The Christmas Crayfish

The scene is set. It's early afternoon on Christmas morning. Riley has gone outside to play. He soon comes back in, talking excitedly: "Daddy, daddy, there's a lobster in the sandbox!"

I must admit, that my first reaction was not that there really was a lobster in the sandbox. Maybe lobsters can come and go at will in Maine or the Caribbean, but we don't live anywhere near water. Besides, the backyard is fenced in, and lobsters can't jump. I figure he's seen a big cockroach or a lobster-shaped rock or something.

So, I go outside to take a look. Riley takes me to look underneath the sandbox. We peer underneath to see what's there, and...no lobster.

But...there was something that looked a lot like a lobster, and it was moving! It was a crayfish, just sitting there in the sand and rocks. We went back inside to grab a container, picked him up and brought him. Check him out:



We decided to name him Claus, the Christmas Crayfish. Megan said she wants to make it a tradition to have a crayfish hunt on Christmas mornings.

I did some digging, and I think it is a red swamp crayfish. They are apparently capable of travelling miles overland, although I'm still not sure how he managed to get into our backyard. In any case, he's hanging out in a temporary tank now. I think we'll try to get him situated somewhere more permanent, and keep him as a pet.