The Fish Murderess

My fish are all staring at me as I sit here on the couch- they are all looking at me accusingly with their little fishy eyes.  

And every time I get up, they all swim and hide as fast as they can.  You see, they know that I murdered one of their fishy friends.  I didn't mean to, honestly.  I take good care of them.  I was cleaning the tank and one of the coral pieces shifted.  I didn't pay attention to it.  The next day the fish were acting kind of weird- giving me the "hey lady look" and everything.  All of a sudden I noticed one of the fish swimming  to nowhere under one of the coral pieces.  I quickly reached in and lifted it up, and he swam away, but it was too late- he was pretty flat in the middle.  

Then he disappeared for a day, and I started to think that maybe he plumped up again and was doing fine.  But the fish all kept giving me the "hey lady look" so I did what anyone would do- made my kid scoop out the dead fish with the net.  Yup, I made my kid do the dirty work- I am so not making mom of the year this year! 

hermit crabs and visa cards

We were at Tarpon Springs being tourists the other day, looking through the kitchy stuff in all of the gift shops, when my daughter came across hermit crabs.  They were selling a little plastic case with one crab, a shell, sponge and food for 15 dollars.  My daughter wanted to spend her own money to get it and caught me at a weak moment, so I let her.  I mean, come on, she is so cute, how could I say no to this face?! 
I have always heard that if your kid wants a pet, you should make them read two books about it, and do a report before you let them get it.  As I said, she caught me in a moment of weakness, and how hard can it be to take care of one little crab? 

When we got home, I googled hermit crabs and I was shocked at how much more they need.  I am surprised it is even legal to sell them by themselves in those little cages!  First of all, they need to live with other hermit crabs- not alone such as the name "hermit crabs" would suggest. Second of all, they need to be in a 10 gallon tank with three inches of moist sand to dig in- humidity is key.  Thirdly, the whole painted shell thing?  Bad.  They should be in natural shells, of which they like to have a few to roll around in the sand and pick from.  The other important things I found out are, if they molt, you must not touch it, but take the others away from it for a few days, or cut the top portion off a two liter bottle and place over it as protection from the other crabs.  They like fruits and vegetables and even cereal to nibble, not just those horrible smelling pellets.  And, the coolest part of all, they switch shells whenever they want to, not just when they are molting. 
So, yesterday my daughter, the crab in the painted Dora shell named Tom, and I went to the pet store to pick out the supplies we needed:
Coconut husks- to mix in with sand to keep moist
Climbing material- for Tom and friends to climb on
2 new friends for Tom
Salt water drops- for one water dish
De-chlorination drops- for the other water dish
Calcium starfish- to help the shell harden after a molt
Spongy beach balls- to help tank stay moist, and in case the little crabbies want to strike up a game of sand volleyball
Hollow Log- for them to relax under
We already had a ten gallon tank, seashells from the beach that we boiled, and a bag of playground sand from WalMart (thanks to Gran!)
So, the moral of the story is that unless you want a 15 dollar crab to turn into a 50 dollar commitment and a mad scramble for supplies, make your kid read the two books and do the report BEFORE you get suckered into a new pet!

tourists and powdered sugar cookies

Today I was a tourist.  I drove to Tarpon Springs with my daughter, walked around all the shops, the sponge docks and had a Greek lunch.  I have always loved Tarpon Springs, not only because of the traditional sponge diving tour you can take, and the yearly dive for the cross during epiphany, but also because of all the kitchy stuff you can find in the gift shops, like alligator heads, Florida t-shirts, name keychains, evil eye pendants, sponges, olive oil soaps and seashells.  We had a delicious lunch of chicken souvlaki and flaming cheese, OPA!, and a cheeseburger and fries (um, how Greek!)  We got sunburned walking around browsing, and bought goodies to bring home from the bakery.  I bought some of those lovely powdered sugar cookies, and ate one in the car while I was driving home with the air conditioner on, and was covered in powdered sugar and sticky for the rest of the drive. It may have been one of the best cookies I have ever had in my life.  We also got a new pet there, which I will discuss in a whole other post.  Needless to say, we did not read two books about how to care for this pet before riding home in the car with it, and I think I got suckered in to a little more than I bargained for.