A snake was found hiding inside a man's washing machine after it fought with his pet dog.

Resident Shunthorn Suekhrolum, 60, called the local rescue team after finding his beloved pet barking at the reptile that had crawled into his property in Saraburi, Thailand, on May 4. The intruder was driven off by the brave pooch and slunk away to hide inside the appliance.

Shunthorn led the officers to the washing machine, where they found the snake curled up along with a mouse it was reportedly preying on.

Because of the narrow space, they moved the appliance out of the house and sprayed it with mosquito repellent to smoke out the serpent, which then slithered beneath the machine's tubs. Volunteer Somkiat Khunsaen grabbed the snake's tail from between the gaps with his gloved hand, and pulled it out successfully.

He said: 'This snake is a banded rat snake. We were told it was a cobra, but it's not. They only look similar. Cobras have more distinct and larger stripes, and they are more aggressive. Banded rat snakes normally won't fight, and will just try to escape instead.'

The creature measured two metres in length and was later safely released into the wild.