Many people enjoy spending time with their animals, or enjoy the fascination of expanding their home with them. Showing off their pets is another thing people tend to do for fun, or training them to do little tricks here and there. Some pet owners just keep a cuddling companion by their side when they are having a rough day.

All of these things apply to Rome Brown (10), who has over 20 exotic pets. They are not just generic animals like a dog, cat or even hamsters. She owns fish, snakes and more, and she keeps adding to her list. 

“A few future pets I want to get are a shark…and some saltwater fishes,” Brown said.

Now with having all these animals and wanting to expand it, her parents play along with the financial plan behind all these animals, though Brown helps out too. However, their idea isn’t quite the same as Brown. 

“They don’t like it. They think it takes up too much room,” Brown said.

With her animal fascination, Brown can’t help but occasionally ignore the price tag on something she’s looking for. Brown’s priciest pet would have to be over $500.

“I would say one of my snakes,” Brown said. 

Nonetheless, with all the animals, Brown has a special one that doesn’t seem to sit well with any fish: a bichir named Carnivorous. He can end up growing up to 18 inches long.  

“It’s one of my fish, Carnivorous…If I don’t feed it often, it will eat my other fish,” Brown said. 

Through Brown’s journey of having these unique animals, she has realized some flaws that other pet owners may do. 

“People don’t give them enough room. People like to keep them in a little fish bowl, and that’s not healthy for the animal,” Brown said.  

Brown has a laid back schedule to taking care of all of her animals.

“Every day I go around and feed each tank…” Brown said. “Once every few weeks I’ll go around and clean the tanks…”

With owning a bunch of unique animals, she sometimes gets very different or almost always gets the same reaction. 

“Most of the time [people are] very surprised,” Brown said. “I do have a lot of pets. My house is like a zoo.”