Most if not all will never learn to recognize you Most will pay no attention to you at all But these wild animal pets will let you see things about the way they live that are almost impossible to see in any other way They will continue to live their natural lives as long as you supply them with an appropriate environment You’ll be able to see the way a tiny freshwater animal called a hydra uses its tentacles to catch even tinier water animals animals You’ll see how a quarter-inch flatworm called a planaria planaria is able to regrow a new head a new tail or even two heads and two tails You’ll be able to watch how a tadpole changes and grows and finally develops into a frog You’ll see how a caterpillar spins a chrysalis and then undergoes an enormous change to emerge as a butterfly You’ll see the hermit crab carrying its home on its back as it scurries around in a jar of seawater seawater No these wild animals will never learn to recognize you But they will interest you in a thousand different ways A jar containing a wild pet is like a window to the world of nature Many of the animals you will read about in this book are easily found in a back yard a vacant lot a pond or at the seashore Some are more difficult to find and we’ll tell you where and how to look for them Some of the other animals can be bought at a pet shop All of the animals mentioned in this book are safe to keep Many wild animals are really not suited to be pets They need special care and a great deal of attention For this reason you shouldn’t collect just any animal you find
Any living thing that you take home with you becomes your responsibility Make sure that you will be able to feed it and house it properly Think about whether you have the time and the interest to care for it If you don’t want to care for an animal you should not collect it None of the animals you will read about in this book is threatened with extinction It goes without saying that you should neither collect nor purchase any threatened species species of animal You can get up-to-date information about endangered species from zoos and museums as well as from organizations such as the National Audubon Society and the World Wildlife Fund Never collect more animals than you can care for properly properly Leave any others where you find them If you want to try keeping a number of different kinds of wild pets keep a few for a short time and then release them in the same area or a similar one Never release an animal in a place where others of its kind are not already found Not only may it be harmed but it may also harm the animals in the area In many places around the world the introduction of a foreign animal has disrupted the lives of native animals When you go for a walk or a collecting trip observe the ways of the wild Think of how the animals live in their surroundings surroundings and how they depend upon the natural world for their survival Trying to provide similar surroundings for an animal in a jar in your home may help you to understand better what you see in the world around you
Collecting and Keeping Pets in a Jar When you go out on a collecting trip to a pond the seashore or even to a nearby park or vacant lot it makes sense to wear old clothing It’s also a good idea to cover your legs and arms to prevent insect bites or scratches from thorns or other plant parts A pair of old sneakers rounds out your collecting outfit for most places To wade into a pond you may want a pair of high boots in addition to the sneakers Take along a pencil and index cards to keep notes on the observations you make Jot down such items as the date the time the exact spot you catch the animal weather conditions temperature other animals and plants you see nearby and any other things you notice The notes will come in handy when you set up a jar for the animal in your home They’ll also help you to understand how an animal survives in its environment Depending upon the animals that you collect you can use many different kinds of containers to carry them home One of the best containers is a heavy plastic bag You can fill it with pond or ocean water and tie it closed with a rubber rubber band It has the advantages of being lightweight and at the same time of being almost unbreakable
