Biology and AP Biology teacher Jacob Schecter’s love for animals is shown through his unusual class pet collection.
In his classroom, Schecter has many unique pets, including copepods (tiny crustaceans), snails and a variety of shrimp. In addition to that, he has a worm farm, which is kept by the window in the sun.
Despite growing up with cats, dogs and hamsters, Schecter prefers having aquatic creatures as pets.
“I always liked, and have always [liked the idea] of these tanks where there are plants [and] other things living in there,” Schecter said. “I don’t like the idea of just a fish sitting in a big glass tank.”
Schecter prefers aquatic creatures like shrimp and snails because they require less maintenance and stress. Plus, they’re a lot cheaper to maintain.
“The reason I prefer shrimp and snails is because they are low maintenance, they clean their own tank, they get their own food,” Schecter said.
Schecter, who previously worked at Dougherty Valley High School, didn’t start collecting class pets until he came to Cal High in 2019.
“I was just a new teacher [at Dougherty] trying to figure stuff out, so I didn’t have time,” Schecter said.
He also maintains a farm in order to raise snails and feed the assassin snail to avoid infestations among his pets. Schecter’s snail farm does not require much responsibility because the snails maintain their own environment.
During school breaks, snails can be left in the classroom unlike lizards, which require more maintenance.
With fewer classroom pet responsibilities, Schecter can minimize the cost of caring for them.
“Buying [the pets] themselves is probably the most expensive part, and then it’s a matter of paying for filters and getting distilled water,” Schecter said. “It just costs 20 to 30 bucks every other month or so.”
Schecter mainly obtains his pets from a creek near Cal and purchases a few from Petsmart and Petco as well.
Students in Schecter’s classes have the opportunity to name the pets and interact with them in different ways. They have decided to name the assassin snail Ayush, and the shrimp is named either Clifford or Elmo. The class still has yet to decide
Students in Schecter’s class can also contribute to maintaining his pets.
“When they come back from lunch, if they’ve got leftover carrots, leftover apples, [or] bits of food, they drop them in there,” Schecter said. “They’ve been doing it all school year.”
Many students use the opportunity to feed the worms when they come back from lunch.
The worm farm is a way to teach students about decomposers by providing them an example with which they can interact. Students enjoy watching snails chase each other. Some of the animals have even been given a burial after they die.
“I always loved class pets, [and] worms were something new and a little weird, but I still like them,” freshman biology student Minerva Bong said. “They are definitely a little gross though.”
Junior AP Biology student Danya Sri Anantha Prakash said he tries to support the unique class pets by feeding the worms and feeds them from time to time.
“I don’t really mind the worms,” Prakash said. “I do feed them my compost, like banana peels and oranges.”
But not all students are on board with the worm farm.
“The worms actually gross me out a lot, so I usually don’t feed them,” freshman biology student Svanika Dondaavarapu said. “I just put the food in the compost bin,”
Some students don’t always treat the animals with respect by tapping and shaking the glass.
Schecter plans to add more animals to his collection when the eggs in his class hatch.
“I have a bunch of triops [a type of crustacean] and fairy shrimp eggs that are just in packets that will hatch whenever I want them to because you just add them to water and they start hatching,” Schecter said. “Essentially, they’re like sea monkeys.”
Having class pets allows for a more immersive learning experience for biology students.
