A couple in the village of Brylle on Funen have turned the garage of their newly built house into a private mini-zoo, keeping more than 100 exotic animals across roughly 87 species.
The regional outlet Avisen Danmark reports that Christoffer Vestergaard Jensen, 34, and his partner Gitte Mille Prehn Schramm, 46, house snakes, lizards and a long list of other exotic animals in around 70 square meters of garage space. The home sits in Krybilyparken, a new-build neighborhood in Brylle, and the animals live where a car would normally be parked.
According to Avisen Danmark, Christoffer Vestergaard Jensen built the 192-square-meter house in 2019. He now lives there with Gitte Mille Prehn Schramm and four of their six children from previous relationships. The exact animal count varies, the couple say, because animals regularly arrive and leave the house.
Neighbors were skeptical at first
When residents in Krybilyparken learned what was moving into the garage, it caused some concern. Gitte Mille Prehn Schramm says neighbors worried that animals might escape and wondered what the couple were doing. Several homeowners have since visited to see the animals, and the couple say the worries have disappeared.
The collection began at the garden center chain Plantorama, where Gitte Mille Prehn Schramm was taken with a fat-tailed gecko. Christoffer Vestergaard Jensen bought it on the spot. For a later birthday she asked for a chameleon, and the number of reptiles has grown steadily since.
At one point the couple’s office was filled with marmosets, with fish in the bathtub and iguanas in the bathroom. One guest had to urinate in the garden, Christoffer Vestergaard Jensen says. The animals cannot get out of the house, according to the couple, and escapes inside it are usually short-lived.
Gitte Mille Prehn Schramm says some of the geckos are extremely fast when terrariums are opened for feeding. The couple notice escapes quickly, because lamps and cables get moved as the animals climb. If that is not enough, they scatter flour across the floor, close the doors and follow the tracks the next day.
Christoffer Vestergaard Jensen has been interested in animals since childhood, when he searched for insects in the soil while other children played soccer. He works full time at a psychiatric residential facility and runs the company Krybdyrcompaniet, which builds terrariums and produces soil matched to reptiles’ natural habitats. The business operates from his home address and from Tommerup Erhvervspark.
He says he wants to break down the idea that reptiles appeal only to a certain type of person, naming company directors and nurses among owners. He describes the fascination as being accepted by an animal rather than petting it. He still has scars on his arms from an iguana that bit and lashed him, but the animal now climbs up on him at feeding time.
His stated dream animal is a lion, though he assures that one will never move into number 37. Readers interested in seeing exotic species in a public setting can visit the zoos in Denmark.
