Snake Somehow is STILL Escaping

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FJrocks003
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Snake Somehow is STILL Escaping

Post by FJrocks003 » Fri May 01, 2020 9:26 pm

My garter snake, Clover, is STILL escaping. My snake is a MAJOR escape artist, in the past 2 months she has escaped twice and her escapes are getting more and more frequent. Luckily, I have always been able to find her, but I know that I won't find her again if she escapes now because after her last escape I made a huge wreck of the house trying to find her (she was in an old suitcase, packed away in a closet in my attic), even as I speak she is poking her nose at the roof of her tank. She's in a 20L glass fish tank with a mesh lid, normally clamped shut with 2 reptile clamps. Tonight, however, I put 4 5-pound weights on as well as taped the corners a bit even then I'm still not sure I'll be able to sleep tonight knowing that she knows how to escape, but I don't. I need to figure how she is escaping before she does it again. (Garter snake, 1.5-2 feet, 1/8-1/3 inch at thickest point, gender: female, age: unknown, activity level: high, shy around humans, very jumpy, tank size: 20L, glass fish tank, wire mesh lid, 2 small reptile lid clamps) I need to stop her from escaping again, before it's too late, anyone know how she might be doing it? (btw sorry for posting so much about non-hermit crab stuff, but nothing on the internet was helping and I know that there are a lot of very knowledgeable people here that would be more than willing to help)
Indigo, Fleck, Flame, Dilly, and our newest addition: Thunder
RIP: Bubbles (passed on Wednesday March 31, 2020)

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Hermielover121
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Re: Snake Somehow is STILL Escaping

Post by Hermielover121 » Fri May 01, 2020 9:35 pm

I am sorry I can’t help much, I really love snakes but I’m not allowed to get them. I’ve heard a lot about snakes escaping. try looking around the enclosure to find maybe cracks or little holes


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Re: Snake Somehow is STILL Escaping

Post by FJrocks003 » Fri May 01, 2020 9:38 pm

I already checked for that, but thanks for responding so quickly. Also, happy 100th post on Hermit Crab Association.
Indigo, Fleck, Flame, Dilly, and our newest addition: Thunder
RIP: Bubbles (passed on Wednesday March 31, 2020)

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Re: Snake Somehow is STILL Escaping

Post by Hermielover121 » Fri May 01, 2020 9:38 pm




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wodesorel
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Re: Snake Somehow is STILL Escaping

Post by wodesorel » Fri May 01, 2020 9:58 pm

Which clamps?
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Re: Snake Somehow is STILL Escaping

Post by FJrocks003 » Sat May 02, 2020 7:11 am

https://www.amazon.com/Pack-Zilla-Repti ... 392&sr=8-1
This is the link to were we bought the clamps. For some reason only one pack came, but we thought it would be enough because the lid is pretty tight fitting and we have weights in the middle just in case.
Indigo, Fleck, Flame, Dilly, and our newest addition: Thunder
RIP: Bubbles (passed on Wednesday March 31, 2020)

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Re: Snake Somehow is STILL Escaping

Post by wodesorel » Sat May 02, 2020 12:55 pm

Yeah, the metals lids on the smaller tanks are flexible, and wild snakes like garters are built to get out of tight places. Sounds like you need another set or two of clamps around the edges to hold her in. Their bodies are solid muscle, if she can get any purchase against the rim or a decoration and push, she'll be able to get that lid up enough to squeeze through. They can severely injure themselves in doing so, because their only goal is to escape for survival, they cannot rationalize staying put and being safe. I put the clamp too far down the side once on my 75 gallons and my ball python was able to squeeze out but his tail wasn't strong enough and got stuck tight, he ended up with a slight kink from it. I felt horrible! And I have their lids with 4 clamps to hold them in, it was just in the wrong spot that time.

They also have wicked memories and if she got out once she will keep doing the same thing for a very long time thinking it will work again. I forgot to latch my Stanley's tank once early one, and for the next 4 months he would loop around the center brace and try pushing every day, because it had worked that one single time!
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Re: Snake Somehow is STILL Escaping

Post by FJrocks003 » Sat May 02, 2020 9:34 pm

Any idea what I should do now then? Will the weights be enough to hold her in? The shipping here has been terrible because of covid, so bad that if I bought them right a this second they wouldn't arrive for at least 2 weeks. Also, what would happen if she got loose again? It would be impossible to find her, so would she just die in the house somewhere? This whole thing has caused me some major anxiety problems, so I need to know I'm doing the right thing here.
Indigo, Fleck, Flame, Dilly, and our newest addition: Thunder
RIP: Bubbles (passed on Wednesday March 31, 2020)

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avocadocrabbies
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Re: Snake Somehow is STILL Escaping

Post by avocadocrabbies » Sat May 02, 2020 10:39 pm

FJrocks003 wrote:
Sat May 02, 2020 9:34 pm
Any idea what I should do now then? Will the weights be enough to hold her in? The shipping here has been terrible because of covid, so bad that if I bought them right a this second they wouldn't arrive for at least 2 weeks. Also, what would happen if she got loose again? It would be impossible to find her, so would she just die in the house somewhere? This whole thing has caused me some major anxiety problems, so I need to know I'm doing the right thing here.
I've never had a snake, only crabs and hamsters. But if I were you, until the clamps came, I'd just pile a mountain of books on the lid along with whatever you already have. However, there's a possibility that your snake might keep pushing against the lid and the books would topple off. if your enclosure isn't too heavy, you could try wrapping a belt around it perhaps? I don't know, my own hermit crabs' tank would personally be too heavy to do something like that.

In the end, I would just find the heaviest thing possible that was in my house and leave it on top of the tank, on the corners and edges (not the middle). Hope this helps.

You could also try going to a reptile store or a hardware store to see if they have any clamps
four crabbies: Pool Guy, Karen, Hurricane Sandy, Igor- 3 PPs and an E :)


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Re: Snake Somehow is STILL Escaping

Post by Chicken101 » Mon May 25, 2020 2:50 pm

I have a couple of escape artist too. You can buy special tanks that have sliding lids so they cannot escape that's what I do for my corn snake.

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