TAMW you explain mertenders and wranglers to your mother, a concept she finds delightful, so she starts calling you a rat-tender and budgie-tender (the pets I currently have). Then she says it in front of your sister and..it just snowballs.
(While mertenders have their fair share of hardships, at least they don't have to put their mermaid in a shoebox to go to the vet once a month to get their incisors trimmed. :sweat drop:)