Two pensioners were terrified when they discovered an entire python family nesting on their roof in Thailand.

Amnuay Penboon, 72, and her mum, 96, sought help from authorities as their home in Ang Thong province was plagued by the foot-long juvenile reptiles.

The troubled rice porridge vendor she was at her wit's end, having seen the snakes in their bedroom, bathroom, and in the ceiling of the family's house.

Tawai Mangkornkaew, chief executive of the Nong Mae Kai Subdistrict Administrative Organisation, called the local reptile catchers, who managed to catch 11 pythons.

Tawai also contacted renowned reptile expert Ratha Tapianthong on August 18 to make sure the residence had been cleared of the snakes.

Ratha scoured the residence, poking through hidden nooks and crannies and climbing onto the corrugated iron roof, and caught an additional six pythons. They were sealed inside plastic bottles, but one of them had slithered away into the nearby woods.

Amnuay said: 'I live with my 96-year-old mother, and I'm scared because I have been finding a python in our house every day for the past five days. I think they might have come from the forest. I'm not sure if all of them have been caught. It's the first time we've found snakes in our house.'

The reticulated python is found throughout Southeast Asia, where they live in forests, swamps, canals and even in cities, causing them to come into conflict with humans. The species is one of the world's largest snakes and can eat humans, cats, dogs, birds, rats and other snakes.