I am very sorry for your loss, I have had similar issues with my local pet stores but very good luck with PetCo. I bought a red tailed boa from them and it died about a month later. I live six hours away from the store and all I had to do was call with my receipt # and they refunded my credit card with no problems. If you do talk to someone, try the reptile manager. A big part of their problem is that their staff is not educated but every once and a while you get a good employee. I hope it all works out for you.