The reared up its head and half its body in front of the windscreen.
A terrifying video has emerged on social media that shows a huge python emerging out of a moving car's bonnet. The video was captured by a user in Krabi, in southern Thailand, on December 27 when he was driving at night. The 27-second clip shows the reptile rearing up its head and half its body in front of the windscreen of the car. The killer reptile appeared confused and didn't know where to go when it came out of its hiding hole so it disappeared back inside.
"I was driving on a road and then I saw the snake in front of my car. I was so scared and thought 'what if it found a way inside while the car was moving?' It could have caused a bad accident," the driver, identified as Chalermphon, told Viral Press.
The driver said he immediately pulled over on the nearest stop and called the emergency services.
"Now I'm wary of driving. I keep looking around the car to see if there are any snakes inside. It was a very scary drive back home that night," Mr Chalermphon further said.
The killer reptile was a reticulated python, a species native to South and Southeast Asia. The species is one of the world's largest snakes and can eat humans, cats, dogs, birds, rats and other snakes. According to Encyclopaedia Britannica, a reticulated python attained a maximum recorded length of 9.6 metres (31.5 feet).
They are usually found in forests, swamps and canals, but in recent years, due to encroachment by humans, these reptiles have been found slithering around in cities too.
Five years ago, a fierce battle between a reticulated python and a king cobra had gone viral on social media. The video of the fight between the two scaly titans was posted by Reptile Hunter on Facebook.
The battle ended in a draw, with both the scary reptiles dead. While the python was bitten behind its head by the cobra, its venomous enemy died after its life was squeezed out by the python.
The user who posted the clip on Facebook said that the fight took place somewhere in Southeast Asia, where the two reptile species overlap.