Frenchman who sleeps with alligators seeks refuge for venomous menagerie

Cou ron, France: His neighbours have cats and dogs, but when 72 year old Philippe Gillet settles down to watch television there is usually an alligato...

Couëron, France: His neighbours have cats and dogs, but when 72-year-old Philippe Gillet settles down to watch television there is usually an alligator dozing beside him.

His bungalow in western France is also home to a venomous Gabonese viper, a spitting cobra, a python, alligator turtles that can bite off a finger, tarantulas and scorpions.

When someone unfamiliar enters Gillet's living room, Gator, a two-metre-long (6.5 feet) alligator, growls from under a coffee table.

"Calm down," said Gillet and Gator went back to his snooze near Alli, another dozing alligator.

"When there is a storm he comes to sleep in my bed," said Gillet. "People think I am mad."