Snake lover killed by giant pet python
Dan considered the African rock python named 'Tiny' as his baby.
(Web Desk) - A giant 8-foot python killed his owner who brought the snake up since it was small enough to fit in the palm of his hand, reported The Independent.
The snake handler Dan Brandon was 31-years-old and considered the African rock python named ‘Tiny’ as his baby.
Mr Brandon died of asphyxiation at his home in Church Crookham, Hampshire, on 25 August 2017, Basingstoke Coroners’ Court was told.
Dan’s mother told court that her son had 10 snakes, along with 12 tarantulas at the family home.
“He was more wary of Tiny than the other snakes. He said she’s very strong. He had stopped putting her round his neck because she was so strong and unpredictable.”
She told court that she was present in the home at that evening and heard a loud bang upstairs thinking that it might be a dumbbell falling or that her son had knocked something over.
However; when she went to her son’s room, Dan was lying on the floor and Tiny was not present in her vivarium. She was found later by Dan’s friends under a cabinet and returned to her place.
Coroner Andrew Bradley recorded a verdict of misadventure and said: “The most likely scenario is that Tiny was engaged with Dan – I have no doubt about that.
“She was coiling around him, at which point I have no idea. There was a point at which either she takes hold of him unexpectedly or trips him up or some other mechanism.”
He said after Mr Brandon was killed the snake then hid, probably “because of the shock of him falling or because of his reaction”.
According to pathologist Dr Adman al-Badri, no signs of strangulation were present on Dan’s neck and that his diagnosis of asphyxiation had been reached by exclusion. But he found a haemorrhage behind one eye, plus burst blood vessels, and congested lungs.
Adman went on to explain that Dan’s body also did not contain any bite marks while no scratches were present on the snake’s skin which showed that Dan had tried to pull the snake away from him.
