THE thought of just one snake moving nearby can frighten even the most enthusiastic pet-lovers imagine, then, if you had more than 50.

THE thought of just one snake moving nearby can frighten even the most enthusiastic pet-lovers - imagine, then, if you had more than 50.For Peter Acca, however, joint owner of Exmouth Reptiles, Leslie Road - a man obsessed with most animals - that scenario became a reality on Bank Holiday Monday.The 57-year-old went to work, thinking it was an average morning, and discovered 54 new-born boa constrictors.He said the 'surprise' birth of the snakes, sized between 12 and 15 inches long at the moment, resulted in him having to spend two-and-a-half hours cleaning up."We were a bit messy at the end of the day to say the least - covered in slime. We filled a huge container full of babies."Peter, who said the high number of snakes the mother gave birth to was rare, added: "We have had a female which had 15, but this is our most."Fifty-four is an awful lot. It is definitely a unique thing."Speaking about the mother snake, who he called Big Bertha because of her 11-foot length, Peter joked: "We actually thought she was going to give birth last year but never did."She's just kept on getting bigger and bigger. It was as though she had a two-year pregnancy."The good thing about it was that we didn't lose any because quite often the female can lay on the babies, squash and kill them, but that wasn't the case."The ironic thing is that my wife doesn't even like garden worms - let alone snakes."Exmouth Reptiles also stocks a number of pythons, lizards and baby dragons.