A 10-foot-long python proved difficult to catch after eating a bird then slithering inside a three-inch wide metal beam under a Thailand home.

Residents noticed the enormous predator curled up inside the square steel tube under their living room floor in Trang, southern Thailand, on May 15, at 6.30 p.m.

Rescue workers arrived but had a hard time pulling out the snake. One man had to go to the the end of the pipe and repeatedly poke the reptile, while another tried to loosen it from the front.

The furious snake finally emerged after a 20 minute long struggle and it was not happy - lunging angrily at its captors.

Paramedic Teera Phattharawachai, an ambulance driver who helped with the capture, said: "We came with the rescue team in case anybody was hurt by the snake.

"The lady who lives here said she noticed the snake after she returned home and parked her car under the home.

"We estimate that the python was three meters long and there were also signs that it had eaten a bird, possibly a pigeon.’’

The snake was released back into the wild several miles away where it is unlikely to disturb humans.