AURORA, Colo. -- An Aurora man died Sunday afternoon when his pet Burmese python wrapped itself around his neck, suffocating him.

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A firefighter talks about his close call with the python.

Aurora Police said they first received a call around 2:30 p.m. about a man who was being attacked by a snake in his home.

When the first two officers arrived at the house near Tower Road and Mississippi, they found the man with the snake (pictured, left) wrapped around his upper torso and neck area.

Kimberly Brown, who had recently moved in with the victim, saw it happen.

"He was handling him around his neck like he usually does and Monty (the python) got aggressive with him and wrapped himself around Rick's neck," Brown said.

The officers were unable to free the snake from the man so they called for additional help.

"The two police officers used their batons to wedge in between the snake and man's neck to try to give him a little room to breathe until back-up arrived," Aurora fire Lt. Dave Varnum said.

A few minutes later, seven Aurora firefighters arrived and were able to pry the snake off the man. Officials estimated the large snake was wrapped around the man for 10 to 15 minutes.

The man, who was identified Monday as Richard Barber, 43, was transported by ambulance to the Medical Center of Aurora where he later died of asphyxiation in the emergency room

It is unknown what caused the snake to attack the man.

"It's hard to say," said Varnum. "We do know it is a non-aggressive snake. It was not feeding and it was not shedding so neither of those things would have agitated it."

"The best guess is that the snake just started constricting around the gentleman's neck to a point where it was uncomfortable. When the man struggled to try and free himself, the snake just constricted harder as a natural reaction," said Varnum.

The snake was put into a cage and taken to the Aurora Animal Shelter.

An Aurora fire official estimated the snake was between 8 and 10 feet long and weighed between 60 and 80 pounds. A city ordinance bans owning pet snakes longer than 6 feet. It is unknown whether the snake will be killed.

Neighborhood children told 7NEWS that they were used to seeing the snake's handler and the python entertain outside.

"Once out in his yard, it was either on the grass or around his neck, and it was pretty big because it was almost touching the ground," neighbor Cory Francis said.

Burmese pythons are a popular pet for reptile lovers, said Barbara Huggins of the Colorado Herpetological Society.

She said they are very docile creatures and attacks like the one this weekend are rare. She believes it was brought on by something unseen.

"If the animal happened to be very sick it could affect its behavior and that might not have shown anything different until today when this happened," Huggins said. "If he had been handling something that the snake would eat and he didn't wash his hands the snake could have become confused."

Burmese pythons can easily reach lengths of 15 to 25 feet. They normally are found in Indonesia, Malaysia, Sumatra, Singapore and areas of Cambodia and Thailand. The snake's diet usually includes mice, rats, guinea pigs and rabbits.