After offering tips last week on using your hot tub for a special Valentine’s Day date,  one of America’s favorite television shows — The Big Bang Theory — reminded us that we forgot to mention something.

What we neglected to highlight is how important it is to tightly close your hot tub cover before and after using it. There’s several reasons for this, but the popular television show’s latest episode (The Valentino Submergence) made clear one key issue: water attracts thirsty critters.

Spoiler Alert: For those who didn’t see that episode, Howard and Bernadette purchased a hot tub.

But before they could take a soak together, they found a critter floating in their spa water — a bunny.

We also learned that Bernadette is pregnant, so finding that floating critter turned out to be a delightful bunny thing: her mothering instincts kicked in immediately.

Water Attracts Living Things 

The fact is, if you leave your spa or hot tub uncovered, the odd critter might find your spa as tempting as you do. Since you’re probably not reading this from Africa, what you discover is unlikely to be an elephant (although we couldn’t resist showing one).

However, it might be your dog, which, lets face it, often thinks of itself as your child with all the rights of an offspring. Even if you feel the same way about its place in the family, inviting Fido into the hot tub isn’t the best idea, since a dog’s hair can clog up the filters — not to mention it will probably require adding more chemicals to clean the water. Also, consider the safety of your pet. The spa water temperature for humans is warmer than what is healthy for a dog.

By using your hot tub cover on a regular basis, and ensuring that it is tightly secured,