Dear Scientific Supply Labs,

Critters have been a mainstay of my life for the past 15+ years.  Just being a Florida mom who loves the outdoors has provided me ample opportunity to spend time with a variety of them.  Together with my kids I have observed, identified, chased, caught, rescued, nursed, been bit by, buried, held funeral services for, released, and shooed out of my house a number of creatures from insect to mammal.

None of the above activities caused any squeemishness on my part, including the times I handled a dead coral snake, cleaned a newborn squirrels’ bum, or picked up what I thought was rather large dog poop in my fenced-in yard {we don’t own a dog…it was from a bear}.

So I think I have enough history here to prove that I can handle “gross” quite well.

I write all of this to point out some very important truths about the specimens your lab packages for dissections.  You see, that’s part of our biology curriculum for high school this year…dissections…and they are a necessary part of this course.

But your packaging options, well, they leave something to be desired.

As I helped my 15yo prepare for today’s dissection {an earthworm}, I was a bit put off by the fact that I had to cut open the bag holding the dead things.  Notice that I wrote “things“, as in multiple critters, as in “Oh no! We’re not doing every dissection today.  How are we going to seal up this stink?!” 

That’s right.  Four different specimens were all cuddled up, cozy-like in one plastic bag, sharing each others coma-inducing stench of formaldehyde.  The earthworm, crawdaddy, fish, and huge frog {Frogzilla} didn’t seem to mind, most likely due to their deadness.

These critters are supposed to be for 4 separate experiments from three different chapters in our super cool science text.  How do we seal up the bag until we’re ready for the next experiment in a week or two?  Somehow I don’t think using my seal-a-meal is an option.  And where in my house do you suggest I store the bag-o-critters until next time where the stink won’t invade?  My cats have been stalking my every move and have been mapping out my stops.

I guess it wouldn’t be fair to complain without mentioning some positive points of your system.  Let me say that I sincerely appreciate the see-through plastic bag that the specimens arrived in.  On opening the shipping box there was no doubt about what could be in the bag {though it did send my daughter running into the next room and my son has been rather protective of our neighborhood frogs}.

I’ll also admit it was rather frugal on your part to use only one bag for all four specimens.  I mean, who needs a separate bag for each critter?  A different bag for each specimen would only serve to contain each critter’s, er, unique formaldehyde essence.  An aroma that could wait to be shared with the world until we’re actually ready to perform the dissection.  But no, you chose to pile them all in together.  Genius move.

And as for the thin quality of the bag itself, mere words cannot convey my feelings here. Again, you opted for savings over smell.  A thicker ply of plastic could have corralled the distinctive chemical stench scent.  However, you were clearly thinking of saving the consumer a lot of money here when you chose the thinnest possible material to house items laced in noxious fumes.  Awesome.

Now don’t get me wrong.  I feel incredibly blessed that my teens get to take part in real science here at home, and I thank you for all you do.  I’d just like to be able to provide this opportunity for my kids without my house smelling like, well, where you work…in a science lab.

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