I knew a man who had an enormous collection of reptiles, huge spiders etc, and who bred cockroaches etc as food for them. I remember him proudly showing me his tarantulas, very interesting, he said they were very tame but I didn't test it out for myself. His wife was phobic about ANY kind of animal, even cats and dogs, and he kept his collection in the guest bedroom (not many people came to stay.) She had to go in there to get to the airing cupboard and reported that 'the worst experience of my life' was the day when an escaped cockroach dropped from above and crawled down the inside of the front of her nightdress.....
He eventually had a stroke, and as soon as it was clear that he wasn't coming home, a specialist pet dealer came and removed all the livestock very rapidly - including the enormous tropical tortoise which was so big it took two strong men to lift it into a truck. This one went to live in a paddock and be company for a Shetland pony which was probably about the same size. The wife was especially glad to see this go, as it kept pushing down the barrier between the conservatory, where it lived, and her living room, and then doing ENORMOUS poos on the carpet. And it was very difficult to get it back where it belonged! I'm sure she loved him deeply, but there were some consolations when he died.
2 horses, my lovely retriever x, Tortoise, 2 mud turtles and a newt.
