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URGENT Lost Snake & Force Air Furnace

A

AllenRoulston

New member
Greetings,

I'm very concerned about the possibility my yearling corn snake may have gone into the exhaust heating duct of our forced air furnace. I would like to get responses from anyone who has lost a snake in a home with a forced air furnace.

I just checked the temperature at the floor grill, over 95 F (one dark plastic grill read 110 F with laser temp tester) so I'm guessing the metal pipe/ducts are getting at least that hot between the furnace and each room in our home. (We keep our home temp at 70 F during the day.)

I would expect the snake to want to escape from the heat and exit the duct, but perhaps you have had a similar experience and can advise why that might not happen. I am asking as I am considering disassembling our duct system to search for my snake.

The cold air return is another issue, however it won't ever be warmer than room temperature, so I am going to leave pinkies on plates inside the easy to access areas to see if they are eaten. He is 4 days past his usual feeing day (1 per week hopper) so I expect he is hungry.

Any ideas, suggestions, advice will be gratefully accepted.

Thank you,
~ Allen
 
I've had this happen. The snake entered the upstairs floor grate on a Friday and exited a floor vent in the kitchen under the sink cabinet a week later. He slithered over my bare feet while I was washing dishes. He was no worse for the wear. I feared that he would get cooked in the furnace and stink the house up but he never made it that far. Had he entered the return vent instead of the delivery one I could have checked at the place where the filter is inserted. His progress toward the furnace would have been halted there. But escapees never choose the easy route. :grin01:

Good luck!

Terri
 
I've had one of my snakes excape 3 times from different cages for two years, and I still have her. Leave the lid off of the cage. They can sense the smell of their own bedding and may return instinctively knowing that is where they are fed. Also, lay down strips of masking tape face up, around the edges of your house where the snake might be located. At night the snake will travel along the walls of your house, go over a section of the masking tape and get caught. In the morning you should find it, relatively unharmed attached to the tape. It may lose a few scales as you take the tape off but a few lost scales is better than a lost snake.
 
Given the snake is 4 days overdue for feeding, and I have been leaving food out overnight which does not get consumed, I have the impression he hasn't yet patrolled the house at night. I'm wondering if he might be in the air ducts waiting to shed. I did get smart and buy a dozen pinkies after leaving one hopper out over night with no results. :(

I may try the tape after I see a pinkie disappear. I also built a trap of sorts, a cereal box with an open end with an added bit of card board on an angle. Easy to enter by sliding under the card board, but because it is angled, the snake cannot get back out. I put the pinkie in the box. I might try a pinkie outside the box . . . Thank you, ~ Allen
 
Where oh where can my snake be hiding?

This evening marks day 7 since I last saw Fire, my escaped corn snake. As of yet, not sign of movement through the flour on cardboard placed against the walls of the carpeted floor in the room where he was last seen.

I spoke to someone today who suggested he might have made his way to the cold basement, found a good hiding place, and gone into hibernation. If that is the case I better find him before spring because as sure as mice find their way into our house, Fire can find his way outside . . . :(

My wife is thinking I should buy another corn snake to lessen my growing sense of sadness. Gee, and to think of all the times I teased my sister and parents about the way they treat their samoyeds like human children. I still cannot relate to that, but I sure do miss my snake.

~ Allen
 
I wouldn't give up hope just yet. My corn was missing for a month without any sign of her before she just randomly turned up one day. Best of luck finding him.
 
I am in the same boat as you sorta. My corn snake had escaped about a month and a half ago and I still can not find it. I have a really old house and it is cold as hell in most of my house. So I have been looking everywhere in my house that is warm but found nothing yet. I to have left mice out for my baby snake and have not got any results yet. Good Luck finding your snake.
 
We fed my wife's corn snake last night, the brother of my missing snake. During the feeding she says "This would be more fun if you had a snake . . ." To which I replied : "I have a snake, I just haven't seen him recently . . ."

We searched the parts of the basement last night, no luck. Now we are starting see snake tails where there are strange shadows, even in the book cases. A tail tip shaped bit of art work on a book cover got our attention this morning. Sigh. Tried leaving hot potatoes out the last couple of nights. They cool off in about 90 minutes.

I'm thinking about renting a camera probe on the weekend and looking into the air ducts. At the very least it will be an interesting exploration.
 
hi Allen i know how u feel i lost my spotted python 15 days ago i made the big mistake of not try this putting the enclosure next to where i think he went .that was a hole in my wall ,i would place his enclosure near where it got out .with the heat lamp on .and a mouse inside it but 1st i would run the sent of the mouse around the vent where u think it got out from ,then back to the cage and lower the temp in the house . hope u find him good luck
 
It is tough and unfortunate. I have searched all over my house and I believe my snake went into a wall. This makes me really upset because I know once it gets warm out I may never see him again. Just a horrible feeling. You are doing all of the necessary steps one should take. I would do as stated above put the cage out with a source of heat. I have placed a heat rock, since I have an extra one in the corner of my room and a live pinky everyday.
 
Hello TerryR1,

In my case, the last place my lost snake was located was on the table in my computer room, within a carb board tube. He would sit there playing a sort of game, head comes out, looks around, then back in. I would do whatever on the computer while Fire would hang out in the tube. Well, then my wife calls me and I got up without picking up the tube . . . so Fire most likely crawled to the edge of the desk and down a cable hanging down from a monitor, and once on the floor most likely went along the wall until he reached the hot air exhaust duct of the forced air furnace. If not there, then almost anywhere else in the rest of the house. We keep doing concentrated searches of different areas in each room, places that would be good for hiding. No luck yet.
 
Once you thoroughly search a room, block it off from the rest of the house. For example, put something under the door so the snake can't get into that room after you've searched it
 
Blocking of the rooms as we search them would require blocking off the forced air exhaust ducts. Doing that would make the house quite cold in a short time. It is presently - 20 C (- 4 F) outside, not counting the wind chill factor. I think I will rent a camera probe and start searching the air ducts.

~ Allen
 
A camera probe is a great idea! It's too cold here in Canada to stop any kind of heating, and the heat could be whats keeping the snake alive anyhow.
 
My air ducts are a perfect snake trap :(

After doing an more intensive examination of my forced air furnace duct system,
I can see the design is essentially a snake trap. See the photo.

The main conduit from the furnace is a large rectangular sheet metal "pipe" running the length of the house.
The round pipes feeding warm air to each room attach to the TOP of the rectangular structure.

This means a snake travelling FROM a room exhaust vent can fall into the rectangle and is
VERY UNLIKELY to be able to climb out (UP) into another (or the same) round pipe going to a room.

Tomorrow morning I shall rent a camera scope and start looking in the all the ducts. Hopefully I'll find my snake (Fire) alive.
He has likely been in the warm air exhaust duct for the last 12 days.
No water, lots of dry warm air. Can anyone tell me how well a corn snake tolerates such an environment? (he is only 1 year old)

Thank you,
~ Allen

snake-trap.jpg


Thus
 
The Air Duct Search Is ON

You know what "they" say, good news and bad news . . .

Good news : I have discovered there ARE a couple of duct paths which would
allow a snake to exit the main rectangular 'box' of the main air way.
I have also found an access point where I plan to leave water, just in case he is in there slithering about.
I'll also rig something to catch him if he exits the duct at the place where the water will be located.
I have not sorted that out just yet, but I am thinking of a long fabric tube that would drop him into a tall plastic bin from which he could not escape,
but that I can easily look inside.

Bad news : I have not found Fire, nor do I have any idea where he might be.

Sigh, all for now, time to eat lunch,
~ Allen
 
I hope he is just somewhere else in the house... they don't always behave the way you expect them to you know :)
 
Forced Air Furnace Noise / Vibration

As I was searching the ducts I was thinking about the amount of noise / vibration that would be present in the ducts. I'm not sure, but I doubt any snake would really want to spend time in such a place. I would expect the noise / vibration to bother them. Anyone care to comment?

~ Allen
 
Using live bait as lures

After searching the air ducts with no results I now have formed the idea Fire does have the ability to exit the ducts.
I shall now move on to a new tactic: luring out the snake with live bait.
Using F/T bait didn't work during the first week.
Step one is to build a cage for the bait which Fire cannot enter.
My first visit to a pet shop revealed all the cages would allow Fire access to the bait.
Looks like building a cage will be my next assignment.
I know, I could just wait until Fire appears on his own, but somehow that just feels wrong.
I need to construct a cage that lets lots of mouse / hamster scent out,
but doesn't allow a snake in. I'm thinking metal walls with lots of drilled holes.
Anyone got a better idea?

Thank you,
~ Allen
 
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