The students and staff of EHS have many unique pets that are not commonly known or owned.

Carey Quaratino, the counseling registrar, has a variety of strange pets including a hedgehog, a bearded dragon, a donkey, and pigs. The most unusual being the hedgehog, named Pokey, and a bearded dragon named Rango. Her family has owned Pokey for six years and got him off of Craigslist. The entire family enjoys owning the hedgehog and finds him entertaining. Quaratino said “Pokey is unique just because he’s a hedgehog, and it’s really funny because you reach in there to go and grab him and all his little spikes will stand up.” Her favorite part about owning Pokey is that “he loves baths, so you put him in the sink with a little bit of water and a toothbrush, and you scrub his little quills.”

Rango the bearded dragon has an interesting story of how they got him. Quaratino’s daughter has wanted a bearded dragon ever since she saw her friends’ bearded dragon. However, Quaratino did not. Her husband works as a police officer and got Rango through his work. Somebody ordered a bearded dragon through the mail and then wouldn’t take him, so they brought it to the police station trying to decide what to do with him. Quaratino’s husband volunteered to take it home since his daughter wanted one. 

Noah Juhl (23) owns two alpacas named Washington and Finn. He has had alpacas since 2014 and shows them at the fair and enjoys having them as pets as well. Juhl said, “They are bigger than most other pets and they are just not a very common pet to own, so they are good for conversation.”Since these pets are uncommon, they are often confused with llamas, but are smaller and were bred specifically for their fiber. They are fun animals to own and are cute and fuzzy companions. Juhl said, “I enjoy showing them and watching them in my backyard because they are cool animals that are fun to work with. They are not the typical pet, so just seeing them in the yard is a cool thing.”

Max Bulzomi (23) owns crabs, a salamander, and a gold dojo loach. The crabs are named Shelly, Gilbert, Jeremy and Javier, the salamander is named Todd, and the gold dojo loach is named Voldemort. He has only owned the crabs for two months and the salamander for a few weeks. Bulzomi’s dad thought it would be a cool collection to have the crabs, and they got the salamander from “a rescue mission out of their window well.” He says that the crabs are very active and crawl up the sides of the tank and are sometimes even out and about his house. He enjoys having the crabs and says that “they look funny and sometimes look like they are dancing even though they are standing still.” The gold dojo loach is a unique fish that can apparently predict the weather. They are easy to care for and a joy to watch.

Lili Van Romer Hensley (25) owns a variety of strange pets including snakes, a lizard, and an axolotl, who’s named Cake. An axolotl is a type of salamander; the type Hensley owns is a walking albino salamander. She has owned him for about a year. Hensley got her axolotl from her mom, who used to work at a reptile and amphibian store. Her favorite part about owning this pet is watching him eat.

Kiauna Smith (25) owns a pleco. A pleco is a freshwater species of armored catfish. This type of fish is a janitor fish, which means it eats algae in the tank. The fish’s name is Pleko and she has owned this fish for about four years. Smith got the fish because it was suggested to keep her goldfish’s tank clean. Although it hides, and doesn’t interact a whole lot, Smith said, “it is cool when it actually comes out, it is very funky looking.”

David Harris (26) and Jade Harris (24) have a leopard gecko named Lyla. They have had her for two years. D. Harris saw that J. Harris’s friend had a bearded dragon and he wanted a lizard as well. He thought they looked very cool and wanted one of his own. J. Harris said, “Lyla is unique because she has specific heat requirements. We have to keep her tank at least 80 degrees and moderately moist by spraying the inside with water. She is also unique because her tail can pop off and it will grow back. She also can go two weeks without food because her tail stores food. That’s w

hy leopard geckos have such fat tails.” While having such a unique pet may be a lot of work, having the leopard gecko has a lot of enjoyable moments as well. J Harris said, “I enjoy having Lyla around because she is cute and likes it when we are around her, although we don’t hold her very much because she is so active and tries to bite you when you pick her up.” D. Harris said, “I enjoy how 

friendly she is and how she lets me hold her. She also looks really awesome and it’s fun having a lizard as a pet.”