About ten years ago, when I had my first garters, I lost four of them on different occasions. Two went AWOL in my office, and were never found, even when we tore the room apart to carpet and paint it. But we did discover a crack where the wall meets the foundation, and figure they went walkabout outdoors.
Fortunately, they were native species.
Then later, I lost two in my basement. The male resurfaced MANY months later (6 or 7). I saw him under the stairwell, poking his head out and looking around, and was able to catch him.
After returning him to a viv, he ate three pinkies that week! But he seemed to have lost weight, but was not emaciated and had stayed in fairly good shape. The floor down there is about 65 degrees, and there is an open sump pump well where he could get water, so I figure the low temps and the available water enabled him to live that long.
However, the female was never found... and she was gravid!
And I don't think she came up the stairs, because our cats would have preyed on her... so I never did figure out where she went!
