Meet Lightning and Jake. The newest additions to our classroom. Well, you can really only see one of them, the one hiding in the fake tree. The other one has barricaded itself in the little tiki-hut in the corner. I have yet to see him move. I would think he's dead, but the kids swear they've seen him scuttle back and forth inside the hut.
One of my kid's parents decided that our class needed a new pet (apparently the fish isn't enough of a pet...) and she asked if she could bring in some hermit crabs. Her son was so excited about it, I couldn't say no. But the truth is, I'm a little bit scared of the crabs.
It's one of those irrational fears. Anything with pincers makes me nervous. I was trying to change it's food this morning and had to give myself a pep talk to get my hand into the tank. And when my hand brushed the sponge (and I thought it was one of the crabs) I literally almost cried.
I'm also scared they might die on me. I mean, I don't exactly have a stellar track record with our classroom pets. The fish we have now is the only survivor of the six fish I have tried to keep as class pets. And I have absolutely no idea how to care for a couple of crabs. I don't know how much food they need, how much water they like, how often I have to change the rocks in the tank or what to do if they start molting. I tried doing a bit of research last night, but the pictures grossed me out and they made crabs sound pretty high maintenance. Let's be honest, if I couldn't even keep my hand inside long enough to change the food supply, am I really going to be able to handle them shedding the entirety of their skin??
Fortunately, I've been informed that these crabs don't really have a long life, so if they don't make it, no one can really blame me. And the mom has offered to get new ones every time one of them dies. Secretly, I was hoping that after they died, I could be done raising crabs, but I guess I'm not so lucky. I'll just have to get used to the fact that one of my worst fears is now living inside my classroom.
bahahaha! I totally had a hermit crab as a kid-- they're not going to get you with their pincers. They're scared of your big ol' hand coming down into your cage, and chances are even if you picked them up (by the shell) they would stay tucked inside. They're kind of pansies :)
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