“Because of the heavy rain I was worried about the water levels in my dam and went out to lower the spillway to release the pressure and noticed all the cane toads had been flushed out of their hidey-holes around the edge of the lake, and then nearly stepped on the snake as it was crawling along with the cane toads on its back,” he said.

Olive pythons can dine on a whole host of wildlife — Mr Mock said he had even seen one swallow a wallaby, which was still wriggling in the snake’s gut — but had learned to avoid cane toads, which are poisonous to much of Australia's wildlife and are a rampant pest in the country’s north.

And the explanation for the cane toads’ wild ride on the back of Monty may not come down to sheer laziness but rather some randy impulses.

“I was surprised, from the photo it looks like the snake’s just sitting there, but he was moving quite quickly and they were hanging on for dear life,” Mr Mock said.

“I actually suspect that they were a bit frisky and that’s why they were attached to him, because there’s no other reason they should be wanting a ride because they’re quite capable of swimming and hopping around themselves.