If the snake gets into the passenger compartment and bites someone that's a lawsuit. If they have a reaction to the venom that's a bigger lawsuit. And the com

If the snake gets into the passenger compartment and bites someone that's a lawsuit. If they have a reaction to the venom that's a bigger lawsuit. And the company is not going to trust any armchair herpetologist guesses as to what species it is or what it "probably" is. It is also unusual enough of an occurrence that a strict policy of diverting when there's (mf'ing) snakes on the plane won't really impact operations that much. IOW better safe that sorry.