A huge cobra was found curled up in the ceiling of a family’s home in Thailand.

Villagers found the 10ft-long king cobra staring down at them from the house’s rafters in Chanthanaburi province on December 14. They called the local snake wranglers to retrieve the serpent.

The team used a snake hook to drag the reptile down, but it kept climbing back up on the ceiling. A specialist grabbed it and clamped down on its jaws with his bare hands to keep it from moving. The operation took more than 20 minutes.

The cobra was then hosed down and its measurements were taken. However, the venomous snake spread its hood and tried to lunge at the rescuers while they were trying to seal it inside a container.

They finally managed to subdue it a few minutes later, and placed it inside the plastic container to later free to the wild.