Mom awakes to find python wrapped around toddler's arm

This has to rank way up there on a mom's worst nightmare scenario. Imagine waking up in the middle of the night, going to your child's room and finding a six-foot python wrapped around your kid's arm. That's what happened to this Aussie mother. She wakes up to hear her cat hissing, and using her cell phone to peek in at her two-year-old daughter, the mom sees a large python wrapped on her daughter's arm (apparently trying to keep itself warm). The mom freaks out, (who wouldn't?), which causes the python to start squeezing the child's arm (thank goodness it wasn't the neck, but still how horrific!). The snake bites the girl three times on the arm, which leads to some severe bleeding.

Finally the mom pries the snake off, throws it across the room and runs out. The snake was removed from the house, and at the mom's request, was released back into the wild. Wow!

For video and more from this story, here's the article.

(Photo and caption from: brisbanetimes.com. Tess Guthrie, with her two-year-old daughter Zara; and Tex Tillis, with the snake he removed from their home.)