Several weeks ago I ordered some Triops online and decided to try them out with my son. All the information about these prehistoric pets (and there is a fair amount of information out there) said that they would hatch overnight and very soon start doubling in size every day. Now I’ve had Sea Monkeys many times growing up and thought these things would be about the same type animal. I was quite wrong there. While the Triops didn’t live as long as the typical Sea Monkeys, they did indeed start doubling in size at about day three. Granted, the supplier said that they only live a few weeks, so I can’t fault them for the creatures starting to die off after about a month. In fact, that’s actually a pretty good lifespan.
After about a month or so of watching these creatures, as amazing as they were, I found myself getting tired of changing the water which by then was starting to be pretty cloudy. It was however, a very nice lesson for my five year old in the life cycle of one of mother nature’s oldest creatures. Watching them hatch from almost nothing, grow to almost two inches, molt their exoskeleton a few times, and return to the almost nothing they came from really was an educational experience.
If you’ve tried Sea Monkeys in the past and would like something a little more interesting for your kids to study (you can at least see these animals), I highly recommend these. They’re a lot of fun, and the short duration of their entire life cycle makes them a great choice for younger kids whose attention span isn’t that long to begin with.
You can read more about them at the official Triops website and you can buy them from the Live Animal Kits section at Atomic Elephant Toy’s site.
My rating: 3.5 of 4 stars.
Filed under: Educational Toy Review
