I’ve defeated the pet ants I told you about in my last post.  No, I didn’t find a solution to keeping the pests at bay like a new spray or trap, but I did use my superior intellect and cunning to keep Joey from attracting and nurturing pet ants.  Some people might call what I’ve done giving in, but getting the kid a real pet will hopefully prevent the capture, feeding and hiding of insects (including but not limited to ants, slugs, moths, caterpillars and potato bugs) inside of my home.

This weekend, while we were at the beach, we stopped and purchased three hermit crabs:

Apparently, hermit crabs, when given the proper living environment, can live for 15 to 40 years.  So far, I’m happy that these three have survived since Saturday.  From my research, these pets are clean and relatively easy to care for…we’re following some simple tips like having the more than one crab (apparently they are social creatures and live longer in pair and groups), giving them a few larger empty shells in case they want to switch, providing driftwood for climbing, and sand for digging.  The information also said that these pets like to be walked and allowed to roam around on occasion, so the kids are excited that they can race the crabs and walk them outside.  However, I told them we should let them get used to their new home before we start racing them in the driveway.

As a child, we had two hermit crabs, and from what I can remember they lived for a couple years.  One even escaped while we were on vacation and we didn’t find it for two weeks after we returned.  The crab apparently lived off of dust and lint from behind the dryer during his time out of the cage.  With the fabulous accommodations we’ve given our new crabs, they’ve got to live a while.

Just wish me luck…if these things die, I’ll most likely be coerced into buying a larger animal.  Just look how attached Joey is already…he was singing them to sleep on Saturday (the cage he has them in was just for transportation purposes):

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