The other day my youngest and I were getting some much needed outdoor air and play time when we happened upon a huge worm; I believe it’s a night crawler but who am I to distinguish which worms are what. The only thing I knew is that this was one large worm.
My five year old son quickly went to grab a container for his worm friend. I assumed this would be like any other outdoor thing we find; he places it in a container, walks around with it for a while but then we let it go or it dies. Boy was I wrong!
My son took that worm and it’s container out back with a shovel to dig some dirt; after all this worm needed dirt. Next thing I know my son is saying how this is his new pet and wants to know what worms eat so he can take good care of it. That’s when I, being the good Mama I am, Googled “what do worms eat”. We found out that worms eat a variety of things; mostly organic items from cardboard to egg shells as well as vegetable and fruit peels. Worms basically eat anything up that can be digested into the ground; such as dead leaves. My son was so excited because we have a lot of dead leaves in our yard.
Once the worm had his own home all set up and ready to be my son’s pet; he decided this worm must have a name. All pets have a name. The worm was then dubbed Wormie Lee Smokey. The name stuck and in order to ensure everyone on the planet knew this worms name, he had it written on a piece of tape and taped to the cover of Wormie’s home.
Wormie proceeded to go to the playground and had a blast sliding down the slide with my son and alone. My son exclaimed “Wormie loves sliding!” Wormie ran all around with my son at the playground as if this worm was indeed his best friend and pet that follows him everywhere. Then it happened, my son’s Dad arrived to pick up the boys.
Yes. You got it! Wormie Lee Smokey went to sleep for the weekend with my sons at their Dads house. After all, this is his pet and he must take good care of it. After the weekend sleep over, Wormie returned to our home and here he sits in his home container, in a dark area away from too much moisture to be my son’s forever {until Wormie dies} pet.
The good news? It’s easy to replace a worm!
Wormie Lee Smokey had a sleepover. hahahahhaa
You’re fun to let him keep it, and encourage its care. When my daughter collected baby frogs (years ago) and put them in her baby playpen I told her they had to stay outside and as far away from mama as possible. đŸ˜‰