Watching him die :(

[MrLang]

I dont want to be the downer here but I have to say thats why you dont give living animals as presents. Unless they are well aware of the care of them and you make sure they will take care of them.

Anyone who has the passion to care for a specific animal will seek it out on their own. Bear in mind that when you give an animal as a gift you are also burdening the potential owner with time and financial burdens that they likely would have taken on by them self if they had real interest.

You mentioned that the cage has no top.

Take the snake, let her believe it got lost. She won't be hurt over the loss and you don't have to risk your friendship to make sure the snake's welfare is #1. Your friend will probably be pleased to not have to 'deal with it' anymore. Everyone wins. They call it a white lie for a reason...

EDIT: then she can reflect on how poor of a pet owner she was and hopefully not make the same mistakes again