A housewife was horrified to visit the bathroom and find a 10ft long python curled up next to her toilet.

Chalisa Sunthorn, 48, walked into the bathroom on Sunday morning in Chachoengsao, Thailand, and shrieked in fright when she saw the snake sleeping soundly there, reports the Mirror.

The enormous reptile had slithered up through the pipe work and past the U-bend of the toilet before it stretched out on the floor - and apparently dozed off.

The mother-of-one called out to her daughter, Tamporn, 18, who phoned rescuers who turned up with a long stick to wrestle with it.

They grappled with the writhing beast, dragging it out on the front patio where it spread its jaws before it was put into a large sack.

After the rescue, a relieved Chalisa said: ‘I was sleepy when I went into the bathroom. It was lucky I noticed the snake or it might have grabbed me.

‘Thinking about it makes me feel sick. The snake could have eaten me. I've been too scared to go back into the toilet.’

The snake was later released back into the wild after being checked over for injuries and illnesses.