Rescuers in India were pleasantly surprised after successfully rescuing a cobra when the snake went on to lay 23 eggs.

Volunteers of Snake Helpline attended a distress call from a family in Bhubaneswar, in the eastern Indian state of Odisha, which had spotted a cobra in their home.

They caught a magnificent five-year-old Indian spectacled cobra and placed her in a snake bag. When they tried to release her in a forest area later, they found that she had laid three eggs.

They took her back to their office and placed her in a plastic container. To their utter delight, the cobra went on to lay 23 eggs in total.

A video shot in the office shows the cobra laying her eggs while warning humans to keep distance by raising her hood and hissing continuously.

Secretary of Snake Helpline Suvendu Malik said: “The snake was agitated and tried to strike at us frequently.”

The mother was later released in her natural habitat and the eggs were moved to an artificial incubator.

Indian cobras usually lay between 10 and 30 eggs between the months of April and July. The hatchlings, which arrive 48 to 69 days later, are independent from birth, and have fully functional venom glands.