A fan of exotic animals who kept creatures including pythons was found dead at his home as a result of asphyxiation.
Hampshire police said Dan Brandon, 31, sustained serious injuries and died in Church Crookham, Fleet, on 25 August. A police spokesman said the death was not being treated as suspicious.
An inquest into Brandon’s death was opened on Monday, with a full hearing scheduled for Basingstoke coroner’s court on 22 November.
A Hampshire coroner’s office spokesman said: “It has become known that the cause of death was asphyxiation.”
The python found loose in Brandon’s home had not been ruled out of the investigation. Andrew Bradley, the coroner for north-east Hampshire, said: “A snake was found in the room where the man died.”
A python is not thought to have been linked to a death in the UK, although pythons have been held responsible for fatalities in other parts of the world.
An unnamed friend of Brandon said he did not believe the snake had killed him and hoped the investigation would exonerate it.
In a JustGiving fundraising page set up in Brandon’s memory, another friend, John Cottrell, said his death was unexpected.
“He was obsessed with snakes, spiders, birds and all wildlife, [so] in his memory we have set up two fundraising pages, one for WWF and one for RSPB,” Cottrell wrote.
“We have struggled when looking for photos for his funeral to find any when he isn’t holding a spider, snake, small bird, toad, slow worm, hedgehog, [or] feeding a fox, stroking cattle, befriending a cat or dog, so these charities seemed the perfect choice. In memory of you Dan … who we will all miss so much.”
