CHILDREN in Blunsdon made some six, eight and 100-legged friends at school.

Exotic animal keeper Jonathan Cleverly took a selection of his creepy crawlies to St Andrews CE Primary School yesterday.

Pupils patiently listened to Jonathan, who told them all about how the animals live and what they eat.

They then got a chance to get up close and hold some of Jonathan's pets for themselves.

One of the favourites was milk snake Shakes.

Jonathan, who takes his exotic pets to schools, parties and events ,said: "I've had him for about six months and the person who had him before had him from birth and handled him a lot.

"He is a really friendly and totally harmless snake and likes to coil himself around my hands to warm up."

Nine-year-old Iain Eatham said Shakes was his favourite.

"People think snakes are slimy and disgusting, but he was really smooth.

"I have held snakes before when I was on holiday.

"I think they're great animals and would love to have one as a pet, but I don't think my mum would let me!"

Jodi Sealey, nine, who also held Shakes, said: "I have only seen them on TV before.

"I was a bit nervous but also quite excited.

"I would like to see more snakes. He was really soft to touch.

"I liked the cockroaches and the snakes a lot."

All of the school's pupils got the chance to hold a Madegascan hissing cockroach.

Jonathan said the insects, which feed on leaves on the jungle floor, did not have names because he had more than 250 of them in his Swindon home.

Oliver Ritson, seven, said: "It felt a bit funny to start with and tickled. It had a flat face, so looked kind of shiny up close. I think they are really nice animals."

Jonathan said the large black cockroaches, although related, were not the same as the ones found in hotel rooms in hot countries and did not carry diseases.

As a special treat, eight-year-old George Boyd got a close look at leopard gecko Maximus.

George said: "I was a little scared of him to start with, but when I got close I realised he was really cool and friendly."

Former primary school teacher Jonathan explained: "Maximus doesn't have any eyelids, so he has to lick his eyes to keep them clean.

"I also breed geckoes and Maximus has a little baby called Gizmo."

Jonathan's female scorpion Leia is currently pregnant and expecting about 20 babies any day soon. One of the cockroaches recently gave birth to hundreds of little white larvae.

Jonathan also showed the children some more dangerous animals they couldn't touch, including an imperial scorpion, an African giant black millipede and a tarantula.

St Andrew's school was more like a zoo yesterday, as a batch of eggs the children had been incubating also hatched out overnight.

Anyone wanting to know more about Jonathan's pets should visit www.jonathansjungleroadshow.

co.uk.