While I personally like to be by myself when I am editing, some people I know prefer to have a live companion in their offices while they are working. I have known people in all kinds of professions who have a live animal in their office.

I am guessing that having one makes a person feel less alone.

At the church I attend, one former member of the pastoral staff kept a snake in a terrarium in his office. It was a rather small snake; I believe it was a ball python. The terrarium had special lights and tree limbs and such, and the staff member did not know whether it was male or female. He bought feeder mice for it and stashed them in the freezer in the church office’s kitchenette—without notifying the other staff members of this. Sure enough, one day the church bookkeeper was cleaning out the freezer and found the frozen mice. I’m told the scream was loud enough to be heard around the whole building.

Similarly, in my undergraduate years, there was a biology professor who kept a live turtle in her office, also in an elaborate aquarium/terrarium. The professor knew it was a female, and the turtle had one front limb missing. Thus, the professor named her Lefty. Lefty had a typed set of instructions above her habitat carefully spelling out how she was to be cared for. This was for the teaching assistants who looked after Lefty in the professor’s absence.

An aquarium with fish is a common sight in an office. Watching them swim can be good therapy, as it is highly relaxing. However, the pump and other aquarium equipment are often loud, and so this would not work for yours truly, who needs things quiet.

Some people work at home and have cats or dogs. Cats are extremely cute and many are good to cuddle with, but there is always the peril of them walking on your keyboard and messing up what you are editing. Dogs, too, are cute and affectionate, but they require a lot of attention, and you need to be flexible enough to leave your editing for a while and let your dog out into the yard to “do number two,” so to speak, or take your dog for a walk.

Do you have any live companions in your office? If so, what are they?