A wild monitor lizard charged into a home as a grandmother was sitting on the floor eating lunch.

CCTV footage shows the huge reptile running into the wooden house while Payao, 78, was resting and listening to the television in Bangkok, Thailand, on February 6.

The beast stopped at the end of the resident's feet, who only noticed the animal a second later. It then slowly leaned away when the elderly woman shouted in panic before moving around her.

Payao tried to stand up but was pinned to the ground with fear. The lizard looked around the room with curiosity before sauntering out through the door behind the pensioner.

Payao's granddaughter Chollada said: 'My grandmother was eating rice at that time. The food might have attracted the monitor lizard, then it fled through the open window.

'She was little bit frightened but she also saw the funny side.'

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.