An eight-foot long pet python strangles a toddler in central Florida.

SUMTER COUNTY, FLORIDA, UNITED STATES (JULY 1, 2009) NBC -
A pet Burmese python is suspected of strangling a two-year old girl in Central Florida on Wednesday (July 1).
Investigators removed the yellow snake---said to measure eight and a half feet---from the house in Sumter County, as shocked residents looked on.

"To have an animal like that in the house and to have small children in the house is just unbelievable to me," said an unidentified neighbour.

The snake's owner, 32-year old Charles Jason Darnell, told investigators the snake was a pet that he kept locked in an aquarium-like cage in his living room.

Darnell says he found the snake on top of the child.

Officials suspect the snake crawled out of its cage and got into the two-year old Shauinna Hare's bed.

Lt. Bobby Caruther of the Sumter County Sheriff's Office said Darnell got a knife and started stabbing the snake and then called 911. But it was too late.

Investigators say Darnell, who also kept a six foot long boa constrictor, did not have a required permit to own the reptiles.

"You should certainly use due diligence in having them no matter who you have in the house because they can easily swallow a small child," says Joy Hill of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Darnell is the two-year old victim's mother's boyfriend. Two other children live in the same house. Investigators believe Darnell could now face child endangerment charges.