What Cheer Library Creepy Friends

Kids from What Cheer are all ready to wiggle, slither, and scurry back to school, now that they have had a chance to learn all about exotic pets at last week’s “Creepy Crawly” Day held at the What Cheer Library. Baylee Kempf, the librarian who organized the event thought it would be a great way to celebrate the end of summer. “We were looking for another activity, I thought since I have a snake at home, I wondered if anybody else had any odd pets they would like to bring in.  So I put the word out on Facebook and I got a pretty good response.” 

                  In addition to the Kempf family snake, Jake, lots of other interesting creatures showed up, like a rat named Mag, that was originally purchased to be Jake-the snake’s lunch. Lucky for Mag, Jake turned up his nose and refused to eat him, so Mag was rescued by a friend and went home to live at the Van Patten house. Sheila said when her husband brought him home she was surprised, but it didn’t take long for Mag to become one of the gang with his affectionate nature and kitten-like snuggles.

                   With Mag being the furry exception, snuggling most of these exotic pets is out of the question. Especially the scorpion and tarantulas brought in by Sara ?., who said it’s not only the risk of being bitten that keeps her from directly handling her pets, but also to ensure their safety. “There’s a lot of risk in handling them, because their exoskeleton is fragile…more like skin than anything.” This same exoskeleton is the reason tarantulas molt, or shed their outer layer as they grow. 

 

For more on this story, catch the August 22 edition of the News-Review.

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