BBC

A man in Australia got a shock when he returned home to find two snakes had crashed through his ceiling and were slithering around his Queensland house.

David Tate found one snake in his bedroom and another in the living room on Monday. They weighed 22kg (3.4 stone) between them.

Snake catcher Steven Brown said they were of "exceptional size".

It's thought the two male snakes could have been fighting over a female snake which has not yet been located.

The carpet pythons measured 2.8m (9.1 feet) and 2.5m long.

The animals had fallen through the ceiling of the property

Mr Tait said he had previously seen snakes basking in the sun on his roof.

"When I came back...there was a large slab [of ceiling] on the kitchen table," he told The Courier-Mail.

After seeing the state of his ceiling, he looked around and eventually found the animals.

He called in a snake catcher and the ordeal was over "pretty quickly".

"I certainly didn't want to handle them," he said.

One of the animals was located in the living room while another was found in the bedroom

Mr Brown from North Brisbane Snake Catchers and Relocation told the BBC: "These two were of exceptional size compared to the common size that's usually come across."

It wasn't until he arrived at the house that he realised the animals had crashed through the ceiling, he said on Facebook.

"We are just coming into our snake season as today is the start of the breeding season and snakes will only get more active as the temperatures rise into our summer period," he told the BBC.

Mr Brown said that if people came across a snake, it was best to stand still and let the snake move on as they would not see you as a threat.

"All snakes want to do is escape any threat of danger," he added.