I teach first and was thinking about getting a hermit crab for this school year. Do any of you have any advice or a letter that you send home to parents about sending the pet home on weekends? Thanks!
Hermit crabs die easily. They are not easy to care for. And, they smell very bad.
I don't know if this will totally creep you out, but tarantulas are FABULOUS classroom pets. Dept. of Health for Schools even recommends them! I know, I have one!
I teach fifth. I have a guinea pig named Patches who is just plain awesome. He is gentle and quiet. He sits on the kids' desks during silent reading. They love him. However, he is messy. The kids clean the cage once a week. I make them come in before school because it is a fifteen minute project. When they hold him or have him at their desk they set him on an old towel. He will poop. All they have to do is shake the towel into the garbage.
I had a gecko before this. He was okay. The kids thought he was cool. But as with all reptiles, we had be extra careful about hand washing. The teacher next door to me had hermit crabs. I don't think they made the school year.
Class pets are a wonderful bonding experiences for a class. However, they can be time consuming and distracting. I love ours and can't imagine class without him.
I loved having rodents in my classroom -- what a funnny statement.
We have had guinea pigs, mice, hamsters, gerbils. The best were the mice and the gerbils -- however the kids could interact more with the pigs.
Be sure you have a great cage. By last year my cage was wearing out and we had escapes every so often by an intelligent gerbil. Luckily he never got lost....just hidden for a bit.
It was pretty cool and I kept the plant top/root idea so I didn't have to worry about weekends and breaks. He lasted almost two years--the kids voted for a name and we were evenly divided between Fred and Fish (real original, I know) so we named him Frederick Ichabod Samuel Harris so his real name was Fred and his initials were Fish!
This year my class had a 30 gallon fish tank, rabbit, hermit crab, and a scorpion. Someone gave us the rabbit (BunBun) when she was just a baby. The kids handled her all the time and she wandered the classroom a lot. BunBun was litter box trained and very rarely had accidents while outside her cage. Rabbits are a lot of work, but my students were completely in charge of caring for her. I really saw my struggling students along with one of my socially awkward students benefit from spending time with her.
We named our first hermit crab "Mr. Crabs" and he lived for a few months. Not sure why he died...then he was replaced with Ms. Crabs who lived for about six or seven months. She died the day after I brought her home for summer vacation. Once again, students were completely in charge of caring for the crabs and they did a great job. I never noticed a strong "stinky" smell.
The scorpion was named "Venny" by the students. I purchased him at Petco after the class decided that was what they wanted for their Christmas present. He does have a stinger but his sting is only that of a bee. Of course, one never knows how a person may react to scorpion venom so there were strict rules and procedures in place for the students who took care of him.
In the past I've also had a spider and ginuea pigs. I considered getting millipedes for Christmas but the students voted for the scorpion. I think classroom pets are great for all students and caring for them adds to the feeling of community and responsibility to that community. You should check out your local pet store and see what they have to offer. Choose something that you are comfortable with and that you feel comfortable letting your children care for.
I like my hermit crab! I've had guinea pigs (the janitors complained about them stinking), fish (kept dieing), mice (too noisy), and turtles (too high-maintenance). The hermit crabs are easy because the kids can take care of them, they love them, and they're easy to carry home on the bus on weekends!
I have a letter and care sheets I send home to parents - I'll attach them for you.
Last edited by SusanTeach; 06-09-2007 at 05:47 PM..
Reason: editing
I would just suggest that you be careful about "furry" pets..there are many kids out there will allergies! I taught third grade with a teacher who had two guinea pigs (in a kid's plastic pool) in her classroom and I always had the students who were allergic in my room!
I've had just about every class pet you can imagine and I like guinea pigs the best. The only thing is that it made me sneeze so I gave it away at the end of the year. :-( It was so sweet though, really adorable and enjoyed the kids holding her and feeder her. We even gave her baths!! :-) I've had hermit crabs and while the kids loved them, the cage was a pain to clean. The sand gets moldy and smelly fast and you have to clean it often to prevent that from happening.
My suggestion: What about having chicks? You can get your local 4H to give you eggs and then put them in an incubator. After they hatch the kids can chart their growth for awhile and then you can send them to a farm! Temporary and a great learning project!
I researched these at one time and I knew I wouldn't have the patience to care for them. I keep plants b/c I seem to have a green thumb and they are low maintenance!
I had hermit crabs growing up and was always freaked out when they died. They crawl out of their shells to die. Ew! Next year I plan on having a fish tank. The kids will vote on which fish to add and a student job can be to feed them everyday. Plus, I don't have to take them home during breaks, just have to buy an extended feeder.
Over the years, I've had 2 different sets of white mice, a gerbil, a hamster, a chinchilla (gift from a student) and my beloved guinea pig, Tigger.
Tigger died at the advanced age of 6 last December. She was such an awesome pet. She used to go home with the kids on the weekends. I still miss her. Tigger would squeak when anyone came to her cage- we learned that the janitor was giving her carrots for sqeaking at him, so she learned fast that squeaking meant yummies!
The parents signed up for a weekend at open house, & picked Tigger & cage up on Friday afternoons. A bag of food & instructions went along with them.
I've never had any one with pet allergy issues in my class.
I used to have hermit crabs as pets when I was a kid. The things I hated most about them was the icky scratching sound they make on the rocks (I'd try sand maybe next time). Also, their bowl or whatever has to be kept wet all the time, so I had problems with mosquitos. I also lived in Louisiana at the time and it was summer.
Thanks for posting this, though. I'd like to have a class pet next year and now I've gotten some pretty good ideas.
06-09-2007, 10:36 AM
Once again, students were completely in charge of caring for the crabs and they did a great job. I never noticed a strong "stinky" smell.
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