At a reptile festival held in west Indonesia a plucky four-year-old girl named Shaqila brought her own 80cm African ball python.

Shaqila is listed as the youngest reptile lover in Indonesia, and often participates in events such as this one in Padang, West Sumatra, filmed on February 17. Video shows her stroking and wrapping a python around her neck.

Shaqila, though young, is already a very experienced reptile handler, with her parents trusting her to look after her now nearly metre-long python.

Shaqila's parent Dhanu said: "Shaqila befriended the python when she was one-year-old and the snake was still small as well. Now the python is 80-cm-long and Shaqila can care for it by bathing and feeding it."