The Mantis Shrimp

After seeing the mantis shrimp on Saturday, I've been thinking that maybe we should get one.  It would go great in the Beach Shack.*  I guess John was thinking the same thing because we had this conversation last night.

John:  "I've been looking into getting a mantis shrimp."
Me:  "Really??  How much do they cost?"
John:  "Well, it's not the cost of the mantis shrimp that gets you, it's everything else."
Me:  "It needs a special tank, right?  Cause it can break the glass of a regular tank?"
John:  "Yeah, and you need chain mail gloves lined with Kevlar to clean it."
Me:  "Oh, I'm sure we have some of those in the garage."
John:  "And some of these retailers won't ship them.  You have to drive out to get it."
Me:  "To Florida?  really?......What do they eat?"
John: "The usual"
Me:  "You don't have to feed them things that are alive?"
John:  "Not like crickets or a rabbit but you could give them live mussels or something like that."
Me:  "Okay, but how much do they cost?
John: " Anywhere from $40 to $100. Depending on the type.  They're not all rainbow colored. Did you know that?"
Me: "But I want a rainbow colored one."
John:  "Cause they're pretty?"
Me: "Cause they're pretty......That's kinda pricey though.  What if it dies?!"
John:  "If it dies, we can eat it."
<silence>
Me:  "I can't believe you're going to eat Rosemary."
John: "Rosemary?  Really?......Rosemary with butter and garlic.....that works."



*We don't have a formal living room.  We turned it into the boys' play room with a beach theme hence "the beach shack"  We also have "baggage claim".  It's that strange area at the end of the hall that you walk through before going through the laundry room and into the garage.  Not sure how it got that name but for the longest time we didn't know what to call it and now we all do.