Another One Bites the Dust

Oy!  So Piper's relatively new hermit crab died on Monday and then Bryce's died yesterday.  (Piper's original one from NC died a few weeks back and we replaced it immediately.)   Both had been quite active and looking healthy the day before and then all of a sudden.....dead.  Caroline's second one is still going strong but I'm not convinced it's going to be long before that one dies too since the other two croaked without warning.  (And oddly enough, each time one dies I get this little pang of sadness in my heart and I didn't even particularly like the little things.)

Here I thought that hermit crabs would be an easy pet.  No fur, not vet appointments, easy to care for, hearty.  Nope.  And while a smidge better than fish in the sense that the kids can "play" with them, they are a pain in the butt. Who knew a cheap pet from the beach would end up costing me like $50 to outfit.  When I went to the pet store to replace Caroline's the day we got back from the beach, I bought a bunch of stuff thinking it would be enough but when we went back to replace Piper's I was told by the "expert" all the additional stuff I needed.  Heat/UV lamp?  A salt water "pool?"  A bigger tank?  Oh c'mon!  But apparently they DO need all that stuff because we've lost 3 of them as they seem quite sensitive. I did have a sample of the salt water conditioner but ran out because the stupid store had run out too.  

Bryce and Piper, of course, want to get replacement ones and while part of me wants to oblige, the other part of me doesn't.  I feel like we're going to just keep on killing them.  Plus, they are a little messy because of the stuff on the bottom of their cage (sand and coconut shavings) and right now I don't need anything in my house causing an extra mess at the moment.  I told them that maybe we'll just see how Caroline's does and if hers dies we'll try again in the new house.  Maybe.

Of course this just brings me back to the fact that a dog or cat might be easier.  And then I'm reminded of all the vet bills associated with one of those.  I keep coming to the conclusion that we are just not meant to have animals in our house.  Let them live in the wild or other people's homes.

Meet the Fish

Caroline has been kind of lamenting the death of her old fish, Spikey, for a while now and when she was filling out a little online booklet the other day, I could sense that she was a little sad about not having a pet when it asked for the name of her pet. Especially when she put her dead fish's name as her pet. I figured, it was time to finally make good on my promise of getting her a new fish. I have a 10 gallon and 2 gallon tank in the basement from my fish days and thought I could just get the smaller one set up without problems. Well, that didn't quite work out because after setting it up, the water turned cloudy after running it and no fish were even in it!

So Caroline and I ventured to the pet store and I bought a new 2 gallon tank in preparation for getting their fish. She was so very excited, especially when I told her we could get 3 of them for the 3 kids in our family.

I was off on Thursday but had to run some errands in the morning, so I took the big kids to daycare/preschool (Caroline's last day!) and then picked them up at noon with the knowledge that we were going to get their fish. The new aquarium was all set up and ready for them, so the kids were a bit excited when we walked into the store.

I told them we were getting goldfish because I have a very lurid past with tropical fresh water fish and I'm just not ready to go back down that road again. So, they picked out some kind of fancy goldfish for themselves and I picked out this cute little goldfish hybrid for Piper. They were bouncing off the walls and I couldn't wait to get them home.

After the appropriate 15 minutes of setting the bag o' fish in the tank, we released the fish and the kids were thrilled to see them swimming in their new home. But the big news is their names. Caroline named hers "Stella," Bryce named his "Nick," and they wanted to name Piper's "Kelly" but I nixed that considering that we already have 2 Kellys in the family to keep straight and adding a Kelly the fish seemed a bit much. So Caroline settled on "Monkey" since Piper reminds her of a monkey. (That she does!)

They fed them and then went on their merry way. They get a little excited to feed them, but other than that, it's business as usual at our house. Personally, I thik the water looks a little cloudy again and I'm not sure if Monkey looks completely 100%. However, I must admit, I think I may have a touch of Fish Owner Munchausen syndrome. Back in my pre-kid days, I had a few tumultuous months with tropical fish. During my time with them, I owned every fish medicine and treatment that they sell. And yet, all my fish ended up dying. I have so many stories about my trials and tribulations of guppies and mollies. I got them all to reproduce like crazy, but I ended up killing them all. At the time we were still living on campus since I was a resident hall director and all my RAs thought it was hilarious and that I was crazy. I seriously was running to PetSmart at least once a week to buy something else for my "sick" fish. I was convinced I was killing them or maybe that they were sick and I needed to heal them. Fish vet, I was not!!!

We'll see how the 3 musketeers of the playroom fish tank do and how I manage to leave it alone as much as possible because I think with goldfish doing the minimum is all you need.

Tank with a View

Spikey, Caroline's betta, lives on a cabinet in our family room that has a few family photos on top. He spends most of his days and nights just swimming around and enjoys when someone remembers to feed him - usually Jason. Caroline still spends time talking to him and watching him, but it always makes me laugh because you will often go over to Spikey's tank and see something like the photo to the left. I guess she thinks he needs some stimulation and would like to see pictures of her beloved family members. The other day, she put her fake cat up there to keep him company and Jason told her he might be scared of cats. Somehow I don't think Spikey knows to be scared of cats. But at least he has something different to look at every now and then.

Christmas is Over

Well, the main thing we accomplished today was getting all of our Christmas decorations down AND put away!!! Jason tackled the outdoor and I went to work on the indoor as soon as the kids went down for naps. By the time Caroline woke up, Jason was wrestling the tree into the stowing bag and I was putting odds and ends into the various trunks and boxes. And by the time Bryce woke up, there were only a few closed boxes left. So there was no crying over the Christmas Little People as they went away or over the Wiggles Christmas DVDs being gone - they haven't really noticed their absence yet, I don't think. When Bryce came downstairs he kept saying, "Christmas over. Christmas over."

But there was bigger news around my house today for Caroline. After she accompanied me to Sam's Club, we went to the pet store to pick out her fish. This is a very big deal since she was promised a fish when she was finally night time potty trained. She has been day/naptime potty trained for about a year but the night time had been difficult for her. And in true Caroline fashion, I knew NOT to push her because she would do it when she was ready - just like day time potty training. Over the Christmas break she kept her pull up dry almost every night and then I mistakenly let her go to bed in underwear on New Year's Eve and after they were dry (and she was sooooooo proud) I told her she could continue. And after a week of dry mornings, I told her she was entitled to her promised fish. I had my sight set on a Betta already because they do not require filters and are fairly hearty. (That and the fact that in 2002-2003 I had a very traumatic time with mollies and platys where I think I got a bit of Munchausen syndrome with my fish and ended up killing them all multiple times. Don't believe me? When I went downstairs to check out what I had in my fish stash, I found 6 kinds of fish medicine and numerous other treatments.... I know, I shouldn't be allowed to have pets.)

Anyway, Caroline quickly picked out a lively blue crown tailed male and we were on our way after getting a little betta tank. And before we even got buckled into the car, he had a name - Spikey - or Spike for short. Spike made it home and had Bryce's finger stuck in his cup a few times before I got him into his new little tank. Here's Caroline with her beloved new pet, Spikey:


Then, the exciting news for us is that my dad arrived to start work on our tiled backsplash in the kitchen. This was a part of Jason's and my Christmas gift from my parents. We'd picked out the tile a few months ago and now it's getting started. He's got this awesome tile saw so it makes it much easier. He got the section behind my toaster/phone done (except for grouting which happens when it's ALL done) and I think it looks fab! I can't wait for the rest of it to be done and the grouting to be put in because now I know how great it's going to look. My dad is so talented!