This is the heart-stopping moment a deadly snake leapt up at a young girl and tried to bite her.

Five-year-old Tiana was skipping along the walkway with her sister in Phang-Nga province, southern Thailand, when the reptile unexpectedly emerged.

Tiana's mother Svetlana was recording her daughters at the time when she captured the dramatic near miss with the reptile.

Footage shows how the aggressive serpent was tangled in the girl's legs before turning back around and lunging at her with its jaws open.

The girl's terrified mother dropped her phone and scooped up her up as the snake slithered away in the undergrowth.

Svetlana, who is originally from Russia, said: ''We were spending time at a dairy farm for a family trip and my kids were just playing, running there. Then suddenly the long snake was crossing the path and was close to biting my daughter.''

The snake was later identified as a Indochinese Rat snake. They contain small amounts of venom but it is relatively harmless to humans.
Rat snakes feed on rodents by biting with their teeth and suffocating them by constriction of its own body.