Python undergoes surgery after swallowing metal BBQ tongs

Winston the python is now in recovery after undergoing surgery to have the metal tongs removed. Photo / AP

It appears this python bit off more than he could chew - or rather swallow - after he consumed a large pair of barbecue tongs during his feed.

Owner Aaron Rouse, of Adelaide, told the ABC he was using the tongs to feed a rat to his pet named Winston when it grabbed onto the metal utensils and would not let go.

After failing to pull the tongs off the reptile, Mr Rouse left his pet in its cage but only to later find the snake had swallowed them whole.

When taken to surgery, even the vet was in disbelief.

"He [the owner] said the snake had swallowed some tongs and initially I was imagining some small forceps or tweezers or something like that," Dr Oliver Funnell, a veterinary expert from Adelaide University, told 891 ABC Adelaide.

"The only sensible option was to do surgery."

So Dr Funnell made an incision over the big end of the tongs and was able to successfully remove them from the snake without causing damage to any of its internal organs.

'The clip was at the other end so these tongs would have been trying to expand the whole time, which would have been quite uncomfortable,' he said.

According to Adelaide University's Facebook page, Winston underwent surgery last week.

He is in recovery and is doing fine.

- Daily Mail