This is the shocking moment a giant python was caught in the ceiling of a family home in central Thailand.

The 15ft-long snake was discovered in an old wooden house after it was heard hissing in the living room in Samut Prakan province.

Family members – who were baffled why their pet cats suddenly disappeared – followed the sound and found the snake was hiding on the ceiling where it moved around the house through narrow beams.

Animal rescuers were called to the scene and battled to pull the creature from its hiding spot where they had to smash parts of the structure.

Rescue volunteer Paisal Srisawat said: ‘The family was shocked to discover that there was a giant python that have been eating and sleeping in their house.

‘It was big enough to eat a child so they did the right thing by contacting us for help instead of trying to deal with the snake by themselves.’

Two rescue team members used long catching poles with noose and pulled the snake out together. The huge snake resisted but it was eventually caught after its neck was secured.

Parts of the ceiling had to be smashed to widen the opening as the snake was trying to escape further deep in the structure.

When the snake fell on the floor, rescuers carried it out of the house and placed it inside a plastic bucket before driving away with it could be released back into the wild.

The snake was unhurt as well as the family members who lived in the house but their pets or traces of them were not found.