A woman had a fright when a snake slithered past her in the garden.

May Taya, 30, and her family were having lunch outside their home when a cheeky rat snake thought it was a good time to cross the lawn in Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand.

CCTV footage shows the woman running away when she spotted the creature on the grass.

Her family members checked on the snake and found it was a nonvenomous rat snake before turning it over to local officials for handling.

May said: ‘The snake was really scary coming out of nowhere like that. I was relieved when my brothers said that it was only a rat snake.'

Snakes are a common sight in Thailand, including in big rural cities like Bangkok. All pythons, the king cobra, and some rat snakes species are protected by Thai laws making their population thrive across the Southeast Asian countries.