There are many people who have pets in Waterford High School, and some of these pets are exotic. Nearly 60% of households in the US own pets but only 15% own exotic animals or non-traditional pets.
One of Waterford’s exotic pet owners is Mrs. Marchese, she is the owner of Best Friend, a brown axolotl. Mrs. Marchese has had Best Friend for about five years and loves everything about him. She got Best Friend when her husband worked with somebody that bred them and offered him one. She says axolotls are not very difficult to take care of..
“But I don’t take care of them like my husband does.” Axolotls are great pets for owners of all ages. Not only do they require an easy diet, but they are very cute.
Sophomore, Jeremy Peck, has a few exotic pets, including a hermit crab and two birds. His hermit crab is nameless and was adopted in 2006. Taking care of his crab is not difficult at all. Jeremy says, “it just sits there all day.” Though hermit crabs are easy to take care of, his parents regret getting the crab because “it never dies.” Jeremy’s other animals, the two birds, are named Bunker and Mian, which he has no idea when he got them because they were there before he was born. Taking care of them is claimed to be easy by Jeremy, “The birds aren’t difficult, I have to give them food and water at certain times though.”
Stone Larsen, a sophomore at Waterford High, has two interesting exotic animals. One of Stone’s exotic pets is a tegu, a 4-foot long lizard, named Blue. Stone has had Blue since 2021 and got him when Stone’s mom felt bad for the tegu in PetSmart so they adopted it. Blue is a great pet, but is hard to take care of. Due to his size, he even needs his own room in Stone’s house. Tegus are not seen as aggressive and are great pets, considering their high maintenance. Another exotic animal Stone has is a leopard gecko that is small, spotted, and cute. His leopard gecko’s name is Spots and was adopted in 2017 from a teacher in Norwich. Leopard geckos are great pets and are perfect for beginner lizard pet owners. He has to feed his gecko crickets and mealworms, while the tegu eats raw chicken and raw eggs.
Another sophomore, Kaylin Johnson, has a tarantula named Buddy. She decided to adopt Buddy three or four years ago because she thought that tarantulas are cool looking. Tarantulas are very venomous and scary to some people, Johnson enjoys Buddy. Though she likes her tarantula, taking care of Buddy is difficult in Kaylin’s opinion. “It makes webs in its little cave so you have to clean them out.” She also has to spray the sides of the tank with water and get crickets for Buddy every other week to eat.
Finally, freshman Adrianna Price has an Eastern Painted Turtle named Bucky. The Eastern Painted Turtle is a friendly species, but is very timid. Although it is not recommended to take turtles out of the wild, just about four months ago, Price decided to take Bucky out of a lake because she says, “Bucky looked lonely.” Though turtles are cute and look easy to take care of, Adrianna says otherwise. “You have to put him in a separate container to eat so he will actually eat his food.”
Although many people have standard pets at Waterford High School, there are many undercover pets to be found.
