Editor's note: Teacher's Pet is a Ball State Daily News series featuring university faculty/staff and their pets.
Samantha, Sherman, Sheldon, Sylvia, Sydney, Sebastian, Pavarti, Louie and Ali. These are all members of Glen Stamp and Adrienne Bliss’ family.
Stamp is a chairperson and professor of Communications Studies and Bliss is a professor of English at Ball State.
Stamp and Bliss have four aquatic turtles, one box turtle, two snakes, a rat, two goldfish and two dogs.
“We’ve always had dogs,” Stamp said. “We’ve been in Muncie for 25 years and we’ve had around seven dogs.”
Louie and Ali, the dogs, greet everyone at the door with a fervent energy that could make anyone feel welcome.
“My wife went and got them from ARF and I came home and they were sitting there … two little puppies in a box,” he said.
After getting used to the greeting, one might notice shoes on the couch. This would be Louie’s doing.
“She never chews them up, she just gets them out,” Stamp said. “Generally, I come home and there’ll be my slippers or shoes on the couch. We once had someone over to visit once who took off their shoes, and Louie took one of her shoes and we couldn’t find it, and she had to leave with just one shoe.”
Ali is more on the shy side.
“This one has always been a little bit aloof, even with us,” Stamp said. “She kind of does things on her own.”
The other residents in their house are a little more cold-blooded than the dogs.
“I’ve always liked reptiles,” Stamp said. “As a kid, I always had snakes and turtles. We’ve had a couple of the turtles for about 20 years, the ball python for about 15 years as a present from my wife, the other ball python for about 10 years, and the goldfish are goldfish who just grew too big.”
One of the ball python’s names is Pavarti, because of the ‘P’ design on his scales.
“A lot of people have a fear of snakes,” Stamp said. “We had somebody come in for repairs, and even though the snakes were here, I told him I had a snake and he got upset that I had a snake in the house. That always kind of amazes me.”
The turtles seem more accepted by other people than the snakes.
“The turtles people find interesting because there’s a huge tub. They started off in aquariums and they kept growing. That’s probably their fourth or fifth container,” he said. “I just like having them.”
One thing’s for sure — there will always be animals in the household. Stamp can’t be too sure when new ones will arrive.
“Most of the dogs, my wife has brought home,” he said.
He's just along for the ride, and the new family members.
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