An encounter between a snake and a baby ended unexpectedly when the boy killed the reptile - by biting off its head.

The 1-year-old, named Imad Gadir from Shfaram in northern Israel, found the 35-centimetre-long snake in his room Thursday morning and was chewing on it when his mother found him, the Ynet newssite reported Friday.

Her horrified screams alerted a neighbour who rushed to the house and grabbed the remains of the snake from the boy's hands.

"I guess the kid acted out of a childish instinct when he put the snake in his mouth," Ynet quoted snake catcher Eli Cohen as saying. "Luckily for him, the coin snake isn't poisonous; otherwise, it could have ended in a tragedy."

The bite of a coin snake is not poisonous but can be dangerous to anyone allergic to it. The snake chokes its prey, Cohen said, adding that had it been larger, Imad could well have been strangled.

The infant sustained no injuries from his encounter but was taken to a hospital in Haifa for a medical check to be on the safe side.