Just dropped him off at the vet, hopefully will get word late today or tomorrow. An awful sleepless night with my daughter, consumed with grief. I hope the necropsy gives us answers.

I reached out to his breeder to see if they've seen anything else in his litter. They are as perplexed as we are. They've never had problems with their Russians before. Which tells me it must be something I did. Half-wit pothead teenagers keep their snakes alive, and I managed to kill one of the hardiest species. Unbelievable.

We loved him hard for the couple of months we had him.