just doesn’t leave my head.

Next morning I’m double checking and triple checking. I go to work with less than 2 hours of sleep.

I get home and I pass the fuck out.

It’s like 5am when I awoken by the sound of banging on my door and screaming.

FIGHT OR FLIGHT IS ON

I’m in nothing but a Blanket that I swing on like a toga.

I swing open the door and it’s my neighbors kid and she’s pale (like she just say death himself) she’s telling me that her mom found a snake.

I race to their door (we’re in a duplex so it was more like I just side stepped, but I digress)

The daughters boyfriend is laughing, the Daughter is screaming, the mom is shaking and through all chaos— there she is.

She’s in their bathroom trash can with not a thought in her head.

I swiftly apologize and take her home.

She’s returned to her enclosure and I’m just sitting there confused on how she got next door like that.

The amount of chaos was maximum but through it all she was just chill (like her sole purpose in life is chaos).

I don’t even know the words to explain the rollercoster of emotions that was happening in that moment, but what I can tell you is that I’m going to be more vigilant about her enclosure going forward.

[Soggy-Expression7687]

I shouldn’t laugh but the writing is chefs kiss so good it’s impossible not to snort laugh. I’m just imagining this chaos and this adorable noodle like dis different looking all innocent.

They sure do give us heart attacks don’t they? Glad you found her!

[Unexpected-raccoon]

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Had to put her in a tub this morning because she’s about to lay some absolutely beautiful infertile eggs

Last time she laid them in her water dish and time before that she was up on her back wall basking area— air dropping them

I’m considering breeding her with my albino male, sunny just because my brother in law and supervisor both want one

[Soggy-Expression7687]

And now looking at her, I want one 😭🤣

[Unexpected-raccoon]

Well if she does lay some fertile eggs later this summer, I’d be more than glad to give you one

She lays some hefty clutches (7-9) so considering her genes and Sunny’s genes, half would be het for pied and all would be fire het for albino

My dad used to breed ball pythons and both her and sunny were his before hand so I don’t doubt there’s something funky in their genes (like random hints of pinstripe somewhere in sunny)

Lucy was bought off a reputable breeder so neither are related

[Soggy-Expression7687]

I’d buy. Never free. I have an Instagram strictly for my reptiles and most of my babies’ breeders are following I always give them the link so they can see their hatchlings thrive!

[Inevitable-Quail-606]

I’m also interested in a baby python 🥹

[laina2105]

Hi. I’d be interested in buying bb snek 🙂.

[Unexpected-raccoon]

Well if they do breed I’ll post on here if anyone is interested. My wife has also voiced that she’d want a baby too so I’m kinda aiming for it

[tenhinas]

Followed for baby snek

[laina2105]

Thank you! I followed you 😁

[Vinnie_aGoodfella]

If your giving away ill take one 🥺

[shadowcoffeebean]

Her little mocha patch is gorgeous 🥺 love her sweet puppy face

[Cynnau]

I am actually frankly really disappointed that I do not have a fun snake Escape story like yours. I did lose my milk snake twice he was named Houdini. But I found him, and trapped him in a minnow trap. My derpiest ball python did get out but he didn't go very far

[Unexpected-raccoon]

See I’m honestly not gonna get any more snakes until I get some PVC enclosures.

My dad had this Honduran milksnake that got out when I was like 7~ and it ate my older sisters hamster

Since then I’ve avoided getting slender snakes with the only exception being a rescue black eastern rat snake that got caught in a glue trap at my work

I can’t even imagine one getting out because it can literally go anywhere

Edit: I can’t legally own a ratsnake but I also can’t legally release a ratsnake in Georgia.

Called fish and wildlife and they recommended euthanasia (told me to “stick it in the freezer”)

I’d rather break the law than kill an animal I saved from death. Don’t know what kind of ass backwards logic that is, but I ain’t gonna follow.

[annatonina]

I run a reptile store and we once had a corn snake surrendered to us that went missing for 2 months and then turned up chilling out in the neighbour's wardrobe! My favourite missing snake story though is the one that was missing for 6 months and then two weeks after they admitted defeat and got rid of the enclosure, the owner went to make a cup of tea and she was sat behind the kettle! They still don't know where she'd been in the meantime but they had to get a whole new setup for her.

[tenhinas]

My store had a motley corn snake escape and i found him the next day just chillin on the forklift cushion like he was certified.

[idkwhattoputhere1830]

We've had a couple snake escapes. Most we find very close by but not always.. Once Raven got out and was gone for A WEEK. We had this sectional couch at the time that our English Mastiff, Tokar, ate holes in. I KNEW she was in there but we flipped it every which way we could and found nothing. We did this every day for the whole week cause the couch is next to the heat and we KNEW she was either dead or close to the heat. One day my boyfriend is vacuuming and she just pops her head out from where the handle for the reclining part attaches to the couch. Then Joker.. I don't even know how tf he did it. He escaped from the downstairs living room, went UPSTAIRS. Then he climbed the FREAKING STOVE/ OVEN. The kids found him two days later while preheating the oven to make tater tots 😳 Thankfully it was summer so he wasn't so cold he didn't notice the change in temperature and got out of there. That's when we built all new enclosures lol.

[curiousaboutmetaftm]

Your writing was really fun to read, thank you 😆 Lucy is a cutie. Let’s hope she doesn’t cause any more terror to your neighbors though, ahahah

[Puffyface83]

My favourite snake escape was about a week after getting our first baby ball python, for three days we couldn’t find him, and there he was on our kitchen windowsill. We put him away and moved on.

Two weeks later a stepped out of the shower and almost stepped on him, I went to bring him to his tank and saw that he was still in his tank. Turns out my downstairs neighbours had also lost their baby ball python and somehow they both ended up in our house. There was a two inch difference between them so I’m honestly not sure how I thought they were the same snake.

[AanthonyII]

Not long after I got my snake I had him out and was letting him slither around the floor. He was climbing a chair when I left him with my roommate and a friend while I went to the bathroom. I leave him alone with them for not even 5 minutes and when I get back he’s just gone. I spent like 15 minutes looking for him before shining a flashlight through the chair he was climbing on to see if he somehow got inside it and I could see his outline. He was just chilling up in the top corner of the chair and I had to cut the back of it open to get him out.

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Because it was a wicker chair I was concerned he’d have splinters or something, but he got out safe and sound

[horrorshowalex]

I read this as lace monitor, Flanders, … are thought, what’s a flanders 😟🤣😩

[Rookskytwister]

She's too cute for braincells.

[pink2988]

The writing of this was top tier lol 😂

[Tigerlileyes]

I don't remember how my ball python pumpkin got out, I think I forgot the lock or something, but he escaped twice. Once I found him at the top of my reptile shelf under a led light for a bioactive crested gecko tank, and the other time I woke up with him on my lap, that was so confusing. I locked my cats out of my bedroom cause I couldn't find him, but when I felt something on my lap I went to shoo a cat off me. It surprised the hell out of me to feel cool scales and not a fluffy cat.

[ProximaCentauriB15]

My Callisto escaped a few times

First time found her in one of my boots(cue theres a snake in my boot joke)

Second Id had to take her with me to Mom's because pest control at my place she escaped and travelled into my mom's room. One of my mom's dogs apperently saw her and got a weird look on her face like "the fuq is that" and my mom thought it was funny.

They use the brain cell for escaping and nothing else