IT’S almost too hard to stomach — the second family pooch to be swallowed by a snake in the space of 10 days.

A devastated North Queensland family has told of the grisly discovery of a 3.5m python with a suspicious bulge in its midsection, the morning their precious pooch Walter disappeared.

“The kids were absolutely devastated,” said mum Michelle Grigg.

The beloved Maltese-Shih tzu cross belonged to her seven-year-old daughter Charley, who was left distraught.

“This little dog was given to her as a gift from her aunty, it was her everything,” Ms Grigg said.

As her husband searched their six-acre Whitsundays property for signs of the missing pooch last Tuesday, Ms Grigg discovered a large scrub python curled up on their veranda with a large bump in its belly.

“There was no doubt it was Walter. It was exactly Walter-sized,” she said.

Ms Grigg said scrub pythons had been breeding profusely in the area, and while she’d had chickens and ducks attacked before, she never expected one to target the dogs.

“I have lived on this property since I was six. We’ve always had dogs, and this has never happened before,” she said.

It is the second report of a dog being eaten by a snake within a week, after a Chihuaha-Maltese cross was devoured in northern New South Wales.

Footage of the python’s belly bulge follows several incredible images and videos of snakes attacking everything from an Eastern Water Dragon to a crocodile in the state.News_Rich_Media: A snake has eaten a crocodile in an epic duel that shocked onlookers at a Queensland lake. News_Rich_Media: See what happens after an Eastern Brown Snake takes on an Eastern Water Dragon in Sinnamon Park, Brisbane.