Family Services dropped the hammer on a St. Charles family who were found to have 1 dog, 157 snakes and lizards, roughly 2,000 mice and rats, and 2 children living in their home.  Clearly that ratio is all off. You’d have to at least have 500 kids in there before that was an appropriate amount of lizards and rats.

The home, in the first block of Oak Bend Lane, off Laura Hill Road, was in “extremely filthy condition,” according to court documents, and one deputy who went inside was so overcome by the stench he ran outside to throw up. Another deputy had to borrow an oxygen mask and tank from the Fire Department to go back inside to take evidence photos.

Gross. It’s not uncommon to hear those kind of “horrible vomit-inducing smells” stories about an Olive Garden, but someone’s home? Amazing.

The couple, who could not be reached Thursday, told a deputy that they knew raising their children in this environment was wrong, but they wouldn’t get rid of their pets. They also would not clean up the animal waste to help with the odor problem, they told the deputy. They said that the house had been this way for at least two years. Anthony Higgins told authorities this is the second time he has ended up with a large amount of pets.

According to STLToday, a neighbor tried to have a heart to heart with the crazy people that collected rats and snakes.

“I said, ‘That’s too many animals, dude.’ He said he knew it was.”

Ok! Job done! A good , correctly inflected “Dude…” speech will usually clean up any lingering crazy in one try. Lets get those stinky kids back in this stinky house that has a 100% chance of filling up with vermin again ASAP.

In case you were wondering, the family was allowed to keep the dog, but the snakes were given to an reptile rescue group, while the mice were set free in their natural St. Charles habitat: The kitchens of various area Denny’s.

via STLToday