Scales of justice
HOW does a Durban policeman unwind after a long day on the beat fighting crime?
Well, like most people, Warrant Officer Anton Laas enjoys curling up on the couch and watching TV. But unlike most, the Malvern policeman has a scaly viewing companion – his pet iguana, Draco.
“His nails are sharp which cuts into the couch and my skin but I am used to it. He likes climbing up to the highest point,” said Laas, 44, who said Jurassic Park was Draco’s favourite film.
But the lounge lizard is not the only reptile in Laas’s life: the policeman of 24 years has more than 40 snakes in his menagerie and nine dogs, all of different breeds.
“I have constrictor and nonvenomous snakes in my room, safely in a cage,” said Laas, a pet lover since he was a child.
As for Draco, the 4kg male orange morph iguana stays in a huge cage outside Laas’s back door when he is not at home.
The Escombe resident said the more than 1-metre iguana was 9 to 10-years-old and had been his pet for three years.
“He nips at the dogs’ back legs if they come close to him. He eats mainly vegetables. I think reptiles have more personality than some people.”
His wife, Venessa, is also no slouch when it comes to unusual pets: she has three hedgehogs.
It all sounds like a big drain on the family finances but Laas is unfazed.
The iguana costs him R200 a month to feed while the snakes swallow about R1 500.
The hedgehogs eat baby Purity, worms, roaches or cat pellets.
The dog food bill is about R1 500.
Then, of course, there’s also the food bill for the couple’s two children, aged 22 and 19!