Those are YOUR children.

Every-so-often, when our children begin to show certain traits, my wife and I will play the 'You know, YOUR child is very strange' game with each other.  I'm sure we aren't the only parents to do this....and yes, it always said with love.  Or at least usually.

Today was Day 8 at the house, which meant it was time to feed Gloria, our free corn snake. When I came home from work, before having dinner I removed a frozen mouse from the freezer, and began thawing it in the bathroom sink.  I recommend that if you are going to thaw a mouse in the sink, EVEN if you have it in a sealed plastic baggie, you should probably warn your wife before she goes into use the bathroom.  So, I already started out on strike 1....

After dinner, I changed the water out a few more times, trying to bring the mouse up to the 95-100 degree range.  Feeding itself is simple...we have a little pair of tongs, and using those I lower the mouse in the tank, shake it a few times, and Whammo!  The girls are usually fascinated by this, and I have been trying to work with Gloria, bringing her more out in the open before I let her strike the mouse.  Today went great, and she nabbed the mouse right at the front of the tank, so the kids had a great view of the whole process.

 

SWMBO walked by about halfway through this process, took one look in the cage, and walked away, gagging.  She did manage to get out 'Those are YOUR children' before heading out the door to the grocery store.  

I'm glad my kids are interested, and had not expected this level of blood-thirsty savagery from my little darlings.  For the life of me, I never expected I would have to say: 'You too stop pushing in front of the snake cage, or next week, I won't let you watch!'

Both of them are already begging to get to dangle the mouse in the cage...looks like I have something new(and unique) to leverage good behavior out of them.