Noah and Connor Barthe, two brothers who were killed while sleeping by an African Rock python in New Brunswick on Monday, has hundreds of photos happily playing in snake tanks on their mother's Facebook page.

Noah and Connor with an unidentified friend playing happily in a reptile tank. Source: Facebook

Mandy Trecartin, the boys' mother, identified one of the photos as an anaconda habitat. Some of the photos show Noah, 5, and Connor, 7, scrubbing a glass enclosure and playing in a sand in another snake tank.

According to David Rose, the children's great-uncle, the two stayed at their father's best friend's apartment, Jean Claude Savoie, and his son for barbecue and a swim at the family farm.

Source: Facebook

Mr Savoie's apartment is located above the exotic pet store, which he also owns. Preliminary autopsy revealed that the boys died of asphyxiation.

According to Paul Goulet, founder and co-owner of Little Ray's Reptile Zoo in Ottawa, the snake may have mistaken the children as prey after spending a day around farm animals.

The police has already launched a criminal investigation regarding the incident. According to a spokesman from the Natural Resources Department, no permit was issued for an African rock python, and authorities weren't aware that it was being kept at an apartment.

Sgt. Tremblay from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police believed that the reptile escaped and slithered through a ventilation system and fell from where the boys were sleeping.

Savoie didn't hear a sound and only discovered the "horrific scene" on Monday morning. The authorities were able to capture the python and was killed by a veterinarian.

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Police Launches A Criminal Investigation Over the Death of Two Young Boys Killed By Python
Two Boys Killed By Escaped Python in New Brunswick, Canada