Terrifying picture shows deadly animal lurking in a family’s backyard – and it had a bad end for their pets

AN ALARMING pic shows a deadly animal lurking in a family’s backyard – a visit which resulted in a sad ending for the pets.

A man got the shock of his life when he opened his bird nesting box in Delaware to find a trapped predator, which had suffocated its prey.

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The man, named Marty, was hoping to find baby bluebirds chirping happily inside the warm, timber box.

Unfortunately, he was stunned to instead find a huge snake curled up – and no sign of the birds he had been feeding.

Marty posted a pic of the spooky encounter on Reddit, saying: “Opened the door to my bluebird nesting box to check on the growth of the baby birds and found this snake inside.

“All the birds were eaten.”

The photo shows the snake starting to uncoil from the top of the straw bedding.

It is believed to be a black rat snake, one of the longest snakes in North America which can occasionally reach lengths of 8 ft, according to Sea World.

Like pythons and boas, rat snakes are constrictors, which suffocate their prey.

The reptiles are excellent climbers and hunt for birds and eggs in trees, adds Sea World.

Marty was told on Reddit that he had unwittingly created a “bed ‘n breakfast for snakes.”

He thanked one person who advised him: “One of the duties of making a bluebird or nesting box is securing the base from predators, and rat snakes will take them out.

“There are chimney and/or cone systems that work very well.

“Squirrels, rodents, snakes etc. try to climb the pole and can’t really reach around it. Otherwise you’re pretty much setting the birds up to be eaten instead of finding a better spot for themselves.”

Marty’s post garnered more than 70,000 reactions and thousands of comments.

“I see no regret on that snake’s face,” one person noted, while another commented: “I mean he did literally set up a honeypot.”

One wrote: “As someone with an incredible amount of phobia surrounding snakes, this is a literal nightmare.”

Meanwhile, another person joked: “Upside… new pet snake. And they already know what food it likes.”

There are plenty of tips online about keeping nesting boxes snake-proof.

One woman, Karen, said that she protects baby birds by wrapping a “slinky around the post [supporting] the birdhouse and the snake can’t slither up. Not only is it easy, but barely detectable.”