A terrified resident woke up to find a huge python swallowing a live monitor lizard in his backyard - which miraculously survived the gruesome ordeal.

Chalerm Tabmee, 49, was sleeping when he heard horrifying noises coming from his outside his home in Chachoengsao province, central Thailand, at night on January 17. He went out to look but could not see anything in the darkness,

However, a shocking sight greeted him the next day when he noticed the 12ft long python and a large monitor lizard battling to the death in his backyard. Terrified, he called reptile specialists to catch the two wild animals.

Footage shows the snake coiled around the stricken - but still breathing - monitor lizard. It had stretched its jaw and was in the middle of engulfing the large beast when the rescue team arrived to catch it.

As the team prodded the snake with a long pole, it immediately regurgitated the giant lizard - which was still alive - and hid under a row of rubber tires.

Volunteers caught both the python and the weakened monitor lizard in five minutes and placed them inside a sack. The reptiles were taken away on a pickup truck to be released into the wild.

Chalerm said: 'I’m surprised the monitor lizard was still alive after having half of its body crushed and swallowed by the snake. They must be really strong.

'If I didn't find them, the lizard would have been swallowed whole.'

The reticulated python is found throughout South and Southeast Asia. They are common in Thailand, where they live in forests, swamps, canals and the sewage systems in cities, preying on cats, dogs, birds, rats and other snakes.

The number of pythons coming into conflict with humans has increased in recent years, due to the rise in urban development as more homes and apartment blocks are built on green land that was the habitat of snakes.

Meanwhile, Asian water monitor lizards live in canals and ponds in large cities in Thailand where they feed on fish, snakes, frogs and scraps of food left by humans. They are aggressive when threatened and have a mildly venomous bite which sometimes carries harmful bacteria.