Mice!!!

My class has been in need of a new pet. I have really been trying to figure out what we should have. We just read The Frog Princess and I thought about a frog but they eat crickets and I'm not sure that I would be real good about that. I don't want to feed one pet something that could also be a pet. I've talked to people about this before and they reassure me that crickets would not make good pets but I'm not so sure about that.

The one teacher at school rescued a large amount of tadpoles. Some of them are now officially frogs and because I allowed her to use my aquarium, rocks, water and treatment, I'm allowed to have some. The only problem with this is she doesn't know what they eat. We are pretty sure that they are tree frogs of some sort because they live in the trees outside but we have only seen really big ones outside never young ones. They have been eating the algae in the tank but it just seems like they will be needing more than that soon. I'd really like to have one of them but I'm nervous about getting a pet that no one can tell me how to care for and what if they get bigger and need crickets. I'm just going to visit them in the other classroom for now.

The kids in my class really want a rabbit. I've never been a real fan of rabbits. They are cute and seem like they would be cool and all but I'd rather have a cat than a rabbit. One of the other teachers at my school has a rabbit and it's cage takes up a lot of room. They will just have to hope that they get her for a teacher in the future.

I would love to have a dog that I could have in school. It would come home with me at night and spend the day in the classroom. It would have to be a dog that was comfortable with children but I'm sure that I could find a Lab that could do that. Maybe adopt a dog that failed out of seeing eye dog school or police doggy training but one that would still be a great pet to have. I had a principal once that loved the idea and even said that she would by the dog for me. The problem was that I couldn't take it home with me and that wouldn't have worked out. That would've been cool.

I love my fish tank. Well as much as you can love fish that you don't eat. I haven't even let the kids name the fish because fish don't last long even though we have had these fish since August. I think that the females are pregnant but I can't be sure. It's so hard to tell if they are just fat of pregnant. The only way to tell is to see if there are any babies that didn't get eaten. I love to watch them swim or eat but that's really all that you do with them.

I have thought about mice for some time. I've always liked pet mice but it's always been weird. They used to live in my house but they were not invited. That is what happens when you live in the country. They would occasionally scare us but that would be it. My mom would not even consider one for a pet so we didn't really ask for one. One of the teachers at school has one, the same one with the frogs, and it seems like an easy pet to have but still fun to watch.

I went to the pet store today and looked at the pets that they have. I like the idea of a rat because it's big but they were scary looking and I didn't think that I could get over that. Maybe if they had something other than an albino. The guinea pigs seemed cute but I know that they bite. They had ferrets but they smell bad and I wouldn't consider them a classroom pet. The mice were the only ones that I liked.

I decided that I would get them and found someone to talk to about them. I like information to make sure that I can take care of them before they are my responsibility. The man I talked to showed me some cages, bedding, food and the wood so that they can chew. The one cage he showed me was a breast cancer awareness one and it was all pink. I wanted that one of course. I got my supplies, got my mice, two females, and I left.

The mice are put in these little cardboard boxes not too unlike Chinese food. I had to assemble the mouse cage and did all of that. I even read the direction to make sure that I was doing it correctly. It took a little while but I had it all together. Mr. Husband came home at the end of the assembly production. He didn't know that I would be bringing home a new pet that day and was surprised to find little boxes with mammals in them.

I put the mice in which was a little traumatic because I had to pick them up to do it but they were in and we were all watching them. The kids walked off and suddenly the one mouse crawled right out the side of the cage. Now this mouse cage, or should I write "mouse" cage, had bars on the side. I was a little nervous about this having grown up with rouge mice knowing that they can squeeze through very tiny spaces but the man at the store assured me that this was in fact for a mouse and it would not get out. He was so very, very wrong. It was luck that I was watching or the cat would have had a great snack. I caught it by the tail and put them back in the box.

After dinner #1 and I went back to the store and got a real mice cage that did not have bars on it but was made of molded plastic. The woman that helped me return it was not surprised that they had escaped because it's not a cage for mice and seemed surprised that someone who worked there had told me that it was. She didn't give me any problem with returning it so I was happy.

The mice are now safely in their new home. They seem to like it. They are running around in their wheel and eating their food.

The cat didn't notice them for some time but was pretty determined to break into the cage. The mice will be spending the night in my bathroom. Bella doesn't come in our room at night and the mice are in the bathroom so the wheel won't keep us awake. I sure that Bella will be sad when they go to my classroom.

I don't know if I will keep them as pets after the school year is over. If I grow bored of them or find that I really don't like them, I may just let a student adopt them at the end of the year. This is what I did with my fish at the end of last school year. It helps with the whole having to take care of a pet over the summer thing. Bella is a cat and that's totally different. We will have to see how I feel about the mice then.