Ever since we acquired Goliath and Diamond Back as pets, the boys have been diligently working to make sure they get enough fresh water, live crickets, and sunshine to keep them alive.

The fresh water and sunshine are the easy parts.

The crickets, unfortunately, have been dying at a prodigious rate. At first, the problem was water. If you put water in the cricket cage, they drown themselves. Instead, you have to use water pellets.

We resolved the water issue was resolved, but still the crickets kept dying. Not only did that lead to hungry lizards (which apparently don’t eat dead crickets), but also costs money, and gives the cricket cage a truly noxious odor.

This morning, my youngest solved the mystery. “Look,” he said, staring in at the cage. “They’re on top of each other. I think they’re crushing each other!”

“Oh yeah,” his older brother said. “The pet store lady said something about that.”

“Didn’t you put in the toilet paper roll?” their mom asked. Apparently, they were supposed to have built a toilet paper roll tower for the crickets to climb on. Otherwise, they climb on each other.

“Um. . .” the boys glanced at each other in a guilty sort of way, clearly looking for some explanation other than “no.”

Their mom waved at them. “Go do it!”

Now the cricket cage has a fancy toilet paper roll tower in its center.

I’m guessing that our next discovery will be that the crickets are leaping to their death off its top.