Where the wild things are

So your dog can roll over. So what? Sophomore Yetnayet Garedew's pet can do a really neat trick: pluck out Garedew's father's white hairs.

Then again, a monkey isn't the greatest barber. But owning an unusual pet often means having to deal with its quirks.

The popularity of exotic pets, like Garedew's monkey, is on the rise. According to a National Pet Owners Survey by the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association, the number of exotic pets increased from 16.8 million in 2002 to 18.2 million in 2004. Students like Garedew must accept the responsibilities of caring for such unusual animals.

Garedew, who left Blair this semester, has had her monkey for about six years since her late uncle, a zookeeper, bequeathed his monkey to her. Since then, Chichu the monkey is her responsibility, even paying for his food.

Garedew willingly shells out her hard-earned cash for the bunches of bananas that Chichu devours. If Garedew eats a banana, the monkey often swipes it right out of her hands.

Junior Gary Jones's ball python likes his meals a little fresher. A live mouse every one to two weeks is enough for the snake. "It's the easiest animal to take care of in the world," Jones says.

He received the python a year and a half ago from his friend's brother, who had a kidney transplant and was too susceptible to illness to keep it. Jones happily opened his home to the python.

Checkers the python and his current owner hit it off immediately, discovering that they have something in common " their taste in music. When Jones blasts rock with a loud bass line, Checkers bobs his head along with the vibrations, dancing to the music. Otherwise, "it's actually a pretty dull animal," he says. "[It] sort of sits in the cage and chills."

Jones says he's lucky his python has never gotten sick, since veterinary bills for exotic pets can reach the thousands, as Garedew knows well. In 2005, Chichu contracted a virus which Garedew called "chickenpox for monkeys" because Chichu was covered in spots. Garedew took her to a veterinarian who had no experience with monkeys whatsoever. He called a zoo doctor, who prescribed a medicated lotion, and Chichu recovered. Seeomg Chichu so sick worried Garedew " she had never seen her normally hyperactive monkey lying so still.

The expense of caring for a sick animal, exotic or not, depends on the specific procedure and the animal in question, according to Josh Pesantez, a surgical technician at Wheaton Animal Hospital. Essentially, treating an exotic pet doesn't necessarily cost more money than taking care of more traditional animals, he says, but unusual pets often need a specialist's care.

But Chichu still needs regular check-ups every three months. Because of the threat of pathogens, some states prohibit primates as pets, and exotic pet laws can vary by locality. In Montgomery County the owner must have a license, which Garedew does.

But there's no limit on the number of pets you can own in Montgomery County. Senior Austin Brown, whose mother is an avid animal lover, used to have a real menagerie. His home once housed two chinchillas, one octopus, an iguana, a chameleon, a cockatoo and many cats, lizards and fish, although not all at the same time.

Each pet had its own quirks. Brown's fondest memory of his chinchillas is cleaning them. Chinchilla fur is very dense " compared to humans, who have one hair per follicle, chinchillas have as many as 50. Instead of using water to bathe, which can get trapped beneath their fur, chinchillas use a special dust that can be purchased from a pet store. According to Brown, to get clean the rodents would "maneuver wicked fast " that makes the dust go flying." It's been two years since his last chinchilla died, and Brown says he still finds dust in his room.

The pets also required a specific diet " some of the food was easy to find, others were not so easy. The chinchillas ate rodent pellets that could be obtained at the nearest pet store. Obtaining food for the octopus proved harder. Since it was still young, it fed on shredded squid, Brown says. There was only one brand of that food sold in local pet stores, and it was expensive. However, the problem was as short-lived as the octopus " about three days, to be exact.

Brown refused to feed the lizards, though, because that particular task required crickets. His family would buy a bag of live crickets at a local pet store and feed them to the lizards. But because of his intense dislike of those "creepy crickets," Brown absolutely refused to be in the same room as the lizards when feeding time rolled around.

Except for his father's cockatoo, there are no more pets in Brown's house. Years of caring for his many different animals, have shown him how much of a burden they can be. "Pets are high-maintenance," Brown says. "The more unique ones are even more high-maintenance."

Teachers' Pets

English teacher Judy Smith currently has three West Highland White terriers. Although in the past she has owned parakeets, mice, guinea pigs and cats, dogs will always be her favorite. "Dogs are wonderfully loving and responsive. It makes you happy," she says with a smile.

Another English teacher, Lucas Henry, has had Booker, an English bull dog, for about five months. Since he got him, people who wouldn't normally approach him come up to him. Well, they come up to the dog, he says. The strangers mostly ignore him.

Assistant Principal Linda Wanner had Henry the grackle, for 18 years until it died last year. Her daughter found the bird with a broken wing and Wanner took it to the Four Corners Animal Hospital and nursed it back to health.