Is it cruel to throw sea monkeys away?

[Nahnottoday]

MIL got the the kids sea monkeys for Xmas I've only been the one bothered about them. They freak me out more than anything and can't bare the thought of bringing them to the new house.

Are these the type of pets you give away? Are they pets I don't know 🤣

I've haven't been purposely feeding them well they've been eating your discarded skin, so you have been feeding them, personally if not purposefully!

I'm not sure why whether or not you've been looking at them make a difference to the ethics of killing them, either.

Sorry @zippityzip but I’m offended on behalf of oysters that die to provide the pearls you so flippantly refer to.

This thread is bonkers

I hoover up flies and dispose of ants and any other bugs that come in the house. I don't lose sleep over it. I doubt anyone is buying sea monkeys deliberately to make them suffer, but it's hardly something to froth about imo.

I know a few people who have disposed of them after the jar went gross. One of my DC was given them as a present when a toddler (so we hardly welcomed them into our house), we must've not looked after them right because they only lasted a couple of days then died, so I chucked them out.

MN is very detached from real life sometimes, I don't know anyone who would worry about this

I'm not sure why whether or not you've been looking at them make a difference to the ethics of killing them, either.

Probably not, but it does to me. #SaveTheSeaMonkey!

Replace "headlice" with "puppies" or "kittens" or "bunnies" and the tone of threads about nits would be very different, too!

But people (in most countries) don't eat puppies or kittens, do they?

Bunnies and prawns, on the other hand...

SMLM✊

This thread is nuts! Think it might need to go in classics.

There are a lot of great comments. I especially loved...

'The way to euthanise aquatic creatures would be a drop of clove oil as a sedative then neat alcohol or blunt force trauma. I keep fish and that is the recommend humane way to end suffering. Fish keepers also feed them to their pets.'

I can just imagine the OP getting her magnifying glass and a tiny little hammer to kill the things with blunt force trauma!

🤣🤣🤣🤣😂

This is grim.

If they’re a type of shrimp they might make a nice stock?

They'll come back and haunt you!

Joking aside, of course 'throwing away' any living creature is cruel. If you didn't give enough thought to it before you let them hatch then you at least need to find another home for them.

It seems to me that the fact they are small, incredibly ugly, dont require significant financial outlay, don’t really ‘bond’ with you or do anything interesting like say a cat or dog makes them worthless in the eyes of many people.

That's right; sort of like Dominic Cummings.

Just think about what message this sends to your kids op.

I posted on the first page of my mum throwing them into the hedge as she thought they were dead but just incase they weren’t —hence why scared they’d grow huge and come back up the toilet— I don’t think I actually advocated killing them unless you’re feeding them to other pet fish —because that’s what they eat anyways unless someone has a vegan fish diet out there—

I don’t think they were dead but they were tiny and she had piss poor eyesight. I was gutted and was never allowed any more —I was taught to look after other animals with respect mind you and I’m sure my cats now would agree—. Then again, I did want to keep a pet nit and thought it was barbaric that they were flushed down the toilet after being drowned in conditioner and squashed into a piece of loo paper. I can see that piece of peach loo paper now so maybe other posters have a point of the trauma.

I buy them sometimes for my goldfish, they or bloodworms. If I look at them too closely on the way home do I bond with them and they suddenly become pets or are they pets that I have to look after because I have bought them? and can't be fed to the fish? My fish would be pissed off.

Or give them to MIL to look after.

Haha!!! What goes around comes around!

Christ alive, people are mental.

Sea monkeys are brine shrimp. Would you swat a fly? Kill insects? Eat a prawn? If so, don't fret.

I love animals, have heaps of pets and garden organically but I wouldn't flicker at offing brine shrimp. We have to feel live insects to the lizard, the fish love brine shrimp, the hens love woodlice.

This is the quality hysteria I come to mumsnet for.

This. It's gold

I confess I am a bit puzzled about what kind of love sea monkeys may enjoy...

... I always thought they were at their happiest when ignored and left to their own devices.

with the exception of parasites, eg intestinal worms, bed bugs, nits, fleas, which harm us

nits have no way of harming you, other than perhaps if you scratch too much and break your own skin providing a way for bacteria to get in. This is unlike cats and dogs which could bite and scratch you themselves and carry their own bacteria to infect you.

I would just keep them, they aren't exactly high maintenance.

Don't think I could bring myself to tip them down the toilet personally but comparisons with puppies and kittens are ridiculous.

@SirSamuelVimesBlackboardMonito

I've haven't been purposely feeding them well they've been eating your discarded skin, so you have been feeding them, personally if not purposefully!

I'm not sure why whether or not you've been looking at them make a difference to the ethics of killing them, either.

Well you're veering into the field of Quantum Ethics there. Do you know how many cats Schrodinger had to kill/not kill in the course of his research?

I honestly thought they were plastic and grew because they rehydrated.

I think you need to give them away. Although the most interesting thing about them is that they grow from powder.

I once spilled sea monkeys on the bedroom carpet of a house we were renting. In my panic I grabbed a towel and scrubbed the carpet then realised I'd smashed them to death.

Well you're veering into the field of Quantum Ethics there. Do you know how many cats Schrodinger had to kill/not kill in the course of his research?

And here I was, thinking theoretical physics had the lowest death count of the sciences...

I ended up googling to see how ugly they are and watched this short documentary all about them.

www.cnet.com/news/sea-monkeys-documentary-explores-creators-dark-side/

They are specially bred for being toys.