A housewife was alarmed when a large monitor lizard stalked through her home in Thailand.

CCTV footage shows the resident following the beast that had skittered into the laundry area of the house in Nakhon Ratchasima province on May 4.

She picked up her small pet dog fearing it would be bitten by the Godzilla-like reptile, then called a wildlife team to haul the creature out of the premises.

She said: 'This is the first time a lizard that big entered our home. Before, they were just small, almost like toads.'

Asian water monitor lizards normally live in canals, swamps, sewers and ponds in cities in Thailand. They feed on fish, snakes, frogs and scraps of food left by humans.

The reptiles are aggressive when threatened and have a mildly venomous bite which sometimes carries harmful bacteria. The Godzilla-like reptiles are also a protected species in the country so their population thrives.