I formed an unlikely bond with a Bristle Worm

[BigSkyRich]

A bit of backstory for frame of reference, I started a mixed reef 20g cube 10 months ago and it has actually been going very smoothly. Never had any major issues like pests or bacteria or algae.

A few months ago though, during my normal feeding schedule, I noticed a hairy tentacle extending out from a rock on the sandbed and grabbing small piece of shrimp.

My first major pest I thought! I was actually excited to deal with it! I put some tweezers in to grab him and he immediately retreated to his cave.

Dang, looks like he’ll be harder to deal with than I thought. Time to figure out exactly what I’m dealing with! I came to R2R for an ID and as always you guys never fail to deliver.

Turns out it was a bristle worm! After doing some more research I decided it would be more trouble to try and get him out than it was worth. He became a part of my CUC for better or for worse.

Fast forward to last week, I’m hanging out by the tank around 11pm. The tank lights have been off for a couple of hours by now and what do i notice in the corner of my eye? The Bristle Worm had completely left his cave and was exploring the edge of the glass. I knew I had to act fast! I jumped for my long tweezers and attacked the water like an Osprey.

Got him… I had him clasped in a death grip between the tweezers! I slowly pull him out and put him on the kitchen table to inspect this baby sea monster and see what he looks like up close.

He was ugly, nasty spines and a mouth that looked like something out of a sci-fi movie. As tried to figure out how to dispatch him, I watched as he withered and gasped for life desperately opening and closing its mouth hoping for relief. Trying to wiggle is way to safety. The safety he knew in the habitat I provided.

I started to feel pity.

My pity quickly turned into empathy. He wasn’t hurting anything. I realized the only reason I wanted him out was because the world deemed him a pest. I began thinking about my love for this hobby and the responsibility that comes with creating and sustaining a reef, my passion for conservation and taking the good with the bad.

I couldn’t let this sea monster die. As long as his presence is not harming any of his tank mates, he’s just as deserving of a happy life as my most prized corals.

At this point he is still on my kitchen table, slowly dying. Not moving much anymore. I picked him up and he’s barely able to hold himself up. I walked him back to the tank took one last look and put him back next to a rock. It took him a second to recover but he eventually went under the rock.

This whole thing gave me a new respect and love for creatures that may be deemed pests. Obviously not all are equal but maybe we should think about what conservation and reef husbandry means next time we’re about to deal with a pest. Aesthetic perfection should not be paramount to a living creature that is considered undesirable. At the end of the day, our oceans are filled with pests that all have their place in the ecosystem and food chain.

Believe it or not, this experience has made that little Bristle Worm my favorite tank tenant and I’m always excited when he decides to come out and say hello. I have noticed a bunch of other Bristle worms since seeing him and I’m just happy he has friends. If they start to be a problem and harm other tenants, I’ll have to do something, but for now I’m just enjoying their presence.

Totally agree. No harm, no foul. I too have begun to notice an abundance of these fellas, albeit small, in my going on 3 year mixed reef and haven't even thought about trying to eliminate. Now, my GHA, that's a different story

 

[707Nick]

A bit of backstory for frame of reference, I started a mixed reef 20g cube 10 months ago and it has actually been going very smoothly. Never had any major issues like pests or bacteria or algae.

A few months ago though, during my normal feeding schedule, I noticed a hairy tentacle extending out from a rock on the sandbed and grabbing small piece of shrimp.

My first major pest I thought! I was actually excited to deal with it! I put some tweezers in to grab him and he immediately retreated to his cave.

Dang, looks like he’ll be harder to deal with than I thought. Time to figure out exactly what I’m dealing with! I came to R2R for an ID and as always you guys never fail to deliver.

Turns out it was a bristle worm! After doing some more research I decided it would be more trouble to try and get him out than it was worth. He became a part of my CUC for better or for worse.

Fast forward to last week, I’m hanging out by the tank around 11pm. The tank lights have been off for a couple of hours by now and what do i notice in the corner of my eye? The Bristle Worm had completely left his cave and was exploring the edge of the glass. I knew I had to act fast! I jumped for my long tweezers and attacked the water like an Osprey.

Got him… I had him clasped in a death grip between the tweezers! I slowly pull him out and put him on the kitchen table to inspect this baby sea monster and see what he looks like up close.

He was ugly, nasty spines and a mouth that looked like something out of a sci-fi movie. As tried to figure out how to dispatch him, I watched as he withered and gasped for life desperately opening and closing its mouth hoping for relief. Trying to wiggle is way to safety. The safety he knew in the habitat I provided.

I started to feel pity.

My pity quickly turned into empathy. He wasn’t hurting anything. I realized the only reason I wanted him out was because the world deemed him a pest. I began thinking about my love for this hobby and the responsibility that comes with creating and sustaining a reef, my passion for conservation and taking the good with the bad.

I couldn’t let this sea monster die. As long as his presence is not harming any of his tank mates, he’s just as deserving of a happy life as my most prized corals.

At this point he is still on my kitchen table, slowly dying. Not moving much anymore. I picked him up and he’s barely able to hold himself up. I walked him back to the tank took one last look and put him back next to a rock. It took him a second to recover but he eventually went under the rock.

This whole thing gave me a new respect and love for creatures that may be deemed pests. Obviously not all are equal but maybe we should think about what conservation and reef husbandry means next time we’re about to deal with a pest. Aesthetic perfection should not be paramount to a living creature that is considered undesirable. At the end of the day, our oceans are filled with pests that all have their place in the ecosystem and food chain.

Believe it or not, this experience has made that little Bristle Worm my favorite tank tenant and I’m always excited when he decides to come out and say hello. I have noticed a bunch of other Bristle worms since seeing him and I’m just happy he has friends. If they start to be a problem and harm other tenants, I’ll have to do something, but for now I’m just enjoying their presence.

Thank you for the great read. You’re a wonderful writer. I think I can catch as many of those pretty little things as possible when I’m doing any kind of rock work but honestly I don’t want them to take over. I think they are just a cleaner though.

I also think of the same analogy as a weed in your garden. Well, it’s only a weed if you don’t want it other than that it’s a specimen plant same thing for a Reefs I guess happy roofing, sir, or ma’am.

 

[alexxb7]

Not only are they painful and cause rashes but I have seen my share of gobies, assessors and jawfish with a snout full of spines. Larger ones threaten new fish while acclimating. Don’t agree with the idea they are harmless.

 

[Kevin Padgett]

I have bristle worms everywhere in my tank. My arrow crab loves them. So cool to see him hunt them down.

 

[ilikefish69]

A bit of backstory for frame of reference, I started a mixed reef 20g cube 10 months ago and it has actually been going very smoothly. Never had any major issues like pests or bacteria or algae.

A few months ago though, during my normal feeding schedule, I noticed a hairy tentacle extending out from a rock on the sandbed and grabbing small piece of shrimp.

My first major pest I thought! I was actually excited to deal with it! I put some tweezers in to grab him and he immediately retreated to his cave.

Dang, looks like he’ll be harder to deal with than I thought. Time to figure out exactly what I’m dealing with! I came to R2R for an ID and as always you guys never fail to deliver.

Turns out it was a bristle worm! After doing some more research I decided it would be more trouble to try and get him out than it was worth. He became a part of my CUC for better or for worse.

Fast forward to last week, I’m hanging out by the tank around 11pm. The tank lights have been off for a couple of hours by now and what do i notice in the corner of my eye? The Bristle Worm had completely left his cave and was exploring the edge of the glass. I knew I had to act fast! I jumped for my long tweezers and attacked the water like an Osprey.

Got him… I had him clasped in a death grip between the tweezers! I slowly pull him out and put him on the kitchen table to inspect this baby sea monster and see what he looks like up close.

He was ugly, nasty spines and a mouth that looked like something out of a sci-fi movie. As tried to figure out how to dispatch him, I watched as he withered and gasped for life desperately opening and closing its mouth hoping for relief. Trying to wiggle is way to safety. The safety he knew in the habitat I provided.

I started to feel pity.

My pity quickly turned into empathy. He wasn’t hurting anything. I realized the only reason I wanted him out was because the world deemed him a pest. I began thinking about my love for this hobby and the responsibility that comes with creating and sustaining a reef, my passion for conservation and taking the good with the bad.

I couldn’t let this sea monster die. As long as his presence is not harming any of his tank mates, he’s just as deserving of a happy life as my most prized corals.

At this point he is still on my kitchen table, slowly dying. Not moving much anymore. I picked him up and he’s barely able to hold himself up. I walked him back to the tank took one last look and put him back next to a rock. It took him a second to recover but he eventually went under the rock.

This whole thing gave me a new respect and love for creatures that may be deemed pests. Obviously not all are equal but maybe we should think about what conservation and reef husbandry means next time we’re about to deal with a pest. Aesthetic perfection should not be paramount to a living creature that is considered undesirable. At the end of the day, our oceans are filled with pests that all have their place in the ecosystem and food chain.

Believe it or not, this experience has made that little Bristle Worm my favorite tank tenant and I’m always excited when he decides to come out and say hello. I have noticed a bunch of other Bristle worms since seeing him and I’m just happy he has friends. If they start to be a problem and harm other tenants, I’ll have to do something, but for now I’m just enjoying their presence.

If you have written any books plz let me know i am sure to enjoy them

 

[Dr. Jim]

Are you sure it isn't a Bearded Fireworm? If you aren't sure, you may want to post a picture. You don't want them multiplying!

 

[jarak200]

A bit of backstory for frame of reference, I started a mixed reef 20g cube 10 months ago and it has actually been going very smoothly. Never had any major issues like pests or bacteria or algae.

A few months ago though, during my normal feeding schedule, I noticed a hairy tentacle extending out from a rock on the sandbed and grabbing small piece of shrimp.

My first major pest I thought! I was actually excited to deal with it! I put some tweezers in to grab him and he immediately retreated to his cave.

Dang, looks like he’ll be harder to deal with than I thought. Time to figure out exactly what I’m dealing with! I came to R2R for an ID and as always you guys never fail to deliver.

Turns out it was a bristle worm! After doing some more research I decided it would be more trouble to try and get him out than it was worth. He became a part of my CUC for better or for worse.

Fast forward to last week, I’m hanging out by the tank around 11pm. The tank lights have been off for a couple of hours by now and what do i notice in the corner of my eye? The Bristle Worm had completely left his cave and was exploring the edge of the glass. I knew I had to act fast! I jumped for my long tweezers and attacked the water like an Osprey.

Got him… I had him clasped in a death grip between the tweezers! I slowly pull him out and put him on the kitchen table to inspect this baby sea monster and see what he looks like up close.

He was ugly, nasty spines and a mouth that looked like something out of a sci-fi movie. As tried to figure out how to dispatch him, I watched as he withered and gasped for life desperately opening and closing its mouth hoping for relief. Trying to wiggle is way to safety. The safety he knew in the habitat I provided.

I started to feel pity.

My pity quickly turned into empathy. He wasn’t hurting anything. I realized the only reason I wanted him out was because the world deemed him a pest. I began thinking about my love for this hobby and the responsibility that comes with creating and sustaining a reef, my passion for conservation and taking the good with the bad.

I couldn’t let this sea monster die. As long as his presence is not harming any of his tank mates, he’s just as deserving of a happy life as my most prized corals.

At this point he is still on my kitchen table, slowly dying. Not moving much anymore. I picked him up and he’s barely able to hold himself up. I walked him back to the tank took one last look and put him back next to a rock. It took him a second to recover but he eventually went under the rock.

This whole thing gave me a new respect and love for creatures that may be deemed pests. Obviously not all are equal but maybe we should think about what conservation and reef husbandry means next time we’re about to deal with a pest. Aesthetic perfection should not be paramount to a living creature that is considered undesirable. At the end of the day, our oceans are filled with pests that all have their place in the ecosystem and food chain.

Believe it or not, this experience has made that little Bristle Worm my favorite tank tenant and I’m always excited when he decides to come out and say hello. I have noticed a bunch of other Bristle worms since seeing him and I’m just happy he has friends. If they start to be a problem and harm other tenants, I’ll have to do something, but for now I’m just enjoying their presence.

I did the same and felt a terrible guilt when it came time to dispatch him down the toilet, so now he is one of my favourite creatures i even feed him by hand and he's great.

 

[jabberwock]

I’m new here and setting up my first tank, are bristle worms sumthin I want or sumthin I don’t want

They are something you are going to have...

A bit of backstory for frame of reference, I started a mixed reef 20g cube 10 months ago and it has actually been going very smoothly. Never had any major issues like pests or bacteria or algae.

A few months ago though, during my normal feeding schedule, I noticed a hairy tentacle extending out from a rock on the sandbed and grabbing small piece of shrimp.

My first major pest I thought! I was actually excited to deal with it! I put some tweezers in to grab him and he immediately retreated to his cave.

Dang, looks like he’ll be harder to deal with than I thought. Time to figure out exactly what I’m dealing with! I came to R2R for an ID and as always you guys never fail to deliver.

Turns out it was a bristle worm! After doing some more research I decided it would be more trouble to try and get him out than it was worth. He became a part of my CUC for better or for worse.

Fast forward to last week, I’m hanging out by the tank around 11pm. The tank lights have been off for a couple of hours by now and what do i notice in the corner of my eye? The Bristle Worm had completely left his cave and was exploring the edge of the glass. I knew I had to act fast! I jumped for my long tweezers and attacked the water like an Osprey.

Got him… I had him clasped in a death grip between the tweezers! I slowly pull him out and put him on the kitchen table to inspect this baby sea monster and see what he looks like up close.

He was ugly, nasty spines and a mouth that looked like something out of a sci-fi movie. As tried to figure out how to dispatch him, I watched as he withered and gasped for life desperately opening and closing its mouth hoping for relief. Trying to wiggle is way to safety. The safety he knew in the habitat I provided.

I started to feel pity.

My pity quickly turned into empathy. He wasn’t hurting anything. I realized the only reason I wanted him out was because the world deemed him a pest. I began thinking about my love for this hobby and the responsibility that comes with creating and sustaining a reef, my passion for conservation and taking the good with the bad.

I couldn’t let this sea monster die. As long as his presence is not harming any of his tank mates, he’s just as deserving of a happy life as my most prized corals.

At this point he is still on my kitchen table, slowly dying. Not moving much anymore. I picked him up and he’s barely able to hold himself up. I walked him back to the tank took one last look and put him back next to a rock. It took him a second to recover but he eventually went under the rock.

This whole thing gave me a new respect and love for creatures that may be deemed pests. Obviously not all are equal but maybe we should think about what conservation and reef husbandry means next time we’re about to deal with a pest. Aesthetic perfection should not be paramount to a living creature that is considered undesirable. At the end of the day, our oceans are filled with pests that all have their place in the ecosystem and food chain.

Believe it or not, this experience has made that little Bristle Worm my favorite tank tenant and I’m always excited when he decides to come out and say hello. I have noticed a bunch of other Bristle worms since seeing him and I’m just happy he has friends. If they start to be a problem and harm other tenants, I’ll have to do something, but for now I’m just enjoying their presence.

Well written and thoughtful. I don't usually read long posts, but yours kept my attention.

Your are wonderfully crazy! Thank you.

 

[jabberwock]

Ok

#STBW (Save The Bristle Worms)!

 

[Miami Reef]

Are you sure it isn't a Bearded Fireworm? If you aren't sure, you may want to post a picture. You don't want them multiplying!

This is what literally happened to me!

I bought KP rocks, and I put them in a bin of salt water with a glass cup and pellets.

The following day, I saw a giant bristle worm in the trap. It was red and spiny. I thought, “people are being dramatic over a harmless clean-up crew member.”

I added him to my tank.

A few months later, I woke up at 3 am and saw the same “bristle worm” eating my frogspawn. Luckily, I caught the awful thing by lifting the now-dead coral with a pick-up stick.

It wasn’t a bristle worm; it was a fireworm.

 

[PeterEde]

A bit of backstory for frame of reference, I started a mixed reef 20g cube 10 months ago and it has actually been going very smoothly. Never had any major issues like pests or bacteria or algae.

A few months ago though, during my normal feeding schedule, I noticed a hairy tentacle extending out from a rock on the sandbed and grabbing small piece of shrimp.

My first major pest I thought! I was actually excited to deal with it! I put some tweezers in to grab him and he immediately retreated to his cave.

Dang, looks like he’ll be harder to deal with than I thought. Time to figure out exactly what I’m dealing with! I came to R2R for an ID and as always you guys never fail to deliver.

Turns out it was a bristle worm! After doing some more research I decided it would be more trouble to try and get him out than it was worth. He became a part of my CUC for better or for worse.

Fast forward to last week, I’m hanging out by the tank around 11pm. The tank lights have been off for a couple of hours by now and what do i notice in the corner of my eye? The Bristle Worm had completely left his cave and was exploring the edge of the glass. I knew I had to act fast! I jumped for my long tweezers and attacked the water like an Osprey.

Got him… I had him clasped in a death grip between the tweezers! I slowly pull him out and put him on the kitchen table to inspect this baby sea monster and see what he looks like up close.

He was ugly, nasty spines and a mouth that looked like something out of a sci-fi movie. As tried to figure out how to dispatch him, I watched as he withered and gasped for life desperately opening and closing its mouth hoping for relief. Trying to wiggle is way to safety. The safety he knew in the habitat I provided.

I started to feel pity.

My pity quickly turned into empathy. He wasn’t hurting anything. I realized the only reason I wanted him out was because the world deemed him a pest. I began thinking about my love for this hobby and the responsibility that comes with creating and sustaining a reef, my passion for conservation and taking the good with the bad.

I couldn’t let this sea monster die. As long as his presence is not harming any of his tank mates, he’s just as deserving of a happy life as my most prized corals.

At this point he is still on my kitchen table, slowly dying. Not moving much anymore. I picked him up and he’s barely able to hold himself up. I walked him back to the tank took one last look and put him back next to a rock. It took him a second to recover but he eventually went under the rock.

This whole thing gave me a new respect and love for creatures that may be deemed pests. Obviously not all are equal but maybe we should think about what conservation and reef husbandry means next time we’re about to deal with a pest. Aesthetic perfection should not be paramount to a living creature that is considered undesirable. At the end of the day, our oceans are filled with pests that all have their place in the ecosystem and food chain.

Believe it or not, this experience has made that little Bristle Worm my favorite tank tenant and I’m always excited when he decides to come out and say hello. I have noticed a bunch of other Bristle worms since seeing him and I’m just happy he has friends. If they start to be a problem and harm other tenants, I’ll have to do something, but for now I’m just enjoying their presence.

My solitary confinement/QT tank has a heap of bristleworms. Some quite large others small.
Interesting feeding the one fish currently in their (nasty 3 spot domino) all these worms come out for the food scraps.
I would not want that many in the DT. I know there's at least one or 2. But none as big.

 

[Nemo&Friends]

Keep them in my FOWLR and I have some big ones. But tried to catch them in my macro algae tank, as I saw them eat the macro. I bought a coral banded shrimp to help. I am not sure the shrimp catch too many, I only saw it eating one, when I had caught the worm and fed it to her. The shrimp is beautiful and fun to watch, so it is OK.

 

[Fish Think Pink]

I like them, there’s nothing harmful other than being ugly.

I too love my bristle worms. I have a great colour variety of them(red, pink and white) .

I have pretty iridescent blue bristle worms in my main tank... I do tend to be protective of them as part of my CUC

in my FOWLR that came used from someone else I got reddish bristle worms. I always think FIRE worms when I see them, but fairly certain they aren't... Over time I've considered introducing blue ones in FOWLR because they are prettier... don't know how that will help me get rid of those reddish ones that have that ugly earthworm with spikes look.. IMO there will always be a red worm community because of how I started tank

It is a kind of snack for my demsel.

aiptasia will eat bristle worms... and then get BIG... its funny if it weren't so true... maybe it will be funny on other side of my aiptasia problem...

 

[Dr. Jim]

This is what literally happened to me!

I bought KP rocks, and I put them in a bin of salt water with a glass cup and pellets.

The following day, I saw a giant bristle worm in the trap. It was red and spiny. I thought, “people are being dramatic over a harmless clean-up crew member.”

I added him to my tank.

A few months later, I woke up at 3 am and saw the same “bristle worm” eating my frogspawn. Luckily, I caught the awful thing by lifting the now-dead coral with a pick-up stick.

It wasn’t a bristle worm; it was a fireworm.

I bought KP rock 2 times and both times they were loaded with those fireworms. Your picture shows exactly what I saw, but it took about 30 dead sps frags, one per night, before I got up in the middle of the night and saw one curled around a frag just like in your picture.

I found that Ivermectin (1% solution) dosed at 2cc per 30 gal will stun these worms which usually makes them come out of the rock (in 1-2 hrs) so you can easily remove them. You can then do a water change (30-50%) to prevent "good" worms from dying (bristle worms, spaghetti worms, feather dusters). I highly recommend treating all Florida Keys rock before using it.

There are some more pictures in this thread of mine from 2 years ago:

BEARDED FIREWORM

I'm sure there have been plenty of posts about bristle worms but in case anybody has not seen a FIREWORM, this guy is pretty fascinating! I've had tons of bristleworms over my 50+ years of reefing but this is my first Fireworm....probably because I've never used Caribbean live rock until...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Amatsuki]

A bit of backstory for frame of reference, I started a mixed reef 20g cube 10 months ago and it has actually been going very smoothly. Never had any major issues like pests or bacteria or algae.

A few months ago though, during my normal feeding schedule, I noticed a hairy tentacle extending out from a rock on the sandbed and grabbing small piece of shrimp.

My first major pest I thought! I was actually excited to deal with it! I put some tweezers in to grab him and he immediately retreated to his cave.

Dang, looks like he’ll be harder to deal with than I thought. Time to figure out exactly what I’m dealing with! I came to R2R for an ID and as always you guys never fail to deliver.

Turns out it was a bristle worm! After doing some more research I decided it would be more trouble to try and get him out than it was worth. He became a part of my CUC for better or for worse.

Fast forward to last week, I’m hanging out by the tank around 11pm. The tank lights have been off for a couple of hours by now and what do i notice in the corner of my eye? The Bristle Worm had completely left his cave and was exploring the edge of the glass. I knew I had to act fast! I jumped for my long tweezers and attacked the water like an Osprey.

Got him… I had him clasped in a death grip between the tweezers! I slowly pull him out and put him on the kitchen table to inspect this baby sea monster and see what he looks like up close.

He was ugly, nasty spines and a mouth that looked like something out of a sci-fi movie. As tried to figure out how to dispatch him, I watched as he withered and gasped for life desperately opening and closing its mouth hoping for relief. Trying to wiggle is way to safety. The safety he knew in the habitat I provided.

I started to feel pity.

My pity quickly turned into empathy. He wasn’t hurting anything. I realized the only reason I wanted him out was because the world deemed him a pest. I began thinking about my love for this hobby and the responsibility that comes with creating and sustaining a reef, my passion for conservation and taking the good with the bad.

I couldn’t let this sea monster die. As long as his presence is not harming any of his tank mates, he’s just as deserving of a happy life as my most prized corals.

At this point he is still on my kitchen table, slowly dying. Not moving much anymore. I picked him up and he’s barely able to hold himself up. I walked him back to the tank took one last look and put him back next to a rock. It took him a second to recover but he eventually went under the rock.

This whole thing gave me a new respect and love for creatures that may be deemed pests. Obviously not all are equal but maybe we should think about what conservation and reef husbandry means next time we’re about to deal with a pest. Aesthetic perfection should not be paramount to a living creature that is considered undesirable. At the end of the day, our oceans are filled with pests that all have their place in the ecosystem and food chain.

Believe it or not, this experience has made that little Bristle Worm my favorite tank tenant and I’m always excited when he decides to come out and say hello. I have noticed a bunch of other Bristle worms since seeing him and I’m just happy he has friends. If they start to be a problem and harm other tenants, I’ll have to do something, but for now I’m just enjoying their presence.

Bristle worms don’t pose a threat they are good for clean up crew the worms that look sort of like Bristle Worms that you need to worry about are the fire worms

 

[AstroMelly]

We knew we had at least one big one. We have a zoa rock and they were living in there from when we first bought it. They survived the initial dip somehow and never came out. A subsequent more thorough dip revealed three (one big one and two little ones). We thought we had got them all until one night after lights we saw the Daddy!
A few nights ago we were up late and we saw a small group of huge ones seemingly having a party! There are now 3 huge worms living in separate spots up at one end of our 6ft - one of them was about 6 inches and the others not far off.
I think you should definitely name your worm and appreciate him for what he is - sound like you already do.
For anyone unsure of ID just check the critter ID sticky post in the critter forum - it has been a godsend for us (1 year reefer). If you inspect under red light they will not flinch away.
Enjoy your new buddy!

 

[TWYOUNG]

Thank you for your thoughtful perspective. All to often we employ the "creep factor" to determine the worth of other worldly creatures. I realize other living things may sometimes need to be sacrificed so that humans may continue to thrive, but also wonder if that mouse I set a trap for doesn't have just as much right to live out his life as I do?

 

[SeaweedLife]

Great story, thank you!