A woman was shocked after finding a family of geckos nesting in her bed quilts that were hanging out to dry.

Mai Phinyard left the duvet outside her home in Chiang Rai, northern Thailand, on October 7.

When she went to collect it from the clothesline the next day, she was startled after seeing a family of geckos nesting inside the folded sheets.

She tried to remove them by herself but was worried that the geckos could panic and bite her so she called the animal rescuers for help.

Mai said: "At first, I found two geckos so I thought I could remove them on my own, but there were more inside."

There were seven geckos wrapped inside the duvets. The lizards were easily removed by the professional reptile handlers and taken into a plastic box.

The woman thanked the rescuers before they left the residence to release the reptiles into the wild.

While a gecko may attempt to bite people once threatened, they are mostly non-venomous. However, their bite can pierce the skin which can be painful.