A frightened teen has recalled her horror of waking up to a GIANT SNAKE in her bedroom, which she fears could have been lurking under her bed for days.

After being jolted awake at 3am by a deafening crash, Ashleigh Muller from Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, jumped out of bed to investigate the source of the mysterious noise.

As she turned on the light, the 19-year-old receptionist said her 'heart stopped' as she came face-to face with a 4ft 9in [1.5 metre] carpet python.

She said it was 'intently staring' straight at her from the dressing table.

Despite being numb with 'fear and shock', Ashleigh sprinted to her parent's bedroom for help and they then wasted no time calling a local snake catcher to come to the rescue.

(Image: Caters News Agency)

Ashleigh said: "I was fast asleep in my bed. I had no idea what was going on. I quickly jumped out of bed and turned on the light to see what had happened.

"I saw that my pot plant had fallen to the floor but couldn't understand why. It made no sense, but then I saw something move.

"At first, I was overwhelmed with shock and was half-asleep, so didn't really understanding what I was looking at. I thought I must have been dreaming.

(Image: Caters News Agency)

"But then it hit me. There was this massive python staring right at me from my dressing table.

"I was totally frozen. I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

"I quickly ran into my parents' room and just yelled out that there was a snake in my room. They jumped out of bed and came to see what I was talking about.

"They were in total disbelief. We all were.

"We tried to call some friends of ours to help, but none of them would pick up as it was the middle of the night. So we called a local snake catcher who thankfully, came within 20 minutes.

(Image: Caters News Agency)

"We were so happy when he arrived. He was really excited about the whole thing.

"We didn't know how the snake got in, but we think it may have slithered in during the day and was hiding under my bed.

"It's so scary to think it could have been in my room for days without me knowing."

Snake catcher Tony Morrison, 40, said he was more than happy to come and help the family and said it was lucky the snake decided not to climb up on Ashleigh's bed.

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While non-venomous, carpet pythons can grow up to four metres in length.

Tony added that Australia is coming into 'snake season' as the weather heats up and said lately he was getting called out 'three or four times a day' to remove snakes from houses, schools and workplaces.