A terrified housewife called rescuers after a giant MONITOR LIZARD was trying to get in her front door.

The woman returned home from shopping and spotted the ferocious reptile clawing at the metal grill over her doorway in Samut Prakan province, Thailand.

Rescuers grappled with the beast and eventually tied it down and set it free among nearby woodland.

Rescue worker Somchai Tangon said: ‘’The monitor lizard was big. Between one and two metres long.

‘’We gently caught it and released it in the jungle where it cannot return to the home.

‘’The lady was distressed but it can also be good luck if a monitor lizard comes to the house. Perhaps in the future she will have money come to her.’'

The Asian water monitor lizard is among one of the most common reptiles in Thailand.

They feast on eggs, smaller reptiles, fish, birds and small mammals but can occasionally attack humans if they’re provoked.