JAPAN TODAY (Tokyo) 27 August 08 Man held for keeping 51 poisonous snakes without permit in Tokyo apartment
Tokyo: A man was arrested Wednesday for keeping 51 poisonous snakes at his apartment in Tokyo’s Shibuya Ward without authorization, police said, adding his pets were discovered because he was bitten by one of the snakes, whose bite is usually fatal, and had to call an ambulance.
According to the Metropolitan Police Department, Nobukazu Kashiwagi, 41, was bitten on his finger on July 15 by a 185-centimeter eastern green mamba from Africa, one of the world’s most poisonous snakes. Kashiwagi called an ambulance and was taken to a hospital. Police arrested him on a charge of violating the animal protection law after he left the hospital. The 51 snakes were each kept in a plastic case and the cases were piled up in his room, police said. Last November, a female acquaintance who visited Kashiwagi’s apartment was also bitten by a snake, according to police.
http://www.japantoday.com/category/crime/view/man-arrested-for-keeping-51-poisonous-snakes-without-permit-in-tokyo-apartment

COURIER MAIL (Melbourne, Australia) 27 August 08 Bite leads to secret snake stash
Tokyo (AAP): A man who illegally kept some of the world's most venomous snakes in his tiny Tokyo apartment was arrested after calling an ambulance when one of them bit him.
Nobukazu Kashiwagi, a 41-year-old port worker, was arrested for keeping the dangerous reptiles without proper permission, police said.
His secret got out after he was bitten by an eastern green mamba, a highly venomous southeast African snake among the 51 he kept.
He called an ambulance and was rushed to hospital where he briefly lost consciousness, Jiji Press said, adding he was arrested after returning home.
Media reports said a woman had earlier complained about being bitten by a snake after visiting the man in the trendy Shibuya area.
Mr Kashiwagi's collection included a 1.9m-long black mamba, another of the world's most deadly snakes, as well as rats to feed his pets, the reports said.
http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,24250206-5003402,00.html