Pets!
Your school environment will be more interesting to the students if you have a few "pets". These creatures will also help your students to learn more about science and biology, plus it is just fun to have them around. Make sure to research how to take care of these. It is awful to have them die because of improper care. A prudent man takes care of his beast. Here are a few of our favorites.
Mali Uromastyx - a fun little lizard from Mali in Africa. (You can learn geography this way too!) He likes his heat lamp and eats veggies.
We had several tarantulas and giant scorpions one year, so I got two little mice. The students held them everyday and they were very tame.
We all loved it when they had babies. They were all different colors and got held a lot. The students gave them names like Ceasar, Cowboy, Coffee, Chocolate, and Fireball.
Below is the big fish tank in our junior high and high school room. The students say the best seats in the room are near it. One day someone brought a cat in for science and it liked to watch the fish.....
This is a plecostomus, or an algae-eater sucky fish. Not only are they fun to watch, but they keep the tanks clean. By the way, that is a job at our school that several students apply for....fish tank cleaner. More on the jobs later.....
In the elementary room we also have a plecostomus, and a large African clawed frog that keeps getting bigger and ate all our small fish. The students call him the "muscle tight frog".
This is Sir Sully, our bubble-maker guy. Every few seconds he lifts the lid of the treasure chest and bubbles rise to the surface.
The gecko! He eats crickets (cricket keeper is also a coveted job at our school) and makes interesting noises after dark.
And.....the snake. I know, this isn't for everyone, but ...... This is a three foot ball python. She is a constrictor which means she doesn't bite and doesn't have fangs- she just wraps around her prey, which in our school is a frozen dead rat. I know, that is gross. But it is fascinating to watch her get her little mouth around a big rat. One of our students timed how long it took her to eat it.
Hint: Do not leave frozen rats in the church freezer. The church ladies will not take this too well.
In back of our school we have a little stable that opens up onto several acres of grazing area for our camel. He eats large amounts of grass and hay, which does get a little expensive in the winter. The students like to ride on him, only one at a time of course.
Just kidding. We do have all the other animals on this page, just not the camel. You can find him at the Creation Museum in Kentucky.
