A python called Winston has undergone surgery to remove a pair of barbecue tongs he swallowed.
Snake swallowed BBQ tongs
The snake was being fed a rat by his owner using the metal tongs when he latched on and refused to let go of the implement.
Aaron Rouse, his owner who lives in Adelaide, Australia, told 891 ABC Adelaide: ''I tried to prise him off the tongs but we didn't have any hope of that at all.''
He left his python to play with the tongs and later returned to find Winston had devoured them.
An X-ray showed the tongs were about one third as long as the snake, and had moved about half way through his body.
Dr Funnel said he couldn't drag the tongs out of Winston's mouth because they had sharp edges, so he performed surgery and successfully removed them.