I have been keeping snakes and other reptiles for over 15 years. Hot Wife is very understanding and allows me to have an entire room for my collection of critters. However, once in a while I’ll leave a cage lid loose and something will get out. These mistakes aren’t very serious (and, coupled with the fact I get harmless bites occasionally, are why I keep nothing venomous) and usually I find the snake in a corner of the reptile room. I have a leopard gecko which is an escape artist who I can reliably find in the reptile room’s closet. Sometimes the escapees make there way under the door and into the next rooms which are a bathroom and a laundry room. Snakes have turned up under the washer or dryer and one memorable time we were going out the door and Hot Wife came into the garage saying there was a snake in the laundry room. She asked if I wanted to catch it now or later. I said now because who knew where it would be later. I grabbed my snake tongs and plucked the adventurous fellow from behind the dryer.

On two occasions, I’ve had snakes go missing for a long time, over a week. Both times, I found the animals by noticing strange cat behavior. When the cats are starting intently into a space, they are hearing a snake back there. Once was back when I lived with my parents and the little patch-nosed snake was drinking from a saucer under a plant in my mom’s window full of house plants. About a year ago, my cat alerted me to a snake that was behind some book cases. It’s embarrassing to have your pets go missing but at least I’ve always found mine. I’ve never had a pet end up in my neighbor’s toilet, for example. Here are some excellent tips on finding snakes in your house.

And here is one of escape artists, a gopher snake: