A dog walker was stopped in his tracks as a pair of venomous snakes appeared to be suspended in the air vertically as they fought metres in front of him.

Nick Engler and his pooch Bumblebee were walking through Hoosier National Forest, Indiana, US, on July 24 when they spotted something blocking their path.

Incredible footage shows two timber rattlesnakes wrapped around each other as they were suspended vertically off the ground battling each other.

The 5-foot-long reptiles thrashed each other around the path for almost 20 minutes as they apparently battled to impress a female nearby.

Nick said: “The way they were suspended vertically looked like those snake charming videos and it just didn’t seem real at first.

“I thought maybe someone was playing a prank but sure enough those rattlers were real.

“I have never seen anything like this before. From what I was told by some snake people this is extremely rare to witness.

“As the snakes are endangered in Indiana, I didn’t think anyone would believe me so before I started filming.

“The snakes were suspended vertically up in the air when me and my dog Bumblebee walked up on them.

“Because of that I could see them from a good distance off, maybe 30 yards, but it took me a few minutes to process what it was I was seeing.

“I was told the two males were performing a mating ritual combat of sorts in order to impress a nearby female.

“Neither snake dies when they do this, but the first one to tire and/or get beat up will give up and move on. The winner presumably mates with the nearby female.

“I witnessed about 20 minutes of the fight but it was very much mid-combat when I walked up.

“In the end, one of the snakes slithered away and the other started rattling really loudly and seemed to notice me, so I thought it was a good time for me to leave the way I came.”

A dog walker was stopped in his tracks as a pair of venomous snakes appeared to be suspended in the air vertically as they fought metres in front of him.

Nick Engler and his pooch Bumblebee were walking through Hoosier National Forest, Indiana, USA, on July 24 when they spotted something blocking their path.

Incredible footage shows two timber rattlesnakes wrapped around each other as they were suspended vertically off the ground battling each other.

The five-foot-long reptiles thrashed each other around the path for almost 20 minutes as they apparently battled to impress a female nearby.

Nick said: “The way they were suspended vertically looked like those snake charming videos and it just didn’t seem real at first.

“I thought maybe someone was playing a prank but sure enough those rattlers were real.

“I have never seen anything like this before. From what I was told by some snake people this is extremely rare to witness.

“As the snakes are endangered in Indiana, I didn’t think anyone would believe me so before I started filming.

“The snakes were suspended vertically up in the air when me and my dog Bumblebee walked up on them.

“Because of that I could see them from a good distance off, maybe 30 yards, but it took me a few minutes to process what it was I was seeing.

“I was told the two males were performing a mating ritual combat of sorts in order to impress a nearby female.

“Neither snake dies when they do this, but the first one to tire and/or get beat up will give up and move on. The winner presumably mates with the nearby female.

“I witnessed about 20 minutes of the fight but it was very much mid-combat when I walked up.

“In the end one of the snakes slithered away and the other started rattling really loudly and seemed to notice me, so I thought it was a good time for me to leave the way I came.”