Pets are often regarded as one of the biggest parts of our lives, and that ideology is no different here at Rocky. I did a quick and short survey with some of my friends and others, and as some of you can probably guess, most of the pets that students own are our everyday dog and cat breeds; And you might think that’s it, not all of them though. Some were different and interesting, and that is just what this article is about. In this article, you are going to learn about one of the coolest and most interesting students here at R.M.H.S, and his interesting pets.

Arguably the most fascinating pet, or in this case, pets, are Timothy Taylor’s chipmunks. Yes, chipmunks. His little friends are not just little backyard critters though, they have been raised with each other are more or less domesticated to a certain level. Tim’s family owns a whopping 50 chipmunks, some of them are being trained to do basic tasks but most of them are companions to the family and each other. It is mainly Tim and his father that work with the chipmunks. Now you may have a few questions like do they have names, how do you tell them apart, and are they in a cage. First of all, only two of them have names. One is named Alvin for obvious reasons, and the other is named Gordon. Gordon was named by Tim’s little brother, and he chose that name because it is a character from Thomas the Train, one of his favorite T.V. shows. Secondly, they can actually be told apart, but only to a certain extent. Each chipmunks wears a loose band that signifies if it is one of the Taylor chipmunks or not. One very cool thing about a couple of them though is that they will sometimes respond to different names or phrases and come to whoever is calling them. Many people including myself, wondered how domesticated they really are; The answer may surprise you. After birth, the babies are placed under a heat lamp for warmth and are bottle fed by the family. They are kept in a cage at the start of their lives with plenty of food and water, and when they are old enough, the cage is opened, and food and water are set out that the chipmunks can use if they choose. Like I said though, the cage is open, and the chipmunks are free to leave the backyard. They can go and live in the wild, but usually come back because they know that is where food, water, and shelter are at all times.

All in all, Tim definitely can say he has an interesting life out of school with his very interesting pets back at home.  Typically, when people say the word pet, you tend to think of cats and dogs and other normally domesticated animals. That is not a boundary, and many more things can be kept as pets, even chipmunks.