Triops

What better way to start the science section of this blog then with a little shout-out for Triops. For those of you who have never heard of them, your not alone…a couple of weeks ago I would have looked at someone like they were crazy if they tried to explain these strange little creatures to me. However, I have become a triop convert and think these things should be in every science classroom. They come in a kit with everything you need and in a very little amount of time you will be able to observe the life cycle of a 600 million year old Crustacean. In the kit you get a dish, thermometer, food, some rocks, and the eggs.  You need to provide the distilled water and a heat source. To hatch these little creatures, you make sure the water is above 73 degrees, provide a ton of light and in 18 hours to 3 days you have something very small swimming in your water. And when I say small we are talking smaller then the size of a pin head, but still it is something. Now, my daughter and I were lucky enough to get one to hatch after about 18 hours. By day 5 the little thing has had a growth spurt and it is truly coming into its own. It is kinda cool to watch this thing search for food and dig around in the rocks. I have been told they can get up to five inches – we will see. I will keep you posted!!!  I will warn you that  we had two others hatch around day 3.   However, they came to a grizzly end, as these little things are apparently carnivorous and the older one ate the two new hatchlings.  Regardless of the fate of the other two – this is definitely a great addition to the science classroom.   Easy to take care of, interesting to watch, and a wealth of life science knowledge in one tiny, very very old creature.

P.S. – I ordered mine on Amazon but in any search engine, if you type in Triops, you will have several options for purchasing a kit from the web!!! Happy Hatching!!!!