The well known Red Wagon that The Creature Teacher hauls her creatures in was purchased from a swap meet in Orange County, California in 1996 for $200.00.
The Creature Teacher gives over 450 presentations a year and must turn away over 100 shows a year due to a full schedule.
The Creature Teacher drives up to 120 miles one way to give a presentation. Robyn drives between 40,000 and 50,000 miles a year and the fuel bill every month is between $500.00 to $1,000.00.
Although The Creature Teacher live on 9 acres, all of the 24 exotic animals are housed indoors. One entire room, approximately 300 square feet is dedicated to providing a temperature controlled, safe and comfortable environment for these special creatures.
In 2006, Robyn actually remodeled the room, adding on 100 square feet to expand the animal room to the size it is today.
Before becoming The Creature Teacher, Robyn worked as a hostess at Marie Calendars restaurant and was a driver and sorter for a pre-sort mail company in Santa Ana, California.
In the 1990's, Robyn went to Florida to swim with the Manatees in the Crystal River and vacationed in Ostional, Costa Rica for one week on a remote beach without electricity or hot water. While there, she helped educate the natives on the importance of the Kemps Ridley Sea Turtle, its role in the environment and how to help maintain a protected beach so the turtle can nest and reproduce in safety.
Expenses for a wildlife education company can be costly and never ending. Here are some of the operating expenses for the year 2007:
food and animal supplies: $ 5,527.42
advertising: $9,522.31
telephone and internet service: $2,886.67
office supplies: $3, 657.70
insurance: $1,964.05
The Creature Teacher is the only wildlife education company in Texas that educates children on sea life and can display over a dozen sea ccreature specimens such as a sting ray, horseshoe crab, starfish, porcupine fish and many more.
Daily cleaning and feeding starts at 6 AM and takes between 1 to 2 hours. The Creature Teacher does not hire any employees so when Robyn is not cleaning or giving presentations, she is ordering supplies, updating the web site, answering inquiries by phone and email, giving interviews to reporters and keeping the bookkeeping records on income and expenses. And these are just to name a few.
The Creature Teacher uses over 30 different foods to maintain proper nutrition for the creatures. Some of these include: Romaine lettuce, Spring mix, rose leaves and rose petals, parsley, Ficus tree leaves, cooked chicken, hard boiled eggs, raw potatoes, mixed vegetables, mixed fruit, dry and canned cat food, Timothy Hay and jars of baby food.
Crickets, superwoms and three different sizes of frozen mice and rats are ordered in bulk over the internet in order to feed 3 snakes and two frogs.
The Walking Stick Insects are the only animals allowed to reproduce. At any one time, The Creature Teacher may have up to 500 baby walking stick bugs. Eggs take approximately six months to hatch, babies are only about half an inch long and their average life span is less than one year. Over 12 roses trees and 5 Ficus Trees are grown on the property for the sole purpose of feeding these unique bugs.
A special cleaning solution called A 33 Dry is used to clean the animal enclosures. This strong agent kills most all bacterias and viruses to keep the animals disease free. Today, it is used in many hospitals, nursing homes and medical facilities due to its extreme effectiveness.
The Creature Teacher must maintain a permit by the USDA and the premises are inspected every year for proper care and maintainance of the animals.
It is illegal to own wildlife species native to Texas as a pet. That is why The Creature Teacher does not have an opossum, armadillo, skunk or raccoon. In order to keep and show these kinds of animals a very expensive and hard to get permit is needed and requires all animals are kept in housing that complies with the American Zoological Association.
The Creature Teachers African Bullfrog Kermit travels in a soft-sided travel cooler. This is because he has excellent eye sight and will actually injure himself if he sees another animal he wants to eat like another frog or small rodent. By carrying him in something that is soft and not clear, Kermit can rest peacefully during his travels.
Throughout all her years as The Creature Teacher, Robyn has used many animals in her shows but some did not have the proper temperment for being an education animal and are currently not used. These animals include a: Green Iguana, Sugar Glider, Degu, and Richardson Ground Squirrel.
Robyn keeps her cell phone and yearly calendar with her at all times so she may take phone calls and book shows while traveling or running errands. When on vacation, Robyn also takes along her laptop computer so she can answer emails while in her hotel room.
Every year in August/September, over 3000 postcards are sent out by mail to area schools, day cares, YMCA's, community centers and libraries.
Robyn uses a Motorola Bluetooth for taking phone calls while traveling, a Verizon Aircard for wireless internet and a Garmin 340 GPS for driving directions from one point to another.
A "Snuggle Safe" is used in the winter months to keep the reptiles warm. It look like a thick frisbie and after 5 minutes in the microwave will stay warm up to 12 hours. It is then put in the carriers with the lizards and snakes to keep them warm while traveling.
If you would like to know something about The Creature Teacher, the animals or the owner Robyn Wheeler, please email us at Creeturet@aol.com and we will post the answer on this page.
Touch Tables
Small Group Programs (1 to 40 persons)
Assemblies (40 to 300 persons)
In the News (See a video clip)
Creatures of the Sea
List of Animals
Course List
Email Us!!
*New FAQ's
Mileage Fees
*New Myths about Animals