Pets are not only great companions, but, according to the National Institute of Health, having a pet can have positive benefits in one’s life. 

Interacting with animals has been shown to decrease levels of stress-related hormones and lower blood pressure. Other studies have found that interacting with animals can reduce loneliness and boost one’s mood.

According to the American Veterinary Medical Association, 56.3 million U.S. households own dogs, and 43.1 million U.S. households own cats. But, only 2.4 million U.S. households own reptiles, and only 2.1 million U.S. households own birds. 

Here at Mt SAC Early College Academy (MECA), some students and even staff members own very exotic pets. Today, we will look at people with reptiles, avians, and mammals of all sizes. Here are the five most notable ones:

1. Bobby Sanchez

MECA’s beloved librarian media center assistant, Bobby Sanchez, has been involved with pets for a long time, and first gave it a whirl with them at “The Happiest Place on Earth.” 

“I owned a ball python a long time ago… I bought [the ball python] because when I worked at Disneyland, they had just reopened the treehouse as Tarzan’s Treehouse, and they had snakes, lizards [and] bugs down at the bottom, and I handled those. That’s how I got into handling animals, and I bought the snakes,” Sanchez said. 

MECA’s media center has its very own little class pet: Sanchez’s white ball python named Luna, who is named after Luna Lovegood, a fictional character in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series, introduced in Order of the Phoenix. 

“I have a white ball python named Luna, who sometimes comes to visit [MECA], and I have a…small python named Nagini who does not come to visit [MECA] because she’s named Nagini for a reason…she’s food aggressive,” Sanchez said of his two snakes. 

The names of Sanchez’s snakes seem to suit their personalities perfectly, but still mentioned taking caution when naming your pets. 

“All of the snakes were named after Harry Potter characters. Luna is a very beautiful, but goofy, pure white snake, and she’s named after Luna Lovegood. Nagini has been…food aggressive since we got her, so she’s named after Voldemort’s snake. Be careful what you name your animals, because they tend to take after their names,” Sanchez warned.

The years of experience that Sanchez has with reptiles seem to have paid off, and he has formed such a special bond with his snakes as a result.

2. Victoria Romero

Senior Victoria Romero has one-eyed dog named Juan, who is fourteen years old and a Chihuahua mix. She also has an Australian Cattle Dog named Rue.

“[Juan] wasn’t born with one eye, so it wasn’t a genetic thing. He…had 2 eyes for all his life and up until I think, 2023…during Christmas, there was a little incident with the food, and my other dog attacked [him],” Romero said.

Despite what happened, Romero’s dogs are not aggressive by nature. 

“My dogs aren’t aggressive.” Romero said, “[My other dog, Rue, attacked Juan] because my dad made the mistake of putting [Rue and Juan’s] food in the same bowl when we have it separate. So, with the food in the same bowl, they just got a little overprotective with food and had a little fight.”

Juan, despite his challenges, has persevered.

“…he’s fine. The doctor fixed him up. He knows how to function without the eye now, but he’s doing good. It’s just pretty interesting, you know, to have a one-eyed dog,” Romero said.

Fortunately, Rue and Juan’s fight didn’t damage their relationship.

“[Rue and Juan] are still friends. They hang out all the time,” Romero said.

3. Marvin Lopez

Sophomore Marvin Lopez has two bearded dragons. 

“We have two [bearded dragons],” Lopez said. “One is named Tomatito [little tomato in Spanish] and the other one is Cinnamon [nickname is Canela, the Spanish word for cinnamon].”

Lopez gave information about taking care of his bearded dragons, and the consequent challenges, or rather lack thereof.

“It is sometimes hard to take care of them when we get busy,” Lopez admitted, “but honestly not really.”

Lopez gave advice on what to feed bearded dragons.

“I’d say [to] make sure [that] you feed them lots of vegetables because one mistake that we [made] was that we didn’t know we could give them as many vegetables as we could now because, we did our research, but whenever we’d look for something, it’d say ‘only give them this vegetable’…when they could have, like, 10 other vegetables,” said Lopez. “Also, make sure to get worms, a bunch of worms, because that’s their favorite thing. But don’t give them just worms because then they won’t eat the vegetables.”

Armed with this information, if you are interested in getting a bearded dragon, maybe this pet would be perfect for you.

4. Karren Zhuang

Junior Karren Zhuang has five hens. “We don’t really name them, but we usually call them based on their characteristics,” Zhuang said. “Unfortunately, one of my hens’ eyes got infected, so she only has one eye. We call her the one-eyed hen.”

In an interview, Zhuang explained what led to her family’s decision to adopt them. 

“During COVID and afterwards, the prices of eggs really skyrocketed, so we decided to invest in hens so that we could get organic and fresh eggs instead of buying such expensive ones,” Zhuang said.

Zhuang gave information on her hens.

“Usually, [they lay] at least one [egg]…but, on average, the hens lay about two or three [eggs] a day.” Zhuang said, “[Hens] do some really interesting stuff. Before they lay eggs, they have a ‘laying eggs song’ that they do. They just make a bunch of noises to indicate that they’re about to lay eggs.”

Zhuang also recommends providing lots of space outside for the hens, in addition to maintaining a level of cleanliness around 

“[I would say to a person who was thinking about getting a hen] to make sure that [they] have a lot of backyard space and to make sure [they] have a lot of grass and an area for them to walk around because they really enjoy that. And just make sure to keep [the hen’s area] clean because they do poop a lot and it does smell really bad.”

Zhuang gave some information on what it’s like to own hens.

“I think that [having hens] is really interesting because they’re pretty easy to take care of and they’re also pretty friendly. We can pick them up, we can hold them, and we can feed them using our hands.”

If you like a gentle, calm pet, maybe hens would be a good choice for you.

5. Kyle Cao

Sophomore Kyle Cao has two parrots.

“The parrots I have are the kinds of parrots that you could find in South America. I have one that’s a very famous type of macaw that is called the Scarlet Macaw. My other parrot is a green-winged macaw,” Cao said.

Cao gave some information about his parrots. 

“I got them around two years ago. We named the Scarlet Macaw “Cherry” and we named the green-winged macaw “Strawberry,” Cao said of his parrots.

Cao gave information about the personalities of his parrots. 

“Cherry is a lot more aggressive [than Strawberry]. [Cherry is] very territorial. But she has her moments when she really likes to be affectionate,” Cao said.

Cao gave some information about what people should do if they are thinking about adopting parrots.

“Definitely get items ahead of time because, when you get them, they’re already hungry, so you want to have food prepared for them. Be sure to research what kind of foods you’re giving them, because some foods they might not be able to eat…do not give them anything related to garlic or onions,” Cao said.

If you like pets that are affectionate, but can sometimes be aggressive, maybe parrots would be a good option for you.

These are only a few examples of exotic pets, but there are many more.