While dogs and cats have their place in most households, some Biola students choose to adopt rather unique pets into their off-campus homes. Three Biola students in particular have either found, taken care of or purchased an unlikely creature and fallen in love with it.
Meet Bruce the guinea pig
When junior kinesiology major Ryan Glassey was on his way home one day, he stumbled upon an unfamiliar sight. There, in the middle of the street lay a guinea pig. Little did he know, the helpless rodent would soon become the newest addition to the Glassey family.
“I don’t think we intended on keeping it, but one thing led to another, and it has been nine months,” Glassey said.
Early attempts at catching the creature went awry. Accepting defeat, Ryan went upstairs to tell his mom about the encounter, who insisted that he rescue the guinea pig.
Back and better equipped with a shoebox and a pair of gloves, Glassey went downstairs set on saving the guinea pig. This time, he was successful. With such a fighting mentality, Glassey decided to name the guinea pig Bruce after the Die Hard celebrity.
“My mom kind of went crazy with it. She went on all these guinea pig forums, and she built a cage from scratch for it. I have some pretty incriminating videos of her having conversations with the guinea pig,” Glassey said.
Meet Charlotte the python
Grace Leathers, senior biological science major, has grown fond of the biology department’s python, Charlotte. Knowing that Leathers has snakes of her own and is fascinated by the amphibian species, associate professor of biological science Harvey Havoonjian suggested that she take Charlotte on a walk. Because Leathers’ snakes are much smaller, this was a new experience.
“I didn’t begin taking the snake out to educate people, but it has kind of turned into that … I did it because I thought it would be interesting and I really enjoy it,” Leathers said.
Leathers said that she could tell Charlotte the python liked being taken out. Whenever the two are done with their walk for the day, she doesn’t want to return to her cage.
Filled with curiosity, Charlotte wanders towards different sights as she approaches new experiences with a confident sniff.
“On campus when I have Charlotte out, no one is expecting to see a snake, so a lot of people will walk by … and there is definitely a lot of shock, not horror but shock,” Leathers said.
Meet Titus the bearded dragon
Before senior English major Zach Mendelson’s girlfriend left to study abroad for nine months in Europe, she thought it would be fitting to give him a companion to keep him company while she was away.
Upon entering the local pet store, the couple immediately set eyes on a bearded dragon. There were two in the case, but Mendelson resolved to choose the one that touched his finger through the glass first. The bearded dragon presently known as Titus almost instantaneously reached out and touched Mendelson’s hand.
“If I am doing homework or reading a book, I will pull him out of the tank and let him lay on my shoulder and he will just sleep. He will snuggle with me, which is weird, you wouldn’t expect that from a lizard,” Mendelson said.
After Mendelson’s girlfriend sent him a picture of a bearded dragon on a leash, Mendelson decided to give it a shot. He then cut up denim and fashioned it into a harness and added some string to make a leash.
“I took him outside and set him down and the first thing he did was look at the sun and then freak out and try to kill himself or something by running into a wall,” Mendelson said.
Unfortunately, after owning the dragon for almost a year and not knowing it was against housing regulations, Titus has recently been evicted from Mendelson’s home. The lizard now resides at Mendelson’s parents’ home in Orange County.
