The Many Adventures of the Amazing Crockwell

Meet Crockwell.  He and Lizzie the Crab were purchased a few weeks ago as new additions to our fish tank (we have a large goldfish who tends to eat smaller fish, so we figured we had better get something that can fight him off).

A day or so after we got him, I had just turned lights off after tucking kids in and was headed back to my room.  I saw something large and brown right on the edge where the carpet meets the tile.  At first I thought it was a cockroach, though that struck me as odd, since it's the wrong time of year to find them inside, and I hadn't seen ones that large since we lived in New Orleans.  I sat there staring for a second, then realized it was a crab!  We put him back in the tank and filled the spots where it seemed like he could get out.

The next day I was taking a shower when Eliana ran in screaming, "Mom!! There's a baby tarantula in the house!!!"  I asked, "are you sure it's not a crab??"  She didn't dare check, so I told her to stay away from it while I finished my shower.  Sure enough, it was Crockwell.

We have since found him in a box of Legos, under the couch, in the tank filter and on the floor.  Eliana wrote and illustrated a great book about his adventures.  While she was writing it, she went to get another piece of paper and saw him on the floor!