He claims to have experimented with almost all varieties of snakes, including cobras, common kraits, sand boas and rat snakes.

He says his favourite is the cobra because of its ferocious agility.

Manu, a high school drop-out, said that as an eight-year-old he would amuse his classmates by inserting chalk and erasers into his nostrils and pulling them out through his mouth.

When he turned 18 he started sniffing around snakes and his first attempt was with a half dead water snake.