Friday, September 12, 2008

Guess Our Pet Part 2!

I was really happy to see such creative responses from many of you! But sadly...none of you were right. It was a tough one. If any of you know us (namely, my hubby) then you would know that we would not get a "normal" pet. He is pretty much against owning anything else that we would need to feed, water, and care for. Don't get me wrong, he loves animals but, not necessarily in our home. So, we had to think outside of the box. Here's the story...
The kids and I were outside and we were playing in the front yard when we noticed a ton of crickets hopping all over the place. We mentioned it to Kent and he said "yeah, why don't you catch one for a pet!" I think he meant to be sarcastic but, I thought it was a great idea! And that's what we did. The kids were sooooo excited to have their own pet. So, we went and did a little research to find out how to keep them alive (ie, food, water, etc...) and now we have our very own......CRICKET! Tom the Cricket (that's his full name). Here is Tom in his new home (you can't see him but, he is happy!)
We found out that eat various fruits, veggies and grains.
We also learned to soak a cotton swab in water for them to drink
so they don't drown. Interesting, huh?

Here the kids are holding their new friend. They don't seem to care that they can't really pet him or play with him. They love that they can just look at him and help me give him new food and cotton swabs.

Here they are observing.

This is what we caught him in.

I'm actually enjoying having the little guy around. ;) Our research said that crickets were supposed to be noctunal but, every time I peek at him during the day, he's on his food, or hopping around. Then I decided maybe I should move him out of the light. This morning the kids said good morning to him and we check on him throughout the day. We also drew pictures of him yesterday. K wanted to know how many legs he had. I said, I thought it was 6 but, just for fun he drew 10.

Maybe next year we can graduate to one of those sugar gliders! ;)


5 comments:

bethany said...

What a great idea! The kids can learn about crickets, and they can enjoy having a "pet," even if they can't play with him. :)

What does Kent think?

Casey said...

haha! that's awesome! low-maintenance is the best!

Circular Logic said...

I still think you should get a rat :P

Amanda @ notsoextraordinary said...

that's a cute pet! haha the only time we ever caught crickets when i was little was when we had a praying mantis, and they were food for him! we caught like 20 in one day once and made the mistake of putting them all in with the mantis at once. the mantis died from overconsumption haha! i know that shouldn't be funny, but it kind of is...

dave said...

Perhaps this will be a great chance to read your kids A Cricket In Times Square. This book is one of my childhood favorites. I don't really remember much about it other than they needed to feed the cricket mulberry leaves. I'm afraid to re-read it because it might destroy the magic, but it might recreate it. Hmmm...magic...