Milwaukee woman uses her Tiny Zoo to change perception of certain species

MILWAUKEE (CBS58) -- One Milwaukee woman is sharing her love for animals and working to educate others to change the perception of her peculiar pets.

"I just think they're cool," Tatiana Gritsevskiy said about her scorpion.

Gritsevskiy owns 26 animals that make up "Tatiana's Tiny Zoo."

"Ever since I was little, I wanted to be either a zookeeper or a vet, so it kind of fits. I get to have the zoo right in my house," she said.

She keeps the animals in enclosures fit for their size and species in her Milwaukee home, an oasis for what she calls creepy crawlies. From cockroaches to geckos, she has exotic species and some native to Wisconsin.

"They're the most common snake that you can find in our state. You can find them in almost any ecosystem we have here," Gritsevskiy said about her two garter snakes.

Most are her pets, but some help her educate the community.

"They're just animals that I really like to keep, and if I get to share them with the world, that's even better," she said. "I started a YouTube channel during the pandemic. I was unemployed because of the pandemic, just like a lot of people were, and I got really bored and stir-crazy in my house. So, I decided to just record things that I had to do every day anyways, and I started that channel and started sharing it with a wider audience."

Sharing her tiny zoo online gave her the confidence to start doing it in person.

"I do programs at schools, libraries, Scout groups, senior centers, and birthday parties. It can be anywhere from one-on-one to a group of 30 to 40 kids. I bring between four to seven animals per program, depending on the topic they book and what they're interested in," Gritsevskiy explained.

"I allow all of the participants to listen about their natural history and learn some fun facts. And then at the very end, everybody gets to touch the animals, which is their favorite part."

She has a variety of programs: "Animal Adaptations: shielded scales and rattling tails," "Reptiles Around the World," and: Reptiles as Pets." Educating people about our native species is something she loves to do.

"You can make more local change by showing off the ones you can find right here," Gritsevskiy said. "It's a really good way for people to connect with stuff they can find, sometimes in their own backyards."

Never owning any animals other than cats and dogs as a child, Gritsevskiy did not imagine she would own a collection of tarantulas, but now that she is an educated owner, she wants to decrease the stigma around these animals.

"[People] really think the first thing this animal is going to do is try and attack you and try to stab you with its tail or even pinch you. A lot of times, they just want to back away. They want to be left alone," she said.

"They are what's known as an indicator species. So, they show us something really valuable and important about the environment. They indicate to us if there's pollution or bad chemicals happening in their local ecosystems because they're the first to die out."

Though her programs are relatively new, her tiny zoo has been growing for years, and she is not planning on closing anytime soon.

"They are just so cute, and I've fallen in love with them," she said.

For more information on Tatiana's Tiny Zoo, visit her website.