What's Living in your School?

by Zenodotus

Ah, nature. From trees to flowers, and bugs. Soil, birds and bears. Nature is always beautiful and mysterious. But Reedy Creek teacher Ms. Reyes of the Animal Science elective is doing her best to demystify the fauna of our gorgeous planet.

We at the newspaper club, were lucky enough to get an interview with her and a few of her students during second period on December 10, 2019.

According to Dani Desi, a second period student in the animal sciences room, “It’s a pretty fun course”. Although he isn’t in the elective, those in Ms. Reyes’s exploratory also have the chance to play with her critters. On Thursday and Friday, they can hold the animals, of which Dani’s favorite is a green rat snake named Ivy. Most of the students prefer the hamsters, because they’re cute and fluffy, until they get used to the snakes.

When asked about what the most dangerous animal in the room was, Ms. Reyes said that “It depends on their attitude for the day.” However, she also said that, despite their cute and fluffy exterior, the hamsters were actually more dangerous than the snakes. She explained that, though the snake seems more intimidating at first, if the hamsters bite you hard enough they have been known to draw blood.

Recently, the animal sciences class has appealed to Principal Evans about getting a new animal for the room. Rebecca Roorda tells us that they mostly want a baby hedgehog, or maybe a ferret. The newest addition to the animal science room has been Ollie the bearded dragon, whom Rebecca describes as “chunky.” I can confirm that Ollie indeed has a bit of a belly, but that just makes him all the more cute!

All the creatures in the room were pretty adorable, no doubt about that. For example; I got to touch Minnie the Ball Python, the oldest animal in the program! She seems to enjoy having her belly tickled. I also got to meet Mango, a leopard gecko. Although Rebecca admits to never having seen it, she says that Mango could detach her tail if under enough stress.

But overall, the program seems to reduce stress for the animals in its care. Maybe to prevent having leopard gecko tails all over the room? They simulate their natural habitats as best as possible, and even feed dead crickets that they find on the ground to the animals who aren’t very good at catching them themselves. No food wasted, I suppose.

In fact, Rebecca tells me the only bad thing about the course is the smell! It sure doesn’t smell nice in there, but I can confirm that you do get used to it!

To see the full extent of this interview, as well as some cute footage of the animals, check out Reedy Creek’s News broadcast below!