This week for Welcome to the Jungle, The Etownian had the privilege of sitting down and talking with Izzy Wright, a first-year secondary English education major with a big love for animals and pets of all kinds. From the jump, Wright is bursting with stories to tell. Her empathy and passion are evident before she even begins, an approachability that I’m sure extends to the animals in her home.
“I was basically raised with pets,” Wright said. “My dad is a stone mason but has loved and cared for reptiles for almost his whole life. It began with a ball python when he was young, and ever since we have kept a variety of animals in our house.”
Wright related stories from her childhood, one of which involved hatching a whole nest of box turtle eggs. Of the scaly menagerie, Wright herself has two beloved pets, a leopard gecko named Napoleon and a ball python named Anomaly.
“I got Napoleon in middle school, so now about six years ago,” Wright said. “He was the dumbest one there, to be honest. We went to Petco. All the geckos were doing their regular reptile things, while he was sitting there moping in his water dish. I knew he was the one.”
When it comes to her python, Anomaly, Wright says she wanted to “level up her game.”
“My dad and I went to a reptile expo that we found just to look at the animals. It had been a while since I had held a snake, but Anomaly just slithered up my arm and rested his head on my shoulder.” Wright said. From that moment, Wright has become a proud snake owner.
Today, the Wright household features a variety of reptiles as well as three dogs—Zeppy, Daisy and Ducky, who may be part Dingo. According to Wright, leopard geckos are “closer to dogs in personality than what we give them credit for,” citing Napoleon’s comfort around people and handlers as especially strong. Wright avoids talking about reptiles as if they are strange monstrosities—instead, she sees them for the benevolent animals they are.
“You would think reptiles are easy pets, but that is not always the case. You need to socialize [with] them. They can’t connect emotionally, they are very animalistic. So you have to show up and handle them with care consistently,” Wright said.
As with any family with a love for pets, things have not always gone as expected. As a child, Wright had a variety of hamsters, including one in particular named Thooze, short for “Methuselah,” to promote a long life.
“We had this huge Garter snake… Angelina. Angelina was so significant,” Wright said. “She went missing from her enclosure one day before I discovered she had gotten into Thooze’s terrarium.”
To the shock and relief of the Wrights, Thooze survived the encounter.
“They were just chilling, taking a nap together,” Wright said. To help compromise with her mother, who is not exactly fond of reptiles, Izzy and her father keep the reptiles in large, well looked after terrariums in the family’s basement.
“If there’s anything I’ve learned, it’s to research and look into things that spike your curiosity,” Wright said, “Reptiles and animals brought my dad and I so close because he imparted so much knowledge to me.”
Wright is grateful for this influence in her life, as well as the joy her creatures bring her.
“With reptiles it’s really cool. You have to respect them enough for them to respect you, since they are so primal. It’s very professional. I get to observe, I get to handle them, I provide them with a safe space. It’s super chill,” Wright said.
When asked what her dream pet would be, she doesn’t miss a beat, “A Jackson’s chameleon!”
