CONVICTION (2017) | Keith Ross, born c. 1990, of Highfield Crescent, Motherwell ML1 4BN – kept reptiles, including king cobra, rattlesnake and vipers, in appalling conditions in his one-bedroom flat
Ross admitted animal neglect after keeping the creatures in his small apartment for six years.
Ross previously ran ‘Keith’s Reptile Parties’ where he charged £80 per hour for attending children’s events with a number of his animals, including the lizards and snakes.
Ross also had turtles, a polecat and a hawk at his flat.
A Scottish SPCA spokesman said: “Ross had a collection of reptiles in his home unlike anything we have seen before. The animals seized from Ross during the searches presented significant difficulty.
“This was a clear case of someone collecting animals and failing to provide for their needs with disastrous results for the animals. Several were caused unnecessary suffering from the appalling conditions.
“Many were on the verge of starvation and one lizard had to be put to sleep after it ate its own substrate (cage litter) from lack of feeding”.
Welfare officers recovered the snakes that Ross had neglected. They included a boomslang tree snake, a boa constrictor, a python and a Californian kingsnake.
Three of the snakes had been crammed into restrictive plastic tubs, had untreated injuries and were not being properly fed.
Ross also kept a deathstalker scorpion, two white-lipped vipers, a saw-scaled viper, a Western diamondback rattlesnake, a puff adder, a king cobra and two black-necked spitting cobras.
Sentencing: jailed for 18 months and banned from keeping animals for 10 years (expires June 2027).
Update 31 October 2018
Ross was jailed for three years after being caught with more than 1,600 indecent images of youngsters. He also admitted possessing 3,029 images depicting “extreme pornography” involving humans and animals.
He pleaded guilty in May 2018, but failed to return to court for sentence the following month and was later found in Ireland.