This is the terrifying moment a housewife found a 10ft python in her toilet in Thailand.

Phanyanee Khamthaworn, 59, was washing her laundry in the bathroom sink when she heard a gurgling sound coming from the toilet on December 5.

She turned her head to check the source of the noise before finding the massive serpent emerging from the U-bend.

The horrified mother screamed in fear as the sinister snake stared at her with its tongue flicking out menacingly.

Phanyanee dropped her clothes and ran out of the bathroom to call her husband. The couple then trapped the python in the toilet using a metal grille weighed down by a plastic water jug before calling the animal rescue service.

Snake catchers arrived at the family's home in Samut Prakan province at around 8:30 am.

The distraught housewife led them to the bathroom where the python was still lurking. But it immediately retreated when the officers plunged a catch pole into the water.

The rescue team had to dismantle the entire toilet seat, but the python was nowhere to be found. They told Phanyanee to be vigilant, as the reptile was believed to still be hiding nearby.

Phanyanee said: 'My family has been living here for five years and it's the first time we've encountered such an incident.

'Last night, I found I was having trouble flushing the toilet. It seemed like something was stuck inside so I used a plunger to remove the blockage.

'Everything was normal in the morning, but when I was doing the laundry, I heard loud bubbling like boiling water, coming from the toilet. That was when I discovered the python.'

She said she would wait for the python to re-emerge before calling the snake catchers again.

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.