The spa, which is decorated with wooden furniture in the style of a traditional house on the resort island of Bali, keeps five snakes which are fed a diet of live rabbits.
The snake massage is just one of 300 treatments offered by the centre – and many others are equally off-the-wall.
In one a staff member dressed in a gorilla suit performs a massage and in another, the customer sits in a bathtub of beer receiving a massage while enjoying a Lager.
But it is the snake massage, which started around a year ago, that has been attracting the most attention as well as a steady stream of customers.
However, animal rights groups have raised concerns, with the Jakarta Animal Aid Network describing the treatment of the snakes as “exploitation”.
“We are angry to hear about any kind of animal exploitation, including snakes,” group spokesman Benvika, who like many Indonesians goes by one name, told AFP.
Abraham insisted that the snakes were not being ill-treated – and that they enjoyed the contact with humans that came from the massages.
“We don’t treat them like workers, we treat them like our friends or family,” he said. “We kiss them, we hug them, we take good care of them.”
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