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Couple Complain They're Kept Awake By Sounds Of Mating Animals In £22,000 Home Zoo

Couple Complain They're Kept Awake By Sounds Of Mating Animals In £22,000 Home Zoo

TV animal expert Warwick Vardy decided to take his work home with him in a big way by building a jungle inside his house

Simon Fearn

Simon Fearn

Many of us have been kept awake by folks getting intimate in another room - but this guy arguably has it worse. A TV animal expert has admitted he and his wife struggle to get much shut-eye amid the sounds of mating animals in the £22,000 ($28,000) tropical jungle he installed in his home. You can check out the incredible home zoo in the video below:

Warwick Vardy, 47, from Begbroke, Oxfordshire, has spent 20 years travelling the world locating, studying and collecting wildlife for hundreds of nature programmes for the BBC, National Geographic and Sky.

Bringing his work home with him, Warwick transformed the downstairs of his home into a lush exotic hideaway for himself and his wife Freda Vardy to enjoy.

The menagerie, which costs £300 ($390) a month to run, is made up of thousands of exotic creatures including snakes, tree frogs, piranhas, chameleons and a hungry colony of leafcutter ants.

The indoor jungle is complete with towering exotic plants and roaming 'loose' wild animals that have created their own 'eco-system'. Visitors to the £400,000 ($500,000) three-bedroom home are forced to wear hats and cover their glasses to dodge poo splats.

Kennedy News and Media

But the couple, who dedicated four years to creating their relaxing rainforest, admit they sometimes struggle to sleep during mating season, with the wild animals shrieking in the throes of passion.

Warwick says: "During breeding season there tends to be loads and loads of squealing, they make so much noise.

"It's a squabbling sound as if they're arguing and the call goes on for about 20 seconds.

Kennedy News and Media

"They're very, very vocal at night. They keep us awake on the odd occasion."

It's been going on so long that Warwick claims he and Freda have had to 'get used to it'. And it's not just during mating season that the couple are kept awake by odd noises.

He says his tree frogs are among the 'noisiest' animals in the home zoo, and their nighttime call sounds like 'passing wind'.

You wouldn't expect to find a jungle inside this house.
Kennedy News and Media

Warwick adds: "We've had people sitting here at the table having a drink and then all of a sudden you'll hear one of the tree frogs, and it just sounds like a fart, it's quite embarrassing.

"Luckily we all know what it is and which direction it comes from."

Explaining his motivations for creating the zoo, Warwick says: "I wanted an inside garden which would have all the little bugs, lizards, frogs... you name it, but not in captivity.

Kennedy News and Media

"I just thought, 'Wouldn't it be nice to have this at home and have all the animals loose?'

"We've always had rescue animals and we just thought, 'This is silly. Why are we keeping them in cages?'

"One might eat the other one, it might not, but it's got a better chance."

Featured Image Credit: Kennedy News and Media

Topics: UK News, Interesting, Weird, Animals, UK News, Interesting, Weird, Animals