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Most parents find two young children cause enough havoc to keep them occupied, but not this family – who have 145 exotic pets. Jamie and Michelle Mintram from Weeting, Norfolk, share their three-bed home with their two children, plus an array of unusual animals.
The family own a baby crocodile, a scorpion, two skunks, an Argentinian horned frog and two Boa constrictors – as well as more than 100 other creatures.
Mintram, 39, has a licence to look after the exotic pets and has rescued a number of his reptiles from owners who could not care for them.

But most of their staggering collection are family pets, with some of them living in their children’s bedrooms.

The Mintrams hope to open up a small zoo nearby, which will mainly be made up of rescued animals.

Mintram and his wife, 32, met when they were both lab technicians 12 years ago and instantly bonded over their shared love of animals.

Since moving in together they have filled every nook and cranny of their detached house and garden with a different animal, including pigs, insects, a hedgehog and a raccoon.

Mintram said: “I’ve always loved reptiles, but Michelle preferred more furry animals.

“Farther back, my mum bred parrots and parakeets and was a pioneer in captive breeding. It rubbed off on me.

“I bought my first cornsnake at 11 and my collection grew from there, but I never set out to get 145 pets.

“We’ve so many because we’re a rescue sanctuary for exotic animals, which there are not many of.”

The couple have more than 30 snakes, including the Boa constrictors, five baby pythons and cornsnakes that live in the garage along with the crocodile, monitor lizard and a shed-load of creepy crawlies.

Inside the house, every room apart from the animal-free living room, is jam-packed with tanks and cages from floor to ceiling.

The Mintrams share their bedroom with two baby tortoises while their children also house animals in their rooms.

Eight-year-old Josh has three chinchillas living in his room, while Chloe, six, shares her room with a pink cornsnake and a yellow budgie.

“It’s nothing unusual for [the children] to see me coming home with a raccoon or a crocodile,” said Mintram.

The animal-mad family clean the house and gardens every day so the smell never gets too pungent, but the skunks, which have their own toilet once sprayed in the bedroom, leaving an acrid stench for days.

Unsurprisingly, looking after so many animals can be expensive, with the food bill reaching £100 a month and Mintram striking a deal with a local greengrocer to cut down the cost.

“We also have to fork out about £250 a month for heating as many of the animals require a constant heat source,” Mintram said.

“We’ve a number of scorpions and the shiny burrowing scorpion is always trying to sting me.

“And the boa constrictor isn’t the friendliest – but we wouldn’t swap any of them for the world.” – Yahoo