A green tree snake battled with a tokay gecko and swallowed it whole in front of shocked residents.

The 6ft serpent hunted the lizard outside a building and wrestled with it on the wall in Surin, northeast Thailand, on September 21.

It locked the smaller animal by coiling around its body and ate it head first in front of locals.

Footage shows the snake dangling from the wall and biting the head of its prey. It then consumed its meal, gobbling it up to its tail.

A wildlife handler from the Jib Tek Xiang Tung Foundation watched the spectacle unfold after arriving from his nearby office.

He said: ‘The gecko struggled with the snake for an hour before it finally died. It took 25 minutes for the snake to swallow it whole.'

The rescuers tried to capture the serpent but it was too high up in the ceiling and fled the property.

Tree snakes are often arboreal, spending most of their time in trees.

Geckos, being nimble climbers themselves, are a natural target in this environment. They are often ambushed by the snakes as they move between leaves or hide in tree bark.