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Girlfriend has been a part of our family for a whole week now.

The week has been touch and go and we’re still learning, but she’s really just as wonderful as we imagined!

It seems that she’s finally getting comfortable here.

She was so lively, rebellious, and full of personality at the specialty shop where we got her, but the first several days we had her home she did nothing but hide under her rock and refuse to eat.

I worried that the tank water was bacterial, that the nitrogen cycling process was killing her, that the pH was too high, that the ammonia was too high, that she was molting, that she wasn’t acclimating, that she was sick, that she was scratching too much, that she was dying because she wasn’t eating, that she was lonely or unhappy…and every other worry under the sun.

But the past few days she’s definitely perked up.

Of course we’re not quite out of the woods yet. We’re still in the ammonia phase of cycling her tank, but we’re using an ammonia and nitrite de-toxifier and monitoring her water quality very closely with the test kits, so hopefully all will continue to be well. Owning a cray is like being a damn scientist. Test tubes and chemical drops from her water quality testing kit are absolutely littered across our bar counter. But we’re happy to do what it takes – and it is kind of fun to learn all this stuff!

She shaved at least three years off of my life this weekend when I took a break from working on our taxes outside on the porch with Ted and walked inside to check on her. I found her lying on her side, unmoving, legs sprawled upward, beneath her rock like she was dead. I literally lost my mind and turned into a blubbering fool, sobbing because I was convinced she was dying.

She was sleeping.

Apparently crays like to sleep on their side.

Now we know.

She also gave Ted a minor panic attack when we woke up yesterday morning. Ted went to check on her and couldn’t find her in her tank. He looked everywhere – under her rock, on her rock, on the gravel, and on the plants. Repeat five times.

No Mav.

Since crays are sly little escape artists Ted was about ready to start checking the kitchen floor, under the couch, and in the laundry baskets when he spotted her…at the very top of her tank.

Stuck.

Escape attempt #1: Shimmying up the air hose and digital thermometer cord.

She’s a clever one, that Maverick.

Ted freed her.

She did it again three hours later.

But now Mav has a healthy appetite (she especially loves frozen peas, crab pellets, and algae rounds), sits like a queen atop of her rock at night (when she thinks nobody is watching!) with her pinchers dangling off the side, goes for strolls around the tank, has begun digging up the small blue plant beside her rock for redecoration purposes, stretches often, follows your finger across the glass with her body and her pinchers, plays at night (she’s nocturnal), scales the small plants and air hose, and she really likes the moonlight glow that our blue, green, and purple LED picture frame casts on her tank at night. It must be like sitting on the beach at night.

She gets more entertaining by the day. Short of an actual escape, I can’t wait to see what other tricks she has up her shell.

In the next few weeks we’ll likely pick up a few cherry barbs, zebra danios or clown plecos to keep her company – or, you know, that she can stalk mercilessly.

Yup, she’s a darling.

And we’re so happy she’s ours!

P.S. – Yes, I really did just write an entire post about a crayfish. You may retrieve your jaw from the floor now.