A MINI-BEAST fan is taking her love of unusual pets into York classrooms to help teach primary school pupils about the often forgotten little creatures.

Roma Oxford, who lives at Huntington, York, has a large collection of invertebrates and she is travelling round primary schools showing them to Year 3 and Year 4 pupils.

The large collection includes earthworms, slugs, snails, beetles, earwigs, ants, moths, crickets, spiders, millipedes and centipedes.

Roma said: "We can't get children to understand the importance of mini-beasts until they appreciate what they look like."

Roma has been collecting the creatures for years but says she always takes examples from areas where there are plenty of other specimens to continue populating.

She said: "These creatures are all ones that you can see around York, either in the back garden or when out walking."

Roma also has a love for other unusual animals and over the years has been known to have geckos, praying mantises, bats and hedgehogs as pets.