GORHAM, Maine - Mara Ranger will be a little paranoid doing laundry now.

When she was removing clothes from the washing machine at her Maine farmhouse yesterday she noticed the clothes moved.

She told WMTW-TV, "I jumped back and saw a snake". She quickly shut the lid and called for help.

Maine Animal Damage Control operator Richard Burton reached into the machine and pulled and pulled until all 2.44 metres of a reticulated python emerged.

Burton guesses the snake got into Ranger's washing machine through water pipes.

The snake's future new home will now be York Animal Kingdom in York.

Ranger said she is going to start looking into every corner of her washing machine from now on.

"I'm going to be looking in the tub first - before and after, maybe even during, the rinse cycle," she said. 

AP