The stories I could tell about escaped pets.
The worse one was the escaped black widows, but I've told that one here before. That was a nightmare.
I have two other stories I can tell.
1. I had a hamster. She was black and very friendly. She had one of those tube cages, and I had trouble keeping one of the end caps on. I was in a hurry one day and I saw it was about to come off again. I was having trouble getting it back on, so I grabbed some duct tape and taped it and then put that end against the wall. A couple of days passed and I kept putting off fixing it. It seemed to work better than the end cap any way. About a week later when I was cleaning her cage, I noticed that she chewed through the tape. Not only had she chewed through the tape but she chewed through the drywall. I looked into the hole in the wall and she chewed out the other side too.
Funny thing is that I never missed her. Apparently she would go out and gather food at night and then return to her cage before I woke up. She had a lot of dry dog food in her cage and not long after that I found a massive pile of dog food in one of my closets.
2. I had built a large reptile enclosure. It's over 6 ft tall and 29' x29'. During the winter I put my neps in there and if we have a warm spell in the winter, I'll take them outside.
The enclosure has other plants and hiding places for the reptiles, so it's not uncommon for me not to see one for a few days. I soon noticed that I only saw one of my water dragons. I did a quick look for it but couldn't find it. Still that wasn't too unusual. As the weeks went on I slowly realized that she must have been in one of the neps when I took it outside.
I alway search the neps really good before putting them out just to make sure this doesn't happen. I know that I searched them but some how she escaped and that is the only way I could think she could have gotten out.
A couple of months go by and I had realized that she was really gone for good.
The about three months later I was sitting outside in my swing and I heard a scratching noise in one of my nep pots. I looked up and in one of the drain holes I see a green foot sticking out. Of course I'm not thinking that this is the water dragon. My first thought was that it was an anole, then I get a good look at the foot and I start wondering what it is. I get up and look and it's the waterdragon inside the bottom of the pot. The bottom has a drainage cavity, and the drain hole is about the size of a dime. The water dragon is over 2 feet long. So I start digging through the dirt because there is no way I could get her out of that little hole. When I almost have dug down to her she just flies right of the dime size hole like it's nothing. She crawls up my shoulder and I grab her.
She had lived through the winter inside my nep pot. I guess she had also been catching food because she wasn't skinny. My wife said she saw a lizard running though the trees about a week before.
The worse one was the escaped black widows, but I've told that one here before. That was a nightmare.
I have two other stories I can tell.
1. I had a hamster. She was black and very friendly. She had one of those tube cages, and I had trouble keeping one of the end caps on. I was in a hurry one day and I saw it was about to come off again. I was having trouble getting it back on, so I grabbed some duct tape and taped it and then put that end against the wall. A couple of days passed and I kept putting off fixing it. It seemed to work better than the end cap any way. About a week later when I was cleaning her cage, I noticed that she chewed through the tape. Not only had she chewed through the tape but she chewed through the drywall. I looked into the hole in the wall and she chewed out the other side too.
Funny thing is that I never missed her. Apparently she would go out and gather food at night and then return to her cage before I woke up. She had a lot of dry dog food in her cage and not long after that I found a massive pile of dog food in one of my closets.
2. I had built a large reptile enclosure. It's over 6 ft tall and 29' x29'. During the winter I put my neps in there and if we have a warm spell in the winter, I'll take them outside.
The enclosure has other plants and hiding places for the reptiles, so it's not uncommon for me not to see one for a few days. I soon noticed that I only saw one of my water dragons. I did a quick look for it but couldn't find it. Still that wasn't too unusual. As the weeks went on I slowly realized that she must have been in one of the neps when I took it outside.
I alway search the neps really good before putting them out just to make sure this doesn't happen. I know that I searched them but some how she escaped and that is the only way I could think she could have gotten out.
A couple of months go by and I had realized that she was really gone for good.
The about three months later I was sitting outside in my swing and I heard a scratching noise in one of my nep pots. I looked up and in one of the drain holes I see a green foot sticking out. Of course I'm not thinking that this is the water dragon. My first thought was that it was an anole, then I get a good look at the foot and I start wondering what it is. I get up and look and it's the waterdragon inside the bottom of the pot. The bottom has a drainage cavity, and the drain hole is about the size of a dime. The water dragon is over 2 feet long. So I start digging through the dirt because there is no way I could get her out of that little hole. When I almost have dug down to her she just flies right of the dime size hole like it's nothing. She crawls up my shoulder and I grab her.
She had lived through the winter inside my nep pot. I guess she had also been catching food because she wasn't skinny. My wife said she saw a lizard running though the trees about a week before.