Party Animals: Snakes, rats and cockroaches are the Creepy Crawly Roadshow

"No one needs to do this for dolphins or horses," she said. "Everybody loves them. I like to show that there are cool grubby things as well."

Kate, knows all about the animals because she studied psychology and zoology at the University of Reading. She also worked at the Blackpool Zoo where she polished her animal patter. But it was the training, start-up loan and support she got from WEETU that gave her the confidence to start her business.

It's called MiniMonsters, also known as a Creepy Crawly Roadshow. Kate packs up her snakes and bugs and rats and snails and takes them to schools and parties. She lets children pet them and touch them while she teaches all about their diets, habitats and personalities.

After she graduated from Reading, Kate got a short contract to work at the Blackpool Zoo. When that ended, she became the recycling bus coordinator for Suffolk, teaching about the environment. That was not quite what she had hoped, so Kate thought about starting her own business. "I had the idea so I looked for help in the yellow pages and there I found WEETU," she said. She signed up for "Is Enterprise for Me?"

Kate was grateful for the amount of practical advice she got from the training. "I probably would have spent a lot of time thinking up my name and not enough on the business side," she said. Kate went on to Full Circle Business Skills training and formed a circle with other women in her class. They called it Silkworm, because some of the other members work with textiles. The worm part is a nod to Kate's business.

The circle approved a loan for Kate, which she used to secure public liability insurance. She said she gets a lot of support from her circle. "It's really good to be in a group of people who are going through the same process," she said. Recently, a friend told Kate she plans to start a business. "I said to her, 'Have you thought about the Inland Revenue? What about insurance?' I really know my stuff now."

All Kate's roadshow animals are also her pets. She is devoted to them. "I discovered the corn snake loves to watch television," she said. "She just sticks her head up and looks when it's on." Because the rats get stressed near the snakes - their natural predators - they live in Kate's kitchen/diner. Every morning, she shares a single cornflake and a drop of milk with each one. "I just can't resist their cute little faces," she said.

Like Kate, all of her animals and insects are vegetarians. They eat only organic produce that's delivered to Kate's door. She has also chosen her roadshow stars carefully. "I need animals that cope well with travelling, handling and temperature changes," she said. "That's why I don't have any lizards. They can get pretty stressed."

That would make them a bit like some of the parents at Kate's MiniMonsters parties.

Contact Kate on 01502 712305.
Email: minimonsters@tiscali.co.uk
Website: www.minimonsters.co.uk