A lizard has a lucky escape after being rescued from the jaws of a snake as the serpent prepared to eat it.

The blue and orange Tokay gecko was captured by the golden tree snake - which began squeezing the life out of it as they battled it out.

The green serpent preys on geckos and had the reptile in its clutches about about to swallow it for lunch.

But staff at a restaurant in Korat, Thailand, saw the reptilian fight in the food outlet's back yard and stepped in to help.

Staff filmed the incident while one used a broom handle and a stick to carefully prize away the snake before throwing them both back into nearby woodland.

They said: ‘’My friend helped the gecko to survive the snake. That’s good karma to save the animal's life. It was a lucky lizard to have someone looking out for it that day.

‘’I was filming it. I’m not scared of the snakes, but I was running away from it. I did not want the snake to try and bite me.''