Two-year-old Shaiunna Hare was already dead by the time a rescue crew arrived at her family home near Oxford, Florida, on Wednesday morning.

The family's pet Burmese python, measuring more than 8ft long, had broken out of its terrarium sometime during the night.

Charles Jason Darnell, the snake's owner and the boyfriend of Shaiunna's mother, discovered the snake missing and went to the girl's room, where he found "the snake on the child" and bite marks on her head.

Mr Darnell dialled emergency services pleading for help.

"Our Burmese python got out of the cage last night and got into the baby's crib and strangled her to death," a tearful Mr Darnell told the emergency operator.

The 32-year-old grabbed a knife and stabbed the albino snake until it loosened its crushing grip on the toddler.

Authorities later found the animal under furniture and removed it from their small home - bordered by cow fields - along with another six-foot snake.

Two other children and Shaiunna's mother, 23-year-old Jaren Ashley Hare, who were sleeping in the small tan-coloured bungalow, were not harmed.

Mr Darnell told deputies he placed the larger snake in a bag, which he put in an aquarium on Tuesday night and then discovered the snake had escaped when he woke on Wednesday morning.

"This is a very sad situation," Sumter County Sheriff Bill Farmer said.

"To keep a large, unsecured snake in the house is just asking for trouble."

Mr Darnell did not have a permit for the snakes and a vet is determining whether the reptiles should be put down.

No charges have been laid but investigators are looking into whether there was child neglect or if any other laws were broken.

More than a dozen people, including five children, have been killed in the country by pet pythons since 1980, according to the Humane Society of the United States.

Burmese pythons are not native to Florida but suit the steamy climate, and have flourished in the Everglades after pet owners freed them into the wild.

Scientists speculate a number of the animals escaped from pet shops battered by Hurricane Andrew in 1992 and have been reproducing ever since.

They have been known to grow to lengths of 26ft and tip the scales at more than 14st.