OSHKOSH WEST INDEX (Wisconsin) 28 May 04 Caulk scales to new heights through reptilian repertoire (Paul King and Tricia Brauer)

Teachers weren’t the only ones pumping cold blood through their veins when senior Brian Caulk brought his reptilian friends into biology classes.

“I love all animals, but I used to be very into dinosaurs,” he said. “As I grew older and I discovered more animals, lizards and snakes kind of resembled dinosaurs in a way.”

Currently Caulk has 32 amphibians and reptiles but the numbers keep on growing.

“The reason I keep getting more animals is, of course, to increase my knowledge,”he said.“There is only so much information you can read on the Internet or in a textbook, but once you get to look at and actually study the animal, the knowledge is incredible.”

Students were extremely surprised by the presentation. Their fascinations ranged from the reptiles to their habitats.

“I really liked the mondo lizard,” said junior Jon Baurecht. “It was really big, and it was cool to see something like that in person.”

Caulk has a plethora of pets, but that doesn’t mean he can’t tell them apart.

“All of my animals have names,” said Caulk. “If I didn’t name them, one of my friends did.”

The creatures vary in diet ranging from bugs to mice. Mice are easily purchased from any one of the local pet stores.

“I thought it was cool that frogs can eat mice,” said junior Joey Schettle. “It didn’t look like they could do it.”

Other students enjoyed different parts of the presentation.

“I liked the iguanas,” said sophomore Nicky Greathouse. “It was cool to see something that is on TV a lot.”

The creatures differed in origin as well as diet.

“I thought it was interesting that the animals were from many different countries,” said senior Rebecca Schettle.

Science teacher John Reiland feels the presentation made a valuable impact on his students.

“I think the kids got a better understanding of what it takes to keep those kind of animals as pets,” he said. “It really takes a lot of responsibility.”

With a multitude of creatures in the house chaos lurks in every corner but Caulk has it under control.

“It does take a lot of time to take care of my pets,” said Caulk.“It takes three or four hours, but in the end it’s worth it.

One of the main goals of Caulk’s presentation was to inform students about his exotic animals. There are many animals sold every year from pet stores that die due to mistreatment or mishandling by their owners.

“I want to pass on the information about animals because there are too many people who go into a pet store and see an animal for a very inexpensive price and buy it without knowing how to care for the animal or anything about them,” he said.

Caulk made clear the amount of care and responsibility animals take.

“The animal is a living thing.”It feels pain and it needs to feel comfortable,” Caulk said. “ If people don’t know how that works, then the animal dies, and that’s not fair because it’s not supposed to be in captivity.”
Caulk scales to new heights through reptilian repertoire

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