A man was found dead with more than 100 snakes – some venomous – inside his home in Maryland.
The 49-year-old had not been seen for a day, prompting a neighbour to knock on the door before spotting him unconscious on the floor.
He was pronounced dead at the scene but the cause is still being determined by a medical officer, according to NBC Washington.
When the police arrived they found tanks holding 124 snakes both venomous and non-venomous, including pythons, cobras, rattlesnakes and black mambas.
Animal control officers called to the scene said each reptile appeared to have been cared for meticulously.
‘They were all very properly secured. They were racked. He did not keep a lot of furniture inside the home so there was no place if a snake, for example, were to escape, where it could hide or hurt anybody,’ a Charles County spokeswoman said.
She added: ‘Our chief animal control officer said in his more than 30 years of experience, he had not encountered this kind of thing before.’
The non-venomous snakes were to be taken to Virginia by a licensed handler while the venomous snakes were sent to North Carolina with a second licensed handler.
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