Goodbye evil insect overlords!

We have finally said goodbye to our insectoid Eurycantha Calcurata pets after over a year of cleaning them out, feeding them brambles and scaring the children (as well as lots of adults).

Presents from my brother to our kids, they grew from nymphs a couple of inches long into fully grown adults almost as big as my hand. Unfortunately, we didn't really have the space for them, and they were a bit of a hassle to clean out.

Ideally, they needed a slightly bigger terrarium, with soil at the bottom. The downside to that is that they would have been better able to breed, and I'm not sure we were ready to take on more of the little monsters (also known at 'land lobsters' in some parts of the world).

I'm not the kind of person who will happily 'dispose' of pets when they get too troublesome. Even though they don't have a central nervous system (supposedly) and therefore don't feel pain – at least not in the way we understand it – I would feel bad about doing anything that would cause them harm. Plus, I was kind of attached to the little beasts.

Thankfully, my friend offered to take them off my hands. He's a primary school teacher and was enthused about the idea of having these critters in his classroom. They were, apparently, going to be a great biology teaching resource, and would live a happier life.

So, after a year of suffering at the hands of their original owners, these six-legged terrors are happily living out their final days in a large, warm terrarium with lots of good grub (strawberry plant leaves, no less).

Happy retirement, guys!