That's one of the things that's so scary to me about keeping herpts- so fragile, in a way. We had 2 chameleons as kids, and my cat sat by the tank every day. Their heatrock shorted and fried them- totally random accidental death. The cat moved outside the door to the room they had lived in, and kept vigil for weeks.

As sorry as I was to lose the lizards, it was especially sad to see how badly my cat felt- I got her a mouse to watch, but she wasn't interested. Her chameleons were gone.

(I know I know- probably some simple feline behavioral reason behind it all, but you gotta admit, it was a weird reaction.)

Glad your rescue snake has a better home than the last.