My son's snake got out of his cage twice. The first time he was out for a month, and the second time about six weeks! We left the heat lamp on in his tank, and left the lid open half way, just in case. We had completely given up hope of ever finding him, both times. The first time we found him ... well HE found US actually ... my son was sitting on the floor leaning up against the bed, and the snake crawled across the bed onto his shoulder! The second time, I was going to take the tank out of his room, thinking the snake was gone for good. When I reached out to turn off the lamp, the snake moved - he was in his tank!

I have no idea if this is common, or simply coincidence, since this is the only snake we've ever owned. But I swear, it seemed like both times, he intentionally sought out either his owner or his house, when he was ready to come home. Smarter than we gave him credit for, that's for sure.