Plastic tubs filled to the brim with snakes were being moved into Colorado Jurassic Pets in Thornton on Thursday afternoon after an early-morning fire destroyed their owners’ house.

The fire broke out about 4:30 a.m. in the 14600 block of Umpire Street, said Chief Mike Schuppe of Brighton Fire Rescue District.

When firefighters arrived, flames and smoke were pouring from the rural home.

Water tender trucks had to be used to ferry water in from a nearby neighborhood, Schuppe said.

Several neighboring fire departments helped, and about 40 firefighters had the fire out in about 90 minutes.

There were no injuries.

A family of seven escaped, and more than 1,000 reptiles and snakes, part of a business run out of the home, were rescued from the basement, Schuppe said.

A resident of the home told Fox31 that five dogs, four birds and 10 sugar gliders are feared dead. A sugar glider is a small gliding marsupial, related to opossums.

The business associated with the home’s address is Boas and Balls, according to a webpage. It supplies and sells reptiles — including boas, ball pythons, lizards and tortoises — and equipment to the public and other pet businesses. They have been breeding boas since 1985 and ball pythons at the location since 2005, according to the website.

The family, Lynn and Ken Kubic, also runs Colorado Jurassic Pets.

An employee at the store said he spent a frantic morning at the home rescuing snakes.

Brighton Fire Department Chief Mark Bodane told 7News that “thankfully, most were caged … but they were also aggressive.”

The owners could not be directly reached because they were scrambling, trying to save their stock and business.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

Kieran Nicholson: 303-954-1822, knicholson@denverpost.com or twitter.com/kierannicholson