Over the years, the kids have acquired a number of "pets", all in a vain attempt to make up for the fact that we couldn't have any actual pets. (See blue skink above.)
Daddy is allergic to everything but dogs, and most places we've lived have had a no pet policy.
So the kids have had to make due with all the natural "pets" that stray into our yard.
The toads this year seem to have sparked a revolution, however.
No longer content to just sit and look, or maybe briefly hold these visitors, they wanted something they could call their own and care for. And Wudgie didn't count.
So after Bub did some serious research, we finally decided they could earn up to buy some fancy mice.
We're all quite taken with them and their cute little selves.
Some more than others of course.
After a lot of thinking, they've all been named: the white one is Nimbus, the black one is Black Knight (I affectionately call him K.I.T.), and the grey one is Chinchilla. (This was after the kids threw out all of our really good name ideas, names from: Barbie & The Three Musketeers, Rescue Heroes, Harry Potter, My Little Pony, or Disney Princesses. I don't know what their problem was.)
Other than Wudgie standing at their cage and hugging the glass until he finally whines to eat them, the kids have been very good with these fragile little pets. They keep us entertained too.
The only drawback is that they only live a year or two--I can already see the backyard, full of tiny little graves...
6 comments:
You forgot to mention that the older girls started a pet sitting business (along with some friends). That meant that the parents started a courier service. They meant they got to "test drive" some mice before deciding on them. I was a skeptic at first, but have been convinced. They're pretty fun to watch, especially the white one who seems to be training for a marathon on the wheel.
The only way we got my kids to quit begging for a pet was when we pointed out that THEY would be cleaning up all the poop. And all animals pooped. Now,my kids keep collecting different insects as pets. I loved listening to them "train the grasshopper to jump".
You didn't need to save up to buy some mice. You could have had some of mine for free. Of course they are often stuck to those sticky traps, and Curtis accidently squished the last one he caught. He cornered it in the bathroom and brought down the edge of the overturned tupperware container on its body instead of around it. (Hmm...it almost sounds like Clue: "in the bathroom with the tupperware".) Ok, maybe my mice wouldn't make the best pets, but they are free for the taking--assuming you can catch them.
Vicky brings up a valid point--we have a number of our own little not-so-tame mice in the basement, some of whom have met an ignominious end on a sticky-trap. I've gone to the snap-traps, though, because I cannot stand the thought of them sitting there suffering to death on the sticky ones. At least they die real quick in the snaps...
oh, you're very nice to treat mice so civilizedly--after having that wild kind IN my house, and reading up on them, I pretty much determined they exist ONLY for the good of animal testing---it is funny how kids like to crack that "no pet" policy! We now have a(n outdoor) cat (don't worry, she likes mice, but doesn't like to travel!)
Wow, a turtle would be really cool to see in the wild. I'll have to show my kids, they'll be jealous.
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