Dozens of exotic pets allegedly left for dead.

Police say a man abandoned his exotic pet shop for three weeks, in the heat of summer, without food, water and for several days without air conditioning.

There were a few animals that made it out alive out of 160 exotic pets allegedly abandoned in Christopher Novak's shop.

Many were found dead after they were left without care inside the business last month.      

The shop is located on Reems Road near Tierra Buena in Surprise, Arizona.

They were there alone for three weeks and for the last three days the shop also had no power, which meant no air conditioning.

The reptiles that did survive were taken to the Phoenix Herpetological Society.

When curator Daniel Marchand first went to rescue the animals he took along a thermometer.

"It actually buried the thermometer and broke it I mean it went past 120 and then it literally broke it was so hot next to this window there was no air and all these animals were just dying," he said.

Marchand said reptiles can do ok in the heat, but without water for three weeks every single one of the survivors was going fast.

Novak is booked on dozens of charges of animal cruelty. He told detectives he was having financial problems, which led to the power being cut off at the shop.

It's still unclear why Novak didn't go into the shop for three weeks.

This abuse case is very unusual for Maricopa County authorities; in fact it's a first for the state.

According to Russ Johnson, president of the Phoenix Herpetological Society, this is the first cruelty case involving reptiles ever seen in Arizona.