A Spaniard died in hospital, just before the necessary antidote arrived, after he was bitten by one of his 25 pet snakes.
The 27-year-old was rushed to hospital in the southern port city of Algeciras but died before he got a new antidote that was being sent from Madrid after other treatments did not work.
The police transferred the remaining snakes to be kept and looked after at a nearby zoo.
The man died around lunchtime on Friday at Punta Europa Hospital in Algeciras a day after he was bitten.
The man and the species of the snake have not been named but the snake was poisonous and from Asia.
Around 600 of the 3,500 snake species in the world are venomous.
The Saw-scaled Viper is responsible for more human deaths in Asia than all the other venomous Asian snakes combined.
Its venom is said to be five times more toxic than that of cobras and 16 times more toxic than that of the Russell’s Viper.
