I'll never forget when i was a kid, like 7 or 8, coming home from school to find my BP's dead. One died, the pet store gave us another b/c vet confirmed it had been sick all along, then the second one dies too. They were both belly up, mouth agape; i was horrified, i waited more than 25 years to get another snake.
this was in the mid 80's; they were all wild caught, sick, and covered with ticks at this nasty little pet store, and husbandry knowledge was practically nonexistent (remember, kids, the internet is still pretty new)