A dog, a cat or a budgie is what you would expect to find in a home but there's a man in Petts Wood whose menagerie is beyond the norm. Reporter JACK LEFLEY set out to brave the wilds of suburbia and pay this man a visit ...

A REAL-LIFE Doctor Dolittle is so mad about his menagerie he has virtually got al zoo in his Petts Wood semi.

Father-of-two Max Richardson, 37, of Petts Wood Road, has transformed his family house to accommodate 19 snakes, two giant tortoises, three mastiff dogs, 40 rats and a gecko.

But the weirdest beast in his possession is a rare carnivorous lizard, a creature which lives in the trees and grows up to 15ft in length.

The crocodile monitor, which is the only lizard on the planet with the same jaw and tooth structure as a tyrannosaurus rex, lives in Papua New Guinea and can eat an adult deer.

The lizard-lover said: "I keep snakes and lizards because I love them for what they are, I can't get enough of them."

Mr Richardson, who was once a jet engineer in the Royal Navy, gave up his job as the regional manager of a motorcycle dealership last year and now devotes all his time to his pets.

Although the crocodile monitor, which is called Crocky, is only three months old and just 29in long, it already has a voracious appetite and strange tastes which Mr Richardson has to satisfy.

The lizard-king said: "I feed Crocky crickets, locusts, boiled eggs, quail and mice pups because there aren't many deer in Petts Wood."

Mr Richardson's array of snakes include five of the world's biggest breeds including his largest called Big Girl.

He said: "She is a 13ft long albino Burmese python but she may grow as long as 28ft."

Despite his maisonette menagerie, Mr Richardson feels all the creatures sharing his house do not interfere with family life.

It was a match made in heaven when he met wife Mandy, a rat enthusiast, who breeds them for pet shops throughout south east London.

Mr Richardson said: "I have always been into animals but now my kids love them as well. They share the responsibility of looking after them.

"There aren't many kids with six 12ft pythons slithering all over the front room as they watch TV."

But the snake-lover feels strongly about the role conservation has to play in his pastime and has full licences for his breeding programmes.

Petts Wood's own Dr Dolittle said: "Some of the snakes I have are endangered in the wild and others soon will be. I want to do my bit to preserve each species."

There are benefits of having a house full of animals and Mr Richardson's dogs once frightened off a burglar.

The conservationist said: "The biggest one is a one-year-old Neapolitan mastiff called Matisse.

When she stands on her hind legs she is 6ft 2in tall.

"I heard a noise downstairs at about three in the morning early last year.

"But by the time I got there he had legged it and jumped over the fence. He must have seen Matisse and thought better of it."

January 28, 2003 10:30