I own 26 snakes and tarantulas – but I’m scared of house spiders

ASOMSERSET man whose skin used to crawl at the very thought of spiders has tackled his fear head on by filling his house with tarantulas, scorpions, snakes and other bugs.

Garwynn Edwards, of Yeovil, was always afraid of the eight-legged creatures but now handles large hairy tarantulas, scary scorpions, and a collection of 26 snakes including pythons and boa constrictors.

However, despite amassing his evergrowing collection of unusual pets, he admits to being scared of common house spiders that make him break out in a sweat.

Garwynn, a baker from Rosebery Avenue, has turned his fear into a business idea and formed G.R.A.B. (Garwynn’s Reptiles And Bugs).

He takes his fascinating collection of animals out into schools, music festivals, fetes, and other events to educate people and help them to overcome their own fears.

He also offers a service for private parties where guests can handle a variety of unusual species.

He said: “We also visit nursing homes with the snakes and bugs which are always made very welcome by residents.

“The older people love them; it is something really different for them and they love to handle them as it helps evoke good memories for them.”

One of the more unusual events he attended was the recent NudeFest event at Thorney Lakes, near Langport.

“It was a really different type of event compared to what we normally do but it was a big hit with the visitors,” he said.

“People were really keen to handle the snakes and loved the feeling of them on their skin.”

Garwynn’s fear of spiders is what triggered his obsession and he now has 10 tarantulas with his oldest called Princess, who is 16 years old.

He keeps his collection of snakes in a specially designed building at the bottom of his garden and has names for each of them.

He said he has always had a fascination with snakes and his first one was a royal python called Eva who is now eight years old.

“It is great making a business out of something I am so passionate about. I just love snakes, the bigger the better,” he said.

“I also have boa constrictors, a Burmese python and a Sri Lankan python. The biggest is a rock python called Titch which is 16 feet long.”

However, despite being overrun with massive tarantulas, snakes, scorpions, cockroaches and millipedes, Garwynn admits he still hasn’t completely got over his fear of the common house spider.

He said: “I don’t know what it is, there is just something about them that I can’t stand and the speed at which they move just freaks me out.”