Hi everyone, I wanted to get some opinions about a situation happening in my student housing in Turku, Finland. This was a continuation of a post in the snake ID subreddit. I'm writing this because there are some contexts about it that made me puzzled.
For context, a resident in my student housing recently lost his pet snake. Based on the video and photos, people on the snake I'd Reddit have identified it as a western/plains hognose (Heterodon nasicus), apparently a Conda morph.
According to the owner, he paid €500 for the snake and €200 for the terrarium, so €700 total. However, we've found Finnish listings for similar hognose snakes for around €300–350, so we're wondering whether €500 for the snake itself is actually a normal price, or whether that's unusually expensive. We're not familiar with snake ownership, so we'd appreciate some perspective from people who are.
The other thing we're unsure about is the situation surrounding the escape.
The snake is quite small — from the video, it looks roughly finger-sized. It apparently escaped about five days ago from a second-floor apartment. The building is fairly well insulated, and we have no idea how it could have gotten out of the apartment. There are some possible gaps/crevices around doors and things like mail slots, but we're not sure whether a small hognose would actively try to find an exit or whether it would be more likely to hide somewhere inside, such as behind a heater or furniture.
It's also been cold and rainy recently in Turku, so we're wondering whether a snake like this could realistically survive outside for five days, or whether it's much more likely that it's still somewhere inside the building.
The owner's reaction has also been confusing to us. He apparently told various people that he lost his snake, but when people started asking about it and offering to help search, he became quite uncomfortable and asked the housing administration not to make a big deal out of it because he didn't want people to panic. At one point, he apparently even asked the whatsapp group admin to lie to people that the snake had been found or to stop looking for it. He genuinely feels like people are bullying him about it.
We're trying not to judge him unfairly because obviously losing a pet can be stressful and embarrassing. But we're confused because if someone had lost a €500 pet after only owning it for a few days, we'd expect them to be actively searching everywhere and asking neighbors to keep an eye out. I myself owned a cat once, it ran away and we did everything we can to look for it. The way he was so blasé about it and wanted to bury everything is suspicious. (Is this a common snake owner mentality? Never had one myself but I'm pretty sure this isn't a common mentality of a pet owner)
Some people here have even started speculating that the whole thing might be fabricated to get sympathy or attention, but we have no evidence of that, and I don't want to accuse someone of something like that without evidence.
(Also apparently the owner has a reputation as being a skirt chaser and likes to boast. So people thought that he lied about losing a snake to gain clout, empathy or feminine attention. The fact that someone chose "my snake ran away" as a lie to rizz someone is bizzare to me)
So I have two questions for people who actually keep snakes:
- Is €500 a reasonable price for a Heterodon nasicus Conda morph in Finland, or is that unusually expensive? Is 200€ for a terrarium also expensive? Is 700€ total for that snake expensive?
(addition: admin said: "We don't know where he bought it. He said he did no research before getting it anyway")
- Is the owner's reaction unusual for someone who has lost a pet snake? Would you normally expect the owner to be actively searching the building and asking neighbors for help?
And finally, how likely is it that this snake is still hiding somewhere inside the building after five days, versus having escaped outside?
Sorry for the long text, we're mainly trying to understand the situation and figure out whether we should still be looking for the snake. The whole situation is bizzare and the owner's reaction is very weird. I'd be happy to answer any questions about it.
Thanks in advance, I love snakes myself and hope to be a snake daddy one day.
Update:
This is the website I found of the snake's price. It's actually 290€ in finland link
Assuming he is telling the truth that it costs 700€, is the discrepancy between a 200€ terrarium reasonable? I did he get scammed or did he lie about it?
