A Zululand woman resorted to spin-drying a black mamba after she saw it inside her washing machine.

"I put the machine on spin dry and waited," Margie Taylor told The Citizen newspaper.

"There was a lot of banging and clonking... when the machine stopped we opened the lid... [and] the snake was suspended over the detergent container, looking dazed and confused, but still alive."

She had first tried to contact her husband David and a local snake catcher, but was unsuccessful.

By the time the spin-dryer had stopped, her husband had arrived home.

He helped unplug the washing machine and take it outside.

The machine lid was opened and the snake was pulled out with a coat hanger. It was then shot by her son.

The incident happened last week at Taylor's property in Inyoka, about 14km outside Empangeni.