A pair of four-metre-long lovesick pythons fought over mating rights in a back garden.

Dean Draper was in his backyard in New South Wales, Australia, on September 30 when he heard two eastern carpet pythons battling it out.

Dramatic footage captured the amorous snakes entwined in each other as they tried to force the other into submission.

The battle continued for three hours until a victor eventually won mating rights over a female who lives in Dean’s shed.

Dean said: “Having such large animals that are not scared of humans at all is a bit unnerving.

“At the moment it is snake breeding season and all of the snakes are a bit aggressive. I like them but am a little scared of them.

“They will rear up and hiss and sometimes do small strikes that are meant to intimidate me rather than hit me if I accidentally walk too close to them.

“The female has lived at my place for many years and I think the large males come from the bushland next door.

“They may not have seen humans before because they did not care about my presence at all and ignored me.

“The fight went on for over three hours. The biggest python was massive, the biggest I’ve ever seen, it must have been four metres long.

“The next day the winner and the female were together. The slightly smaller one won.”