Sad News...

or at least there will be soon (hopefully!).

ooohhh -- hopefully? sad news? Those things don't go together! I know, I know... ;)

I think I am parting with the Java Finches. Which will be sad news when I break it to my students! :S.They really HAVE been great pets! They are fun to watch, neat to listen too, not to noisy, not too distracting ...But we are moving. And I am tired of cleaning their cage :S.

My kids have grown so used to them that they hardly pay any attention to them anymore -- which makes keeping up with them less and less worth it! And, with our own birddie to clean up after at home, and the time commitment of moving into a new house in the middle of the school year and parent teacher conferences (woo - whole 'nother post there!), it is simply not worth it to me to keep up with the finches.

I still think pets are important for kids. I am still on the quest for the perfect class pet. I'll find it, just you watch....

Pro's about the finches:
    neat to watch
    awesome to listen too
    not too distracting
    not to messy or smelly
    not very expensive to upkeep (just buy them seed!)

Con's about the finches:
   -I hate cleaning their cage! When I clean my cockatiel's cage I can get her out and really clean her cage good. The finches are not hand tamed, so they have to stay in the cage at all times which makes it a lot harder to clean! Also, there are 3 of them as opposed to my one cocketiel. More birds = more poop.

  - The kids can't interact with them. Because they finches have to stay in the cage, the kids don't get to hold or touch. The kids do occasionally poor their seed in for me or change the water, but that's it. 4th graders need to touch and feel and handle - otherwise you loose their attention. Sooo, the birds were super cool for a while, but now they are a bit "old hat".

  - Feathers! My female is losing feathers and I can't figure out why! There is nothing wrong with her that the vet can tell, so it is probably just stress. I would be stressed too if I was constantly in a cage with two males and surrounded by 4th graders ... so, go figure. It could also be that she is wanting to breed and pulling out her feathers to try to build a nest. If that is the reason, she isn't doing a very good job since her feathers end up all over everything and not at all looking like a nest .... a good bird owner would probably give her a nesting box and nesting material to see if that works, but I am not ready to handle baby birds in a 4th grade classroom ... another reason to send them to live in a new home!

  Long story short, with a move coming up, feeling mean about not being able to help the female, the kids not caring tooo much about the birds, the dislike I have for cleaning their cage ... the con's simply outweigh the pro's. So, off to a new home they will *hopefully* go - sooner rather than later!

    Next year I'll be, once again, on the search for the perfect class pet! Because animals really are important for kids!!

                           ................you have any brilliant ideas?!?!