diff --git a/src/testcontainers/core/container.py b/src/testcontainers/core/container.py
index 76fce9c1..0c37c8c5 100644
--- a/src/testcontainers/core/container.py
+++ b/src/testcontainers/core/container.py
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 from dataclasses import dataclass
 from os import PathLike
 from socket import socket
+from threading import RLock
 from types import TracebackType
 from typing import TYPE_CHECKING, Any, Optional, TypedDict, Union
 
@@ -465,11 +466,16 @@ class Reaper:
     _instance: "Optional[Reaper]" = None
     _container: Optional[DockerContainer] = None
     _socket: Optional[socket] = None
+    # Reentrant so that a nested get_instance() on the same thread, while Ryuk itself
+    # is starting, behaves as it did before the lock instead of deadlocking.
+    _lock = RLock()
 
     @classmethod
     def get_instance(cls) -> "Reaper":
         if Reaper._instance is None:
-            Reaper._instance = Reaper._create_instance()
+            with Reaper._lock:
+                if Reaper._instance is None:
+                    Reaper._instance = Reaper._create_instance()
 
         return Reaper._instance
 
diff --git a/tests/core/test_ryuk.py b/tests/core/test_ryuk.py
index 81bb736c..0f7b0e1f 100644
--- a/tests/core/test_ryuk.py
+++ b/tests/core/test_ryuk.py
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+from concurrent.futures import ThreadPoolExecutor
+from threading import Barrier
 from time import perf_counter, sleep
 
 import pytest
@@ -95,3 +97,31 @@ def test_ryuk_is_reused_in_same_process():
     with DockerContainer("hello-world") as container:
         wait_for_logs(container, "Hello from Docker!")
         assert reaper_instance is Reaper._instance
+
+
+def test_ryuk_is_created_once_when_containers_start_concurrently(monkeypatch: pytest.MonkeyPatch):
+    monkeypatch.setattr(Reaper, "_instance", None)
+    created: list[Reaper] = []
+
+    def slow_create_instance(cls: type[Reaper]) -> Reaper:
+        # Starting Ryuk takes seconds, which is the window the other threads race through.
+        sleep(0.2)
+        instance = Reaper()
+        created.append(instance)
+        Reaper._instance = instance
+        return instance
+
+    monkeypatch.setattr(Reaper, "_create_instance", classmethod(slow_create_instance))
+
+    workers = 8
+    barrier = Barrier(workers)
+
+    def get_instance(_: int) -> Reaper:
+        barrier.wait()
+        return Reaper.get_instance()
+
+    with ThreadPoolExecutor(max_workers=workers) as executor:
+        instances = list(executor.map(get_instance, range(workers)))
+
+    assert len(created) == 1
+    assert all(instance is created[0] for instance in instances)