It's no secret that homeschoolers often have things growing on their kitchen counters. We've raised tadpoles and butterflies, and grown bacterial scrapings from mouths. (You can thank me for not posting pictures.) Hermit crabs have joined us during school in days gone by, and Trevor's dissected fish eyeballs for, ahem, fun. Some families mummify chickens; I opted for the much more mild apple dehydration experiment.
Recently, I combined Trevor's literature study of
Pagoo with a chapter on Crustaceans from our
Apologia Elementary Science book. One of the activities suggests ordering sea monkeys or triops. Sea Monkeys seem 1) gross; 2) so, um, 1980s; 3) and
really gross, plus
triops grow a lot bigger, so the decision was easy.
I bought a complete kit for about $20 on amazon (naturally combining it with a book to get free shipping). I was a little doubtful, as we'd had several unsuccessful attempts with a butterfly kit in the past. Triops eggs are diapausal, naturally dehydrating and hatching when they become wet again. Trevor followed the directions perfectly, and we set up a light to keep the water at the optimum temperature. Out of about 40 eggs, three successfully hatched within a day or two. (This was consistent with what the product said to expect.)
They grow like crazy, molting daily. The eggs are the size of a pencil dot; the pictures below are the triops at three weeks, measuring 2.5cm long. Trevor feeds them 1-2 times a day, and he can supplement their feedings if he wants to grow them a little bigger.
The one on the left is right side up; the one on the right is face down, showing his underside.
What looks like a "water line" is just a line on the tank.They're kind of cute. As they grow, they get kind of creepy. And gross. They look a little like miniature horseshoe crabs. "Triops" means "three eyes," but I can only see two (proof that I don't know what I'm supposed to look for). They never stop swimming about and looking for food, and the water needs to be changed every few days.
Another view of the underside, with a nice shot of the mouth at the bottom.It's been a fun project, and they should live for several more weeks...even if they are on my kitchen counter. Ugh, I can't even imagine what we'll do with them when they die. Blech.
Next week, Trevor and I will read Owls in the Family. I'm pulling some supplemental activities from several study guides I found online, and I just happened to remember that we have an owl pellet or two tucked away in the basement. He dissected one, two or three years ago but lost interest. Maybe it grossed him out. Maybe it seemed boring, after digging in a fish eye. (The cats, though, were completely enthralled by the pellets.)
Which reminds me--I really need to make sure Holly took care of that bread mold she was growing in her bedroom closet. Seriously. It was a science project that needed to be kept in the dark. One thing is for certain: I can appreciate not watching
that grow in my kitchen.
:)
