Fancy living in a house with pythons, cobras and tarantulas?

KOTA BHARU: Food deliveryman Saifullah Omar loves reptiles and his house is literally a snake zoo.

Mohamad Saifullah, 31, said he has eight snakes which he imported from Myanmar such as Ivory Burmese, Burmese python, Albino Burmese Python and cobras.

''I spent RM10,000 to buy the pythons from Burma. I have to set aside RM400 a month to buy food for them especially the pythons which eat white mice, rabbit or quail.

''Snakes have a low metabolism and digest slowly so they can stand up to a week or a month in between meals, but they must have enough water,'' he told reporters at his house in Kampung Baung Perdana, Pengkalan Chepa here, today.

Mohamad Saifullah, also known as 'Sang Pemujuk Ular' said his wife Siti Fatimah Mohd Kamil, 33, was not comfortable with the situation but had grown accustomed to it and even dared to give the pythons a bath.

''My wife regards our house as a zoo because we have exotic animals such as snakes, iguana, Amazon frogs and tarantulas.

''My wife and my siblings also love the creatures and are at ease giving the two pythons 'Mico' and 'Coki' their weekly bath,'' he said.

Mohamad Saifullah, who has permits from the Wildlife and National Park Department to keep the reptiles said, he would still use safety equipment when handling cobras despite his experience.

''I started dabbling with snakes as a volunteer snake catcher in 2013. Subsequently, some residents asked me to catch a 700 grammes python which was disturbing them

''I caught the snake, nursed it and released it into the wild a week later. An adopted brother of mine, Bro Dean, taught me how to catch snakes,'' he said.

Mohamad Saifullah said initially he had 23 snakes but the rest had been sold while the Movement Control Order put paid to any trip to Myanmar to make new purchase.

-- BERNAMA