Snake bites Thai man on penis while he's sitting on the toilet

Attaporn Boonmakchuay lost a lot of blood during the ordeal, but doctors said he would recover

A Thai man is recovering in hospital after an encounter with a 3-meter python that made its way through the plumbing of his home and latched onto his penis as he was using a squat toilet.

Attaporn Boonmakchuay said the snake was "yanking very hard" as he tried to remove it, according to the Bangkok Post. "I felt as though my penis had been severed," he added.

Mr Boonmakchuay lost a lot of blood during the ordeal, but doctors said he would recover - and the 38-year-old was pictured smiling as Thai television stations interviewed him in his hospital bed.

Photos of his blood-splattered bathroom in Chachoengsao province, east of Bangkok, were testimony to his ordeal.

Mr Boonmakchuay told Thai TV Channel 7 that he struggled to remove the snake for 30 minutes Wednesday before he managed to free himself with help from his wife and a neighbor. After his wife tied a rope around the snake, he managed to pry open its jaws before passing out.

Attaporn Boonmakchuay lays in a hospital bed following a snake attack at his home in Chachoengsao

Emergency workers dismantled the Asian-style squat toilet, with the python still twined through it. The snake was taken away to be released back into the wild, according to an emergency responder cited by the newspaper Thai Rath.

Doctors said Mr Boonmakchuay, bloodied but unbowed, will recover.

"He has a really good attitude... even though his own wife and children were in shock. He's been smiling and giving interviews all day from his bed." hospital director Dr. Chutima Pincharoen said.

Mr Boonmakchuay said he planned to replace the squat toilet with a sitting one.

Additional reporting by Associated Press