A housekeeper was shocked when she found a python and cobra locked in an epic fight in a family's toilet in Thailand.

The worker was cleaning as usual when the ceiling panel suddenly collapsed in the bathroom in Ayutthaya province on December 2.

Startled by the noise, she looked up to see a cobra and a smaller python atop the ceiling board, intertwined in a fierce battle to the death.

She shrieked and ran out of the room, alerting the homeowners who hurriedly called for a rescue team.

The specialists used snake poles to untangle the serpents before placing them into two separate sacks. The python later succumbed to the venom unleashed by the cobra.

Resident Gyb said: 'The snakes were quite heavy, causing them to fall from the ceiling.

'The rescue foundation arrived promptly with their tools and caught the snakes.'