DAD Julian Amos is father to thousands of babies, but not the small pink cute variety - he prefers the eight-legged hairy ones.

He breeds spiders and has sold thousands of the little monsters all around the country.

Julian, of Garbett Street, Accrington, shares his kitchen with some of the world's most feared creatures.

However, the sight of a palm-sized tarantula staring back at him when he tucks into a bowl of cornflakes does not bother him.

Julian said: "I have been breeding them for about 18 months and they don't frighten me."

He keeps them in secure tanks around his kitchen and spends three hours every two days feeding them.

They usually tuck into a diet of crickets and locusts, or even strips of lamb's heart. Each one has to be carefully looked after and Julian tries not to handle the spiders.

"I am a member of the British Tarantula Society and it warns owners not to handle them. If you have a tropical fish you don't pull it out of its tank and start showing it around. The same applies to spiders."

Among his collection is a Goliath bird eater spider which is the biggest species of spider in the world and lives on a diet of birds

The danger factor does not worry Julian and family. In fact, he and his wife, Tina, and two sons, Keifer, 6, and Ciaron, 3, love their unusual house guests.

Julian said: "We are very careful with the spiders. It would be very painful to bitten. It would be like being stung by two wasps which both had powerful venom.

"I have never been bitten and I don't intend to find out."

More than 60 spiders live at the family home, but the figure could soon shoot up again because spiders can have up to 1,000 babies in one go.

Julian sells his spiders to other dealers and displays them at shows around the country.

He and his wife, who both work with disabled children, are also doing their best to educate youngsters about their eight-legged friends. Tina takes Sooty, a Mexican black velvet spider, to schools to show children that there is nothing to fear from spiders.

But Julian is quick to warn that spiders require a great deal of hard work and should not just be treated as the latest fashion accessory.

He added: "I did a lot of reading about spiders before I bought my first one.

"I really love spiders but I wouldn't just sell them to people who didn't know what they were taking on or how to handle them."

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