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BEHIND THE SCENES
You see the well-rehearsed presentations, the polished presenter and the picture-perfect
pets. But how do those things get that way? Do you just need to know where an animal comes from or what it eats? No
matter where I go and what animals I have with me, the curious questions about my business, how it effects my life
and how I get it all done are never-ending. "Where do you keep all your animals?", "What does
your house look like?", "Is it loud at night?", "Do your animals run around loose and do they like
each other?", "Who cleans up after all of them?" "It must be really fun, huh?". So
here are the answers to all your questions. This page gives you pictures, insight and a better idea of what being The Creature
Teacher is really like. We'll take you from feeding and cleaning to animal health care to the office and even our vehicle.
And if you would like to know something about our unique career that is not discussed on this page, please ask us
and we'll do our best to bring it life.
To read more about Behind the Scenes,
just click on the page title: Life with Tiny, History, Beastly Blog 2009, Animal Advice
THE FACILITY
Many wildlife educators keep their stock in their home or somewhere on
their property so most of time there really is no "facility" where visitors can go to visit and look around.
And even though I live on 9 acres of farm land, all the animals are kept indoors so I can control the temperature of their
environment and guarantee that they will not be a victim of a large predator. Our home is over 2000 sq. feet and the largest
"guest" room is dedicated to the animals. We even build on another 100 sq. ft back in 2005 to make more room for
the creatures!! Our animal room is about 300 sq. feet now, has it's own air conditioner and heater, it's own personal size
refrigerator as well as a sink and racks above for dishes. We have a closet filled with towels, extra plastic food containers
and surplus supplies. We also have a cabinet filled with disinfectant, latex gloves, carpet cleaning spray and medical
supplies like syringes, special feeds and grooming tools.
How do we keep 30+ animals in one room? Well, we stack 'em, that's how.
We have four different stackable enclosures including one for the bugs, one for the snakes, one for the spiders and one for
various animals like the bullfrog, hedgehog, tortoises and salamanders. One rack system is in the family room and the bird,
skink and bearded dragon are in a hallway and the chameleon is in the office.
PREPARING FOR THE NEXT DAY
Even on our days off (which means we don't have any presentations to give),
we still have a bunch of work to do. First thing that needs to be done is to disinfect the animals carriers and put in new
blankets. I set up all those carriers that I need for the next days shows on top the Rabbit/Prairie dog enclosure. This way,
in the morning, I can concentrate on cleaning and don't need to figure out who needs to go and who doesn't. I just
load up those animals whose carriers are set out as I'm cleaning and by the time I'm ready to go, they're ready too. Also, on a "day off" is the animal laundry, which is about two loads
of towels on Monday after a weekend of birthday parties. Monday also brings confirmation emails for the next week, logging
in payments and mileage from the weekend, checking on deposits that still need to be received and sending confirmation letters
and emails to clients who have booked shows. See The Office section below for more details. And don't forget, I need to set the alarm, make my lunch, set out my laptop, phone and other
office supplies I might need while traveling on the road all day. And don't forget to make sure the car is filled with gas
and go to the car wash if needed.
CLEANING & FEEDING
My husband Ron and I do all the cleaning and feeding. We wake up around 6 AM to get started and the entire job takes between 1 and 1 1/2 hours every day. None of the animals roam loose or are allowed any contact with one another except Tiny, our 30 pound Sulcata Tortoise and Olivia, the New Zealand Rabbit. They receive a few "free time" hours outside their enclosure to romp about the house and stretch their legs. They get along well with each other and with Zoey, our cat too. Olivia is coaxed back to her house after it's clean with a few treats which she has learned to expect. Tiny stays out most of the day if she is not working. When the weather warms up we will build her a permanent outside structure where she'll be more happy. (Photos of the building process coming soon!!) Ron cleans the mammals cages and I do the rest. All cages are scrubbed with a professional grade cleanser that kills many forms of bacteria and viruses. Even though there are fewer mammals than the others combined, it's actually a fair trade as the mammals need cleaning every day and some of the others do not. The snakes, for instance, need cleaning once a week maybe and eat just as often. Ron also does the vacuuming after all the cleaning is done. I scrub water and feed bowls and make new food for those animals receiving fresh fruits and vegetables. Our freezer is filled with 5 different sizes of frozen mice and rats along with a bag of mixed veggies and nectar specially made for Lilo & Stitch, our adorable Sugar Gliders. Every Sunday is snake feeding day. I set out 1 pinky rat for the Rat Snake, 2 pinky mice for the Corn Snake, 2 fuzzy mice for the Milksnake, 2 adult mice for one Ball Python, 1 adult rat for the other Ball Python and 1 adult mouse for the African Bullfrog. By the time I come home in the evening from doing my shows, the frozen food is thawed and ready to feed.
A PARTIAL LIST OF OUR FEEDSTUFFS
Total animal food bill 2008: $2,171 Total animal food bill 2009: $2,080
HEALTH CARE
All 30+ of our animals need special food, housing and health care. We do much of
the maintance ourselves like trimming the squirrels teeth (she has one that grows extremely long despite chew sticks we provide
for her), trimming nails on the bird, guinea pigs and tortoise and trimming wing feathers on the parrot so she cannot fly
away during our outdoor shows. Many animals need a weekly soaking or bath like the spiny-tailed lizard, Sulcata tortoise and
the hermit crabs. Millipedes need to bemite-free, chinchillas need their weekly dust bath, shedding animals need to be bathed
and some animals need regular vitamins and misting.
And don't forget trips to the veterinarian for unusual and weird illnesses and injuries. Think you have a large vet bill from the spaying and neutering your dog, vaccines and flea prevention. Here's our veterinary bill for 2009: Feb 26- $127.57 for examination on our sick bunny rabbit, Lacey Mar
5-$348.76 for eye removal on Gus the Short Tailed Opossum who injured his eye Mar
24- $199.08 for treatment of same sick bunny rabbit May 7- $208.52 for
neutering a Wyatt our Black-tailed Prairie Dog June 29- $20.88 for tooth
trimming on Sierra the Ground Squirrel August 7-$178.90 for having a
growth removed from the foot of Kermit our African Bullfrog August 13-$156.32
for treatment of same sick bunny rabbit Total veterinary bill
for 2009: $1,240.03
Total cost of new animals purchased (either because we are adding a new species
or because a species has died and needed to be replaced): 2008:
$1,271
2009:$1,624
THE OFFICE
The office is where I think I spend most of my time. Office work, computer work and answering phones take up more time than cleaning cages. As a business owner, not only do I perform all the presentations and the cleaning but also the basic day-to-day chores that keep a business up and running. It doesn't happen without planning, dedication, developing new skills and lots of problem solving. When I'm in the office you can find me doing a smattering of many things like: bookkeeping and accounting, creating new spiels for new shows, inputting customer information in our data base, talking with advertisers, creating new up to date fliers and forms, sending confirmation emails and reminders for upcoming shows, billing customers and logging in payments....the list can go on forever. The computer is always on, one phone- either office or cell phone is with me at all times and so is my calendar for the current and upcoming year as well as forms needed to book a show while on the road. My desk is always cluttered no matter how hard I try to keep it clean, I have sticky notes taped everywhere along with a dry erase board with notes, my collegues phone numbers and web addresses and books on every type of animal I own from the bugs to reptiles to mammals. My visits to Office Depot are never ending and office supplies account for ahuge chuck of our expenses. See for yourself.
THE VEHICLE
The Creature Teacher travels 45,000-50,000 every year. Sometimes we are on the road from 5 AM to late in the evening depending on where we travel and how many shows we have scheduled for the day. We also travel through all kinds of weather and terrain including ice, snow, thunder storms, rush hour traffic, rough dirt roads, one lane highways and battle through construction sites, wait through backed up roads due to traffic accidents and have to find addresses, houses and other facilities in the dark. When you spent as much time on the road as Robyn does, you learn to carry many items with you to help make a day on the road easier and more convenient. Here's just a partial list of what you might find in our van on any given day: SHOW ITEMS: posters, drapes of tables and wagon, clean towels and newspapers, jug of water, liter bottle of hand sanitizer, hay and pellets for the rodents, nail trimmers, harness and leash, extra T-shirts, lollipops and pencils, Beltblaster PA system, Mapsco map book (just in case the GPS can't find an address or losing connection), baby wipe container and bag of refills and a roll of paper towels. PERSONAL ITEMS: snack food, water bottle, sunglasses and reading glasses, pens and yearly calendar, gym bag (in case I have time in between shows to get in a workout at the Y), small amount of lunch money for the day, small bottle of hand cream, small bottle of Advil, Garmin GPS, extra T-shirts (in case an animals messes on me during the day), a box of kleenex and one can of Fix a Flat flat tire foam. Ron takes the van in for servicing every 3,000 miles which may take a month, two weeks or as little a few days. Yearly membership to AAA is a must as since I moved to Texas in 2001, I've have had at least 4 flat tires while traveling which required their prompt service. Here's our "on the road" expenses: 2009 Meals: $551 2009 Toll Tag: $120 2009 Gas: I do still, however, need gas stations and fast food restaurants for those all important potty breaks as I haven't figured out how to store a port-a-potty in the car!!
THE SHOWS The Creature Teacher presents over 450 shows a year. This means working nights and weekends plus weekdays too. We give shows 7 days a week from early morning to late evening. On weekends, we book between 2 to 4 shows every Saturday and Sunday, with Spring and Summer being the busiest seasons. We schedule our "days off" months in advance or we would never get any days off at all. During summer, the majority of our business comes from day care and libraries with over 65 shows every month from June-August. We do take a vacation twice a year but not for more than 5 to 7 days away. Friends and family are kind enough to "babysit" for us as the animals and the facility need to be maintained while we are having fun. While on vacation, Robyn carries her cell phone and laptop so we may still book shows and answer emails and attend to office work while on the road. To read more about Behind the Scenes,
just click on the page title: Life with Tiny, History, Beastly Blog 2009, Animal Advice
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The Creature Teacher, LLC 903/451-1904 972/345-8544 Creeturet@aol.com
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