Coppell High School Astronomy and Earth & Space Science teacher Angela Barnes is just your average science teacher with a snake, a tarantula and countless Madagascar hissing cockroaches of course.

Known to walk around with her snake Monty, wrapped around her neck, Barnes is an animal loving science teacher. All of her animals live in her classroom and interact with her students.

“The motivation to bring animals to school has nothing to do with what I teach,” Barnes said. “It has to do with who I am.”

Barnes is the sponsor for the Coppell High Ethical Treatment of Animals (CHETA) club. Her involvement in the club is because of her strong opinions regarding animal cruelty, which is shown in her diet. Barnes has been a strict vegan for two years and was a vegetarian for 20 years before that.

Barnes’ veganism often sparks interest in her students.

“It influenced some of my eating habits because there are better alternatives than eating meat and I like how she gives us [information about these alternatives],” CHS senior Mark Beshai said.

Monty the snake is the most popular animal in Barnes’s classroom, and around school with students and teachers.

Barnes adopted Monty from a friend, who did not have enough time to take care of him properly.

“He pretty gradually became my snake and now he lives in the classroom,” Barnes said. “He’s the mascot of the classroom, the class pet if you will. So everybody just enjoys him even if they don’t like snakes at first.”

A defining trait of Monty’s is to slither around the classroom and cuddle with unsuspecting students.

“Sometimes she brings out Monty the snake and he slithers around your table and it’s a lot of fun,” CHS senior David Reyes said. “Monty is cool, he’s just a cool guy.”

Compared to the Madagascar hissing cockroaches Barnes has, Monty’s presence seems normal. Barnes received these cockroaches five years ago as a gift from a student.

“I told [him] I don’t want that gift, cockroaches is where I draw the line,” Barnes said. “He was like ‘They really need a home otherwise they are going to get killed’, and I’m like, ‘Alright, Casey I’ll take them.’ And he gave me nine females, but one of them wasn’t a female. He made a mistake, and now I have dozens of them.”

Barnes does not have animals in the classroom just for entertainment, as she also uses them to help teach in her classroom. When Barnes first started teaching at CHS, she was a biology teacher, and she used her animals to help further teach her students.

“I used to have a hairless cat named Mendel, When we talked about genetics and genetic defects he was the perfect specimen to bring to just show everybody,” Barnes said. “I think he started it all.”

Barnes teaching style doesn’t just inspire students, it also inspires fellow teachers.

“She’s crazy but I think that the animals create a nice environment for kids to learn and it gives them a real-world perspective,” CHS Honors Physics teacher Evan Whitfield said.