RIP Darwin...

Well, I got some really bad news yesterday morning while at work.
I am currently moving, so I decided to board my 2 snakes (Darwin and Diedra) at my local pet shop so they would be less stressed, and because I am not allowed to have animals in my old apartment so I had to get them out for the walk-through inspection.
Anyway, the pet shop I boarded them at is a place I spend a lot of my free time, and I am very close with the owners. He knows how much my snakes mean to me, and he wanted to do everything he could to keep them safe. I went in with my thermostat and heat tape to set up some temporary tubs for them, but he had an open locking enclosure that we both felt was a better fit to keep them safe. It is completely sealed (obviously) with the only openings being the vents, so the heat pad was out of the question. I set up my tubs in there, and my friend put in a heat bulb, and we let it set to see how the temps were. I stayed there for 2 hours checking the temps to make sure they were spot on. When I left, it was only 84 on the tub that was closer to the heat bulb.
I get a call yesterday morning saying my first snake, a wildtype ball python named Darwin, had passed. It got extremely hot in the enclosure and he cooked. If this were a letter, the pages would be soaked with tears. I had raised up his tub so he would be closer to the light (still about a foot/ foot and a half away), since the bulb was off-set in the enclosure and when he was on the ground his temps were about 74. We both had my animals' best well-being in our intentions, but unfortunately this is not always enough.
I'm sorry for the long post, but thank you to anyone who reads this. I have spent every free hour at the petshop just to have a place to be around animals, and I needed to share my story with the community here too.
My friend is just devastated, he's gone as far as offering me a male lesser, which I declined because it wasn't his fault at all and I don't want the reason I get another snake be because of this. Anyway, thank you all and RIP Darwin :(

I'm sorry for your loss.

Sorry for your loss. :(

Sorry...:depressed

I'm sorry you lost him that way. I couldn't imagine getting that news.

I recommend getting a new little buddy asap...I cant believe you are not allowed to have snakes at your place. People need to get over their snake fear and realize how awesome bp's are...

Thank you all for your kind thoughts and words... this is very hard for me to deal with, I take death in all forms hard. I can't get over how after all of the hard work I do to keep them healthy he went out like this...it makes me feel sick with myself... I want to wait on another snake, I need time to get over this. I am going to focus on loving Diedra and ensuring she deals with the enormous stress and is healthy and thriving before I add another, but I know where you're coming from, and thank you once again.

another thing that is killing me is that I don't have any pictures of him, except a few on my phone that are crappy and I don't have a cord to upload them...I feel like he is still just boarding and I will get to see him in the morning...and i hadn't been handling him that much over the past few months because we were working on getting him back on feed after the winter...at least he went out with a meal in his stomach...I just want him back...I feel like it won't hit me until I get Diedra back and realize what life is like with only her... :(