ROSALINDA

MEET OUR NEW PET ROSIE....

Just in time for Halloween

One of our sons came home from school on Wednesday with a Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula. The science expo at my sons school was selling Frogs, Snakes, Spiders, Fish, etc... When my son came home Tuesday he was BEGGING for one. I said no to the Snakes, Hermit Crabs, Frogs, but I signed off on the Tarantula.

My son used his own money, and paid $25 for it and its 'habitat'. We went straight to the pet store after school to get her food, which happens to be live crickets. I learned RIGHT AWAY that the 'habitat' they supplied him with was way too small (of course it was) and we had to now buy her a big glass aquarium. How do I know it's a 'her' you ask?

Well, Rosie came with an egg next to her. The Pet Store people asked me if I wanted to keep the egg. They were overcome with excitement when they saw it. I said NO, I don't want ANOTHER Tarantula. And they said "Ohhhh, no, (smiling) there's not one baby in there. When it hatches at least ONE HUNDRED Tarantulas come out"....

The male and female clerk were both begging to keep it and take it home to hatch it themselves. I said GO FOR IT.

So we got the glass aquarium, filled it with a soft moss/bark kind of fiber, put a little fake plant in the corner for her, a small bowl for drinking water (which I NOW HAVE TO CHANGE DAILY because my son is too scared to put his hand in the cage with her) and a rock-like hut for a home. We then moved her from her plastic tupperware bowl to her new habitat. NOW it was time to feed her.

The clerk said they eat only once a week (YEA FOR ME!) and you need to feed her three live crickets. So we got to watch her eat her first meal, there at the checkout counter.

That is when my feelings about tarantulas changed a bit. I have never been scared of spiders, or these in particular either, but after seeing her lift her front legs and pounce on that cricket and stick her two big fangs into it, I have a little trepidation now about Rosie.
Or maybe should I say respect.

Which wasn't helped by the following comment by the clerk: "Oh, and did you know they can jump STRAIGHT UP IN THE AIR five feet?"
No, I did not know that and neither did my son. Thank you for now making him completely frightened of his new pet.

The last comment --as we finished paying (for this science expo pet that turned into a costly family member within one hour) and were heading out the door --she said to me was....and she was smiling, because she thought that this bit of information was GREAT..... "Oh, and did anyone tell you how long tarantulas live?? The males don't live as long as the females, and you're so lucky you have a female, because they live on average 10 years but can live up to twenty!"

WOO-HOO! LUCKY US! 

But if you're a mom whose kids bring home pets, you really know it's

 LUCKY ME!

Leaving the pet store on Wednesday