A mouse for $45

Mika first wanted a puppy. I said no – puppies do not come potty trained, and I am /not/ dealing with a non-potty trained animal in my house. Then she wanted a kitty. We already have one, Syria (her brother, Jordan, passed away last summer), but I wouldn’t mind another one. Kitties are cute and playful, and if they are anything like our other cats, incredibly nice. Of course, chances are we could get a psycho-cat instead. In any case, I wasn’t against it, it was just a matter of having the time to go get it.
But before we could get it, Michaela got into her mind the idea that she wanted to have a mouse instead. Well, she started asking for a hamster – just like every other kid in the world – but I suggested that hamsters were not very nice, and perhaps she could get a mouse instead. Of course – mice are smaller and therefore cuter than hamsters, so she was all over that idea. She’s been saving her money, since I started selling all sorts of baby & toddler stuff we no longer need and giving her the proceeds. So a mouse it was.
We went to buy it yesterday morning. I had been thinking of getting her a feeder mouse, but apparently they don’t sell those at Petsmart, so she ended up getting a very cute, gray “fancy” mouse. Apparently “fancy” mice are handled more, which is a good thing, as she has pretty much held it since she got it yesterday morning. The mouse was $6 or $7, more than I’d think a mouse would be worth, but they do keep them alone, in their own little habitat, so at least it doesn’t come from a particularly stressed environment.
But then came the “stuff” to get for the mouse. A simple cage/habitat was $25 ($28 for the same one in pink, but it’s a boy mouse, so Mika was OK with the colorful cage) with food & bedding (and mouse), the whole thing came up to about $45. Yes, for a mouse. I’m happy it’s not officially my money 😉

Of course, the kids are not satisfied, and now they would love to get the mouse its own carriage. It would be cute.
The kids have been in fifth (or it sixth? seventh?) heaven since they got the mouse. They’ve hugged us and thanked us countless times. They’ve played with it, given him toys (a My littlest petshop carrier became a little house for the mouse – I wish I’d had the camera, it was that cute) and just held him. I’m hoping this will last longer than the fish they’d had before (who never made it past two days).