Killer python kept in owner's home, Canadian police say

The python that strangled two children in Canada had been kept in the pet store owner's apartment where the two brothers were sleeping and not with the other animals in the shop below, police said.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police Sergeant Alain Tremblay said the snake was housed in a large glass enclosure that reached the ceiling of the apartment. It escaped through a small hole in the ceiling connected to the ventilation system. He said the snake made its way through the ventilation system, the pipe collapsed and the snake fell.

Reptile expert Bry Loyst said the boys had been playing with other animals hours earlier, and he believes their scent might have attracted the snake.

Family spokesman Dave Rose, the boys' great-uncle, said the brothers had spent Monday at Savoie's family farm and played with llamas, goats, horses and dogs and cats before staying over at the apartment.

Investigators said they were waiting for the results of an autopsy on Noah Barthe, four, and his brother Connor Barthe, six, as well as a necropsy on the snake before commenting further on the cause of death.