A reptile fanatic has spoken of his panic after he had to rescue his animals from a fire.

Firefighters called to the blaze in an enclosure for reptiles in a Sittingbourne back garden compared what they found to Jurassic Park.

The crews were confronted by a host of creatures – everything from tiny toads to 6ft iguanas at the garden, in Swanstree Avenue.

Greg Reeves has spent years creating a large shed for his collection and the 27-year-old estimates he has up to 90 animals.

But he has been left with a repair project after the fire, caused by a ceramic heater falling from the ceiling.

“The animals in there were rhinoceros iguanas, an endangered species,” said Greg.

“I saw the fire and panicked. At the end of the shed there were flames everywhere. There were two iguanas in the tank and they were just next to it. They hadn’t even moved.

“I was reaching through the fire and pulling those animals out and moving them to the other side of the shed.

“When the fire brigade arrived the fire had gone out. They said ‘wow, it’s like Jurassic Park in here’.”

Greg’s partner, Nicky Gambell, passed him water as he frantically tried to protect his beloved pets.

Greg, an engineer, said the two rhinoceros iguanas, named Damocles and Boadicea, were unharmed in Saturday's fire, that none of the other animals had been hurt and everything had been accounted for.

The damage was limited to parts of the floor and roof, as well as cables.

He thanked friends who helped with the clear-up and praised the firefighters for ventilating the building.

He said: “I have been into reptiles for almost a decade. We are dedicated to natural simulation here and computer programmes control the environment.

“When the family come down it’s not to see me, it’s to see the reptiles.”