SNAKES ALIVE Shocking moment family let grinning boy, 3, ride their 20ft pet PYTHON in Vietnam

The youngster, named Truong, could not contain his excitement as his careless parents took the chance to let the snake play in their flooded yard in Ha Trung district.

Doan immediately leapt onto the deadly creature and straddled its back to begin riding it - and even giggled as he "giddies up" like a horse on the 180lb beast.

Pictures of the incident went viral with many claiming they were edited - but the lad’s family replied with a video proving it was real.

The boy’s aunty, An Nguyen, said: "He is three years old and the python is 80kg. The family have had the python for four years as a pet and it is very gentle.

His auntie said enormous serpent was 'gentle'

But pythons have been known to kill humans and could easily consume a small child

"It was a rainy day and the water flooded to the edge of the yard. So they put the python in there to play and relax."

The floods lashing Vietnam this week are the worst in the country’s history with at least 54 dead and dozens more missing.

The heavy rain in the central and northern regions has disrupted travel in some areas, limiting the rescue attempts for the missing.

Hundreds of thousands of homes and buildings have been destroyed, while vast amounts of live stock have also been killed.