man that suck sorry to hear of his passing.. I hope that you don't have ot exp this again for a long time .
I dread the days I have to report the passing of my 2 oldest snakes sincde they both over 15 years in ager I know of at least 14 for the one since i was still in school she has been with thme though all my learning mistakes like having a cedar cage, using pine shaving , keeping her at wthe wrong temps and everythign else and she was already about 3+ ft when I caught her ( wild caught black rat snake) I also havea corn my firstrescue who been with me for almost as long since at least 1997 since my sister ex bf at the time aquired the snake for me from soneone that moved and they could not take him with them. and he was about 4ft long and about full grown ( thickness )