School's out for summer! (I keep singing that and Chance has no frame of reference. Guess I need to play more Alice Cooper.) Chance's last day was last Thursday and May was absolutely packed with school events, last minute field trips, and productions. I also helped the librarian with the school's textbook inventory (4500 books! yikes!) so that took another chunk of time.  And a LOT of walking.  I think I was more ready for summer vacation than he was.

Naw, that's a lie. He was TOTALLY ready for summer. Sleep in! Sleep in!

Anywho, he's been on another kick of asking for babies, pets, and betas.  His best friend got a beta fish so he's dying to have his own, never mind that he already has two goldfish and an algae eater that, oh yeah, he never takes care of.  So the only word in my vocabulary right now is "no". It's very caveman-like, what with the grunting and the growls. 

But he's also been into bug collecting.  Roly polies, ants, snails. I view that as science in action as long as they don't get loose in the house. I've been trying to work on self-sufficiency skills with Chance, such as, instead of asking mom a million questions about bugs that she doesn't know, utilizing his new reading and writing skills on the Internet to do research. 

So what came up was the question… can regular garden snails be kept as pets?  You know what, they can! And I'm totally cool with that as his new pet!  We did some research and built a terrarium.  

A seven dollar storage box from Target and a lot of drilled holes later.

Terrarium 017

Add dirt, and compost or moss for moisture retention.

Terrarium 017

Terrarium 017

We learned that snails are social so it's best to keep two of them and to always give them a place to hide if they feel like it, like in an overturned pot.

Terrarium 017

We found out what they ate and the best way to give them water.

Terrarium 017

Get this… garden snails can live up to 15 years!  I know!  Let's see if these ones last the summer.

Terrarium 017

Summer science project complete! The best thing about this pet is we can run out to the garden for a new one if they kick it.  What?                       

      – the weirdgirl