My first pet ever

Xa Lach the first few days. He also didn't like eating spinach.

 I have never had a pet for my own before. I wanted a cat, but that is not allowed in our building. So I thought, I would have a cat and a dog later, as pets. Xa Lach accidentally becomes my first pet ever. I didn't think about having a pet, but the situation was hard to choose otherwise. When the worm suddenly appeared again that day, I thought about bringing him to a place where he can continue with his life. But I didn't know where he could live. I also thought he would die if I put him into the trash bin. So I decided to adopt him as a pet. He became my first pet, a worm. I called him Xa Lach. Xa Lach is a Vietnamese name for lettuce, his favorite food, and probably he was also from one of the lettuce leaves that I bought earlier that day. I put Xa Lach into a small box with a lettuce leaf and some water around the leaf so that the ants can't hurt him. I think ants also like biting Xa Lach because I discovered some ants crawling around him one afternoon. Because Xa Lach likes eating lettuce so I saved some lettuce leaves for him that day and put them into my fridge. 

A few days later, when Xa Lach almost eat all the lettuce in his box, I gave him a new one and discovered that the lettuce leaves were not fresh anymore. I thought, tomorrow morning I would go to the supermarket and bought new lettuces for him. But that morning, after the yoga class, I went home and forgot his food. When I was home, I saw he was eating almost all of the old lettuce and was also trying to eat the stem. I felt poor for Xa Lach. So I went out again to a small local market nearby and got him big lettuce. This time, I gave him a big and young leave. For the rest, I put the whole lettuce into the fridge so that it can be fresh for a longer time. Xa Lach was very happy, I think. He started leaving the old stemmy leave and biting the new leave. After a while, he was moving around and eating a big part of the leave. I was very happy. I imagined the day he transformed to become a butterfly. That made me feel very happy.

However, the next day, when I woke up, I discovered Xa Lach was laying in the water in the box. I was shocked and took out all the water immediately. I thought he was not careful so he drown himself in the water. I took the leave, put it in between his legs and I saw he clung to the leave. I was not sure if he was dead or still alive. I put him on top of the leave, feeling very sad. I left him there to see what is going on and start working. A few hours later, I came to the box and see he was crawling around again. I was so happy. I decided to take off all the water and put the whole box into a big basket with water around the box. This way he wouldn't drown accidentally and the ants also couldn't hurt him. Later, I put some more water into the box to keep the lettuce fresh, thinking Xa Lach wouldn't be drowned with this little water.

I wondered what was the cycle of a lettuce worm and what would he need at this stage of his life. I thought I might find something on the internet. But this morning, when I woke up, I saw Xa Lach was drowning again. Like the last time, I put out all the water quickly and place him near the leave, then I went to another class. When I was back, he was still at the same place, not moving at al. This time he might die. I feel very sad again. I look for information on the internet on the life cycle of a lettuce worm but I can't find much. I think he is probably dead this time. I still keep him there with a faint hope that Xa Lach would be alive again. 

I just visit him and he moves a bit. He is still alive! But he is not eating anything. He looks very sad. It seems that he wanted to drown himself in the water the last twice. I don't know why would he wanted to do that. Maybe he needs some water. Or maybe feels bored living in the box. I wish I could know what he wanted. I give him a very new and very young lettuce leave. But I don't think he would be eating it soon. I think he needs something else while I am unable to know what he needs. It is not easy taking care of a pet, especially a worm. Xa Lach, get well soon!