As unlikely couples go, these two are right up there.
Fifi the Chihuahua and Bashar the python have become firm friends after being brought together by their professional belly-dancer owner.
Paula Staunton, 48, already had nine-year-old Fifi when she adopted Bashar and another python called Xena, to use in her performances.
She hoped they would get on, but nothing prepared her for the close friendship the two have developed.
Fifi the Chihuahua and Bashar the python have a cuddle at home in Wallasey, Merseyside
The pair often sniff each other out for a cuddle, and fall asleep together on their own throne-shaped chair.
Mother-of-one Ms Staunton, who lives in Wallasey, Merseyside, says her pets' relationship is just like a human love affair.
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'It's like fatal attraction, without the venom,' she said. 'They just love each other like two people would.
'Poor Fifi lost her pup a few years back and she seems to have taken Bashar under her paw.
'They're inseparable now and Fifi even begs me to let Bashar out of his tank so they can cuddle.
Love's young dream: The pets' owner Paula Staunton says they are in love with each other like humans
Fifi the Chihuahua has recently started catching live mice for its snake friend to eat
Fifi often asks her owner to get Bashar the python out of its tank so the pair can have a cuddle
'Snakes aren't the slimy, creepy, nasty things people think they are: they can be very loving and caring.
'When they crawl over you they give you little hugs.'
Ms Staunton, who is a vegetarian, feeds Bashar defrosted mice once a week, and Fifi has just begun catching live ones for him herself.
'Their relationship knows no bounds,' Ms Staunton said.
'Bashar's even begun to act a little like Fifi. If she's with me in the car, she wraps herself around my neck and sticks her head out of the window.'
Bashar is three, and three feet long - when she is fully grown she will be five feet long.
Paula Staunton is a professional belly-dancer who uses both snakes and her pet dog in her performances
The pair, who both feature in Ms Staunton's belly-dancing performance, like to snuggle up together on a chair