A python was caught hiding inside a giant plant pot after eating a stray puppy.

Residents heard the large reptile as it curled up in the ceramic put in Chonburi province, Thailand.

They called the emergency services who arrived to remove the snake, which had a large bulge in its belly after it had swallowed a stray dog.

The snake, an estimated 13ft long, was dragged away and placed on nearby grassland. It eventually slithered away to finish digesting its meal.

The gardener who noticed the snake said: ''I was hired to cut down big trees and mow tall grass at his backyard and I saw that snake crawling inside the jar, so I decide to tell the host.''

Chatri Chatmontri, the snake catcher from Dragon Rescue Volunteer Foundation, said: ''Snakes like the humid air inside the water jar. No surprises that it was hiding itself in here.

''It may have eaten a stray dog which lived in an abandoned field near this house. There are many dogs live there and it ate one of them. The size of the belly tells me that it could not be anything else.''