Mum, there’s a spider on the bed ..and 50 more around the room
8-year-old is creepy-crawly fan
I just like the way tarantulas walk... they are really cute
HOLLIE GREENHALGH ON HER UNUSUAL OBSESSION
A GIRL of eight loves spiders so much she shares her bedroom with over 50 tarantulas.
Hollie Greenhalgh also has two snakes, a scorpion, millipedes, grasshoppers, cockroaches and snails in the mini zoo.
She spends around three hours every weekend feeding them.
Hollie said: “I just like the way tarantulas walk, they’re just really cute in general.
“I want to spread the message that tarantulas and invertebrates are amazing and cute.
“It takes up a bit of time to look after them, but I would rather stay at home with my animals than play out with my friends.”
Not everyone in the family feels the same way about the tarantulas – her mum is scared of spiders.
Hollie fell in love with creepycrawlies as a toddler and was given her first spider – a Mexican red knee tarantula – for her seventh birthday.
Since then, her family have spent around £500 to help her amass her collection of unusual pets.
But the Mexican red knee – called Hairyett – is still her favourite.
Hollie said: “The animals are much more scared of us than we are of them. I want to be a zoo keeper when I grow up and to be the next David Attenborough and present shows about animals.”
Hollie, of Winsford, Cheshire, has her own YouTube channel featuring videos about the zoo in her bedroom to teach people about the exotic animals. The family also have two cats.
Mum Rachel, 29, helps to create and edit the videos despite her fear. The teaching assistant said Hollie’s obsession began when she was two and was fascinated by a spider in the kitchen. Rachel said: “She had a spider in her hands and she was talking to it. “I took her to a bug exhibition at a museum and she held all the creepy-crawlies.” Rachel, who added she only l planned to get her girl one tarantula, is less scared after seeing Hollie handling them. The mum said: “I’m still not great, but I’m better than I was.
“I think they sense her calmness and it relaxes them. She loves all animals – she’s like Dr Dolittle.”