Thai "Scorpion Queen" sets new record

Thailand's 'Scorpion Queen' Kanchana Kaetkaew poses with scorpions inside a glass room at the Ripley's Believe It or Not museum in Pattaya, January 24, 2009.

PATTAYA, Thailand (Reuters Life!) - Thailand's "Scorpion Queen" set a new world record on Saturday after living with thousands of deadly scorpions in a glass room for 33 days, beating her previous record by one day.

Kanchana Ketkaew, 39, smiled after emerging from the 12 sq. metre room where she ate and slept with 5,000 venomous scorpions.

She was bitten 13 times on her arms, legs and fingers, but appeared unharmed.

"It's very difficult but I tried because I received a lot of support from Thais and foreign tourists in the past 33 days," she said after breaking her 2002 record for living with 3,400 scorpions for 32 days.

Some 200 foreign tourists had flocked to the Pattaya shopping mall to cheer on the self-proclaimed "Scorpion Queen".

"She's very brave because I couldn't do it," British tourist Jean Reed said.

Inside the tiny room, she had almost everything to entertain herself to live with her insect friends -- including television, refrigerator, books and bed. She was allowed to leave the room for a 15-minute toilet break every eight hours.

Kanchana said she would return to the small glass room again if someone tried to challenge her with new record.