Keep A Lobster In Your Tank

Lobsta in da house…
Remember the Miss’ lobster Bud?

He died. The other one initially didn’t, but then when we got what appeared to be fairly un-aggressive larger lobsters to replace the tiny one the Miss lost, Ka-Bluey got himself eaten. (Sometimes it IS the size of the dog in the fight…)

Rockstar didn’t mind that much, because that one was a real little meanie – ate all our goldfish and I got myself pinched hard a few times when we had to change tanks (that’s taking kindness for weakness for you – we didn’t want to leave him in the tank we were throwing away, didn’t want to use chopsticks to dig him out and maybe break him in two, so I used my fingers. And while it was still too small to draw blood, Wow That Is Just The Most @sshole Lobster I’ve Ever Met.)

So anyway now we have two larger red lobsters. And one of ’em appears to finally be aspiring to what I was hoping for, in getting the kids these creepy little things – every time we sit on the living room sofa next to the tank, Bud II emerges, waving his claws maniacally about.

It’s quite comical. There we have this little tank decorated with a cliff-side like what you might see in some Chinese-style painting…. and every time you sit next to it this 3-inch lobster emerges and starts crashing about (yes he climbs up the scenic mountainside as well.)

What he wants for his troubles is an algae tablet. Or 3.

Polly Want A Cracker?

Lobsters have a pretty good sense of smell, the moment food hits the water, they get pretty excited. Especially Waverly here. These two have been flourishing on the algae tablets I initially bought for an ornate species of sucking catfish (caveat: DON’T buy those, they die much easier than the regular ones) and unlike the cooked chicken meat some websites recommend you feed lobsters, the algae tablets don’t cloud the water. They’ve also been shedding their shells, much to the entertainment and education of the kids. (You’re supposed to leave the shells in the water, the lobsters will eventually finish eating their own shells, it’s apparently good nutrition for them.)

I like lobsters better than your regular terrapins, they don’t mess up the tank water as much (and yes I’ve also kept both lobsters and terrapins, pre-rockstars. As well as grown up with 8 dogs, 16 hamsters, an albino rat… And one of those ugly black bottom-feeding sucking catfish that would root about my fingers looking for food.) I have a point in there somewhere, it’s…. that the catfish could tell to whom the fingers belonged, and this kinda makes you look at critters differently. And I just finally found a lobster that does something like that too.

Why?

I believe all manner of living things have something to teach little kids. From when Rockstar asks if plants are aware of us, whether they communicate amongst themselves (why yes, a younger Rockstar asked if plants have their own language – d’you know the answer to that? 🙂 ), to the Miss always being gentle with animals (while not always being gentle with her brother or adult humans haha)…

(I’d still Crush Cockroaches though 🙂 recognise her?*)

*anyone out there still remember Singapore’s 1994 Masters of the Sea, where Margaret Chan delivers her most iconic line, “I’ll crush him like a cockroach”?

(Ok, cockroaches were around way back to annoy even the dinosaurs, so it’s not like you are doing this species any harm – not to mention they can smell fear. If you are terrified of them is when they will run or fly straight at you. So they are @ssholes. Them and mosquitos. Rockstar’s been reading the Maze Runner series and discussing biological weapons, and we were on the point about how one of the most devastating weapons would no longer be a bomb that produces a mushroom cloud; it would be mosquitos seeded with some new and terrible virus. You don’t have border control or radar or heat-seeking missiles for those.)

Anyway. It’s not just the dogs and the cats, it’s a lot of other animals. I don’t explain it well, but I’ll try:

recognise him?

I remember growing up hearing that Walt Disney, at the time penniless and lonely, befriended a mouse that lived in his garbage cans. When my mum first told me that, I must’ve been not much older than Rockstar. And I remember thinking, “sharing with that garbage mouse taught him something.” What was it?

We don’t have a name for it. But we’re keeping the lobsters.