Ball Python Cause of Death

[Bogertophis]

Bummer, but a completely understandable situation. Impossible to ever know what happened, then.

Looking at that photo again: is there a rodent in the cup? Was the snake being fed in the cup when it died? Does that cup have air holes in it (I can't see any)? That's a really questionable photo when a person is trying to show that some problem has occurred. Does the snake even look dead? Why isn't it photographed lying out flat and upside down as proof? I'm quite skeptical.

I had a buyer once claim that the hognose I sold him died after a week. I replied asking for details and a photo of the snake, and told him to save the body in case we need a necropsy. I got no reply even after sending a followup email the next day. One can only presume that the snake wasn't actually dead, or there was evidence that the death was the buyer's fault.

I was wondering the same things about that photo- It does appear to be feeding time, & it doesn't really look dead to me either- certainly that photo offers no proof. And if there's no air holes & they left it in there overnight (or hours), I think we have the "cause of death".