Snake wranglers caught a massive python that slithered into a family's parked car at a shopping mall.

The animal catchers received a report from a security guard that the 10ft serpent had entered the white sedan left in the car park in Pattaya, Thailand, on September 29.

The reptile terrified passers-by as it rested in the car's rear fender.

The specialists dragged the creature onto the pavement but it slipped away into a nearby Toyota bB. It moved further into the vehicle's engine compartment.

Officers sprayed mosquito repellent hoping to irritate the snake into emerging. It took almost two hours before the python re-appeared.

The snake wranglers grabbed it and hauled it inside a sack to be released into its natural habitat.

Onlooker Mongkol Khanthapornbamrung, 63, claimed he earlier saw the python fall from a ride-hailing car that had dropped a customer off at the mall. It is believed to have slithered into the family's vehicle while looking for shelter.

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.