A man who lived in a house filled with insects & reptiles was found dead in his home after being eaten by his pet black widow spider.

Spider expert and animal cruelty officer Gabi Bayer said he kept creatures “that should never be allowed in a private home”.

She said: “He had spiders so aggressive they are the equivalent of a pit-bull in the animal world.”

Described by police as a cross between a botanical garden and the butterfly breeding ground in the serial killer movie The Silence Of The Lambs... Mark Voegel's apartment was literally crawling with hundreds of insects.

A police spokesman said: “It was like a horror movie. His corpse was over the sofa.

“Giant webs draped him, spiders were all over him. They were coming out of his nose and his mouth.

“There was everything there one could imagine in the world of reptiles.

“Larger pieces of flesh torn off by the lizards were scooped up and taken back to the webs of tarantulas and other bird-eating spiders.

Voegel is thought to have been dead for between seven and 14 days.