RIP Stripes

Yes - my Christmas wishes have been granted....j/k - but seriously - you all know how much I loved the kids snake right..well this past weekend Stripes life was ended by a mouse. We were headed to Palm Springs this past weekend and it was my job to pick up a mouse for Stripes to eat while we were gone. Well there is the 1st mistake - asking me to get the mouse. So I went to Petco and asked the person for a mouse to feed to my son's pet snake...a little one I said. So she gave me some paperwork to fill out - the "responsibile pet owner" paperwork...I said "You realize I AM giving this mouse to a snake to EAT right!" She said yes - but you will be responsibile until you feed him to the snake right? I said sure - so I wasn't paying close attention to the size - I just took the box and gave it to Mason. So Mason fed it to Stripes...but it was apparently too big and bit Stripes. So Mason got the mouse out of there and asked Uncle Devin to buy a small mouse and give it to Stripes before we got home. Well we got the call yesterday...Aunty Lyse was the bearer of bad news and told us the snake was gone. They went and bought a mouse for Stripes, the mouse bit his way out of the box and was running around the car so Devin had to catch him and give him to Stripes. Then they noticed that the mouse was sleeping in the feeding terrarium, so they figured something was wrong...the mouse was sleeping on the snake!!! So they checked it out and discovered he had passed away. Poor Lyse thought that it was their fault and she felt bad - nope it was all my fault apparently and now the kids are playing on my sensitive side LOL and trying to get me to agree to a tortoise. Mason thought it quite appropriate that he received Stripes for Christmas 5 years ago - and he passed this Christmas....RIP Stripes - I can't say I am sad......