Keeping Pets in a Jar (For Kids)

Keeping small creatures at home in a jar can provide kids with a little window into the workings of nature. While dogs and cats, being domesticated, are responsive to humans and in many ways live like them, other kinds of pets exist in an environment much like their outdoor one (albeit not nearly as large) and tend not to acknowledge us at all. The contained world that we provide for them can be like a microcosm of the wild.

Before they collect any little animals, it's a good idea for kids to prepare the jars that they will keep them in beforehand. An ideal container is a one-gallon wide-mouthed glass jar. If none are readily available in your home, you should be able to obtain an empty one from a restaurant (many use them for bulk condiments). This jar should be cleaned with soap and a brush and then thoroughly rinsed. Even trace amounts of soap or detergent can be deadly, especially for water bugs and amphibians.

If they will be using tap water for pond or stream creatures, it should be allowed to sit for a day or more so that the chlorine in it can evaporate. Nylon mesh (for example, from a nylon stocking) or metal screens make ideal covers for the jar, preventing animals from escaping while allowing air in.

If the jar will contain soil, it should be slightly moist but not so much that it becomes soggy. Earthworms can drown in pools of water that collect on the bottom. Too much water also promotes the growth of mold and thus spoils the soil.

If saltwater will be used, mark the water level the first time the jar is filled. Water will slowly evaporate, leaving salt behind. To keep the salt level consistent, add fresh water (which has been allowed to sit) every few days so that it comes back up to where you marked.

Generally speaking, kids should try to keep their little pets under the same conditions in which they found them. When they go out hunting for the animals, they can bring along a journal to log the location and time that they were caught, and perhaps a thermometer so they can record soil or water temperatures. Depending on what kinds of creatures they will be looking for, they may also need a plastic bucket or pail, a net, and a small spade or shovel.

It's important that kids understand that anything they catch out in the wild and bring home becomes their responsibility. They should seriously consider, ahead of time, whether they have the time and sincere interest to care for their intended pets. This responsibility extends not only to housing and feeding them but also to letting them go. Captured animals should be released into the same place where they were found or someplace very similar.

If our young ones are committed, though, and they've made the necessary preparations, they can be in for a world of discovery. They'll be able to watch a tadpole grow and gradually develop into a frog, or a caterpillar molt, hibernate in its cocoon, and finally emerge - miraculously transformed - as a butterfly. Keeping pets in a jar gives kids a means of bringing nature's wonders into their home.