Grow a real living pet from the age of the dinosaurs! Watch them come to life when added to water and see how they double in size each day! Triops hatch in 24 hours, can grow up to 4cm long and have an incredible life cycle. Guaranteed to hatch! 7 Years +

Short-lived but fascinating creatures, 14 Oct 2008
This kit allows you to hatch and rear specimens of Triops longicaudatus, the longtail tadpole shrimp. You simply follow the instructions in the kit (it's basically a case of adding some dirt which contains the eggs into a pot of water and putting it somewhere warm and light) and the T. longicaudatus soon hatch and start growing at an almost alarming pace. The relatively short life cycle makes it an excellent teaching aid for teaching anything to do with growth and development. T. longicaudatus are fed on small pellets of fish food or diced vegetables but can (and invariably do!) eat one another. After a few weeks, you're eventually left with just one very large specimen who has eaten all of his or her brethren. Although the triops don't live for very long (6 weeks or so), they're quite low maintainance and can make a good first pet to help you see if your child would be able to cope with something a bit more long-term, such as fish. Given the short-lived nature of the triops, I don't think I can justify the price of the kit, so it's not going to get a very high overall rating from me, but in terms of educational value and fun, it's excellent!

Poor Fatty, 22 Aug 2007
Its simple really, you get a packet of eggs that look like tobaco, and you pour half of them in some natural mineral water that should be inside the inclded bowl.
Wait 24 hours and half the eggs should have hatched, your told not to feed them for the next 48 hours as they will eath the eggs. When there first hatched its hard to see them but you can see little tiny white tails swimming around, and lots of them!
Soon after 48 hours they should now be clearly visable and you can now feed them with your food that was included.
One of them was huge and I decided to name him Fatty, unfortanatly even when there is enough food the Triops love to eat eachother, I remember after 5 days seeing Fatty nibbling one of my Triops, I did get quite a shock seeing as he always played with them, guessing he loved to play eat tag!

Soon they die however you still have half a pack of eggs left so you can enjoy the fun again.
I recomend this product and children would love it, my son absoultly loved them.

A Tribute to Chompy, 08 Mar 2006
Is it possible to become emotionally attached to a kill-crazy cannibalistic worm that looks like a facehugger from the Alien movies and spends most of its time attempting to eat its siblings? Having recently shed a tear while burying my last one - Chompy - in the back garden, I'd say yes. These little beasties inspired fear and disgust in my girlfriend, but to me they were true friends.

How could I forget the way Chompy used to play with his smaller brothers, chasing them around their tank for hours on end? Every couple of days, one of the brothers would vanish completely, and Chompy would do an extra-long poo to show how much he missed them.

After about 30 days, Chompy disposed of the final, equally large brother - Ripley - by eating him from the tail up. I caught the two of them playing on the bottom of the tank - Chompy had Ripley's face in his mouth, and was munching away without a care in the world. The rest of Ripley was nowhere to be seen.

Heartbroken, Chompy only lasted another week after that. For a while, he ate his fish pellets and bits of carrot as normal, but a triops is only half a triops without his playmates. Eventually Chompy turned green, and the end was nigh.

Would I repeat the experience? Maybe, but next time I would have to steel myself for the inevitable tragic end. Triops might not live long, but they've got personality. And they eat Sea Monkeys for breakfast.

this is a realy fun and cool kit, 10 Dec 2005
This product realy works. The biggest one that I had was about one and a half inches. have fun!...

Learn and discover everything about growing and cultivating crystals. This kit contains all you need to grow at least 12 types of crystal and the specially prepared National Geographic booklet explains how crystals were formed when the gases the Earth is made from cooled millions of years ago. 10 years+

Short-lived but fascinating creatures, 14 Oct 2008
This kit allows you to hatch and rear specimens of Triops longicaudatus, the longtail tadpole shrimp. You simply follow the instructions in the kit (it's basically a case of adding some dirt which contains the eggs into a pot of water and putting it somewhere warm and light) and the T. longicaudatus soon hatch and start growing at an almost alarming pace. The relatively short life cycle makes it an excellent teaching aid for teaching anything to do with growth and development. T. longicaudatus are fed on small pellets of fish food or diced vegetables but can (and invariably do!) eat one another. After a few weeks, you're eventually left with just one very large specimen who has eaten all of his or her brethren. Although the triops don't live for very long (6 weeks or so), they're quite low maintainance and can make a good first pet to help you see if your child would be able to cope with something a bit more long-term, such as fish. Given the short-lived nature of the triops, I don't think I can justify the price of the kit, so it's not going to get a very high overall rating from me, but in terms of educational value and fun, it's excellent!

Poor Fatty, 22 Aug 2007
Its simple really, you get a packet of eggs that look like tobaco, and you pour half of them in some natural mineral water that should be inside the inclded bowl.
Wait 24 hours and half the eggs should have hatched, your told not to feed them for the next 48 hours as they will eath the eggs. When there first hatched its hard to see them but you can see little tiny white tails swimming around, and lots of them!
Soon after 48 hours they should now be clearly visable and you can now feed them with your food that was included.
One of them was huge and I decided to name him Fatty, unfortanatly even when there is enough food the Triops love to eat eachother, I remember after 5 days seeing Fatty nibbling one of my Triops, I did get quite a shock seeing as he always played with them, guessing he loved to play eat tag!

Soon they die however you still have half a pack of eggs left so you can enjoy the fun again.
I recomend this product and children would love it, my son absoultly loved them.

A Tribute to Chompy, 08 Mar 2006
Is it possible to become emotionally attached to a kill-crazy cannibalistic worm that looks like a facehugger from the Alien movies and spends most of its time attempting to eat its siblings? Having recently shed a tear while burying my last one - Chompy - in the back garden, I'd say yes. These little beasties inspired fear and disgust in my girlfriend, but to me they were true friends.

How could I forget the way Chompy used to play with his smaller brothers, chasing them around their tank for hours on end? Every couple of days, one of the brothers would vanish completely, and Chompy would do an extra-long poo to show how much he missed them.

After about 30 days, Chompy disposed of the final, equally large brother - Ripley - by eating him from the tail up. I caught the two of them playing on the bottom of the tank - Chompy had Ripley's face in his mouth, and was munching away without a care in the world. The rest of Ripley was nowhere to be seen.

Heartbroken, Chompy only lasted another week after that. For a while, he ate his fish pellets and bits of carrot as normal, but a triops is only half a triops without his playmates. Eventually Chompy turned green, and the end was nigh.

Would I repeat the experience? Maybe, but next time I would have to steel myself for the inevitable tragic end. Triops might not live long, but they've got personality. And they eat Sea Monkeys for breakfast.

this is a realy fun and cool kit, 10 Dec 2005
This product realy works. The biggest one that I had was about one and a half inches. have fun!...

Don't waist your money, 07 Sep 2007
My son bought one of these kits out of his birthday money and it never worked, the made crystals were nothing like the ones on the box, tell your child to spend their money on something else!

excellent and educational fun, 24 Nov 2005
A great and education fun thing to do with your kids.My children love seeing if there crystals have grown in the morning.A Great education thing toi do with your kids

Create your very own mechanical moving robot! Fun to build, easy to assemble and its arms even move when it runs! Contains plastic mechanical body (assembly required), motor with electric wires, four wheels, cardboard robot body, double adhesive tape, and detailed instructions. Makes one robot of 24cm in height. 8 Years +

Short-lived but fascinating creatures, 14 Oct 2008
This kit allows you to hatch and rear specimens of Triops longicaudatus, the longtail tadpole shrimp. You simply follow the instructions in the kit (it's basically a case of adding some dirt which contains the eggs into a pot of water and putting it somewhere warm and light) and the T. longicaudatus soon hatch and start growing at an almost alarming pace. The relatively short life cycle makes it an excellent teaching aid for teaching anything to do with growth and development. T. longicaudatus are fed on small pellets of fish food or diced vegetables but can (and invariably do!) eat one another. After a few weeks, you're eventually left with just one very large specimen who has eaten all of his or her brethren. Although the triops don't live for very long (6 weeks or so), they're quite low maintainance and can make a good first pet to help you see if your child would be able to cope with something a bit more long-term, such as fish. Given the short-lived nature of the triops, I don't think I can justify the price of the kit, so it's not going to get a very high overall rating from me, but in terms of educational value and fun, it's excellent!

Poor Fatty, 22 Aug 2007
Its simple really, you get a packet of eggs that look like tobaco, and you pour half of them in some natural mineral water that should be inside the inclded bowl.
Wait 24 hours and half the eggs should have hatched, your told not to feed them for the next 48 hours as they will eath the eggs. When there first hatched its hard to see them but you can see little tiny white tails swimming around, and lots of them!
Soon after 48 hours they should now be clearly visable and you can now feed them with your food that was included.
One of them was huge and I decided to name him Fatty, unfortanatly even when there is enough food the Triops love to eat eachother, I remember after 5 days seeing Fatty nibbling one of my Triops, I did get quite a shock seeing as he always played with them, guessing he loved to play eat tag!

Soon they die however you still have half a pack of eggs left so you can enjoy the fun again.
I recomend this product and children would love it, my son absoultly loved them.

A Tribute to Chompy, 08 Mar 2006
Is it possible to become emotionally attached to a kill-crazy cannibalistic worm that looks like a facehugger from the Alien movies and spends most of its time attempting to eat its siblings? Having recently shed a tear while burying my last one - Chompy - in the back garden, I'd say yes. These little beasties inspired fear and disgust in my girlfriend, but to me they were true friends.

How could I forget the way Chompy used to play with his smaller brothers, chasing them around their tank for hours on end? Every couple of days, one of the brothers would vanish completely, and Chompy would do an extra-long poo to show how much he missed them.

After about 30 days, Chompy disposed of the final, equally large brother - Ripley - by eating him from the tail up. I caught the two of them playing on the bottom of the tank - Chompy had Ripley's face in his mouth, and was munching away without a care in the world. The rest of Ripley was nowhere to be seen.

Heartbroken, Chompy only lasted another week after that. For a while, he ate his fish pellets and bits of carrot as normal, but a triops is only half a triops without his playmates. Eventually Chompy turned green, and the end was nigh.

Would I repeat the experience? Maybe, but next time I would have to steel myself for the inevitable tragic end. Triops might not live long, but they've got personality. And they eat Sea Monkeys for breakfast.

this is a realy fun and cool kit, 10 Dec 2005
This product realy works. The biggest one that I had was about one and a half inches. have fun!...

Don't waist your money, 07 Sep 2007
My son bought one of these kits out of his birthday money and it never worked, the made crystals were nothing like the ones on the box, tell your child to spend their money on something else!

excellent and educational fun, 24 Nov 2005
A great and education fun thing to do with your kids.My children love seeing if there crystals have grown in the morning.A Great education thing toi do with your kids

disappointing, 12 Sep 2008
The mechanical aspect of assembling the motor, and the accompanying explanation of how the motor works was interesting for my 6 year old. But the body itself is made from cardboard and was very fiddly, and took long to build. Cannot see it lasting too long.

Construct your very own Buzz Wire and learn how an electric circuit is made. Challenge your friends and family with the exciting Buzz Wire game. Players are required to move the wand along the buzz wire from one end to the other. If the wand touches the wire, the buzzer will make a sound and the player is out of the game. Design different wire shapes with varying levels of difficulty. Contents 1 Plastic Buzz Platform with Handle, Pegs & Battery Case 1 Electric Buzzer Bendable Metal Wire Insulated Wires Detailed Assembly Instructions Box 22cm x 17cm x 6cm.

Short-lived but fascinating creatures, 14 Oct 2008
This kit allows you to hatch and rear specimens of Triops longicaudatus, the longtail tadpole shrimp. You simply follow the instructions in the kit (it's basically a case of adding some dirt which contains the eggs into a pot of water and putting it somewhere warm and light) and the T. longicaudatus soon hatch and start growing at an almost alarming pace. The relatively short life cycle makes it an excellent teaching aid for teaching anything to do with growth and development. T. longicaudatus are fed on small pellets of fish food or diced vegetables but can (and invariably do!) eat one another. After a few weeks, you're eventually left with just one very large specimen who has eaten all of his or her brethren. Although the triops don't live for very long (6 weeks or so), they're quite low maintainance and can make a good first pet to help you see if your child would be able to cope with something a bit more long-term, such as fish. Given the short-lived nature of the triops, I don't think I can justify the price of the kit, so it's not going to get a very high overall rating from me, but in terms of educational value and fun, it's excellent!

Poor Fatty, 22 Aug 2007
Its simple really, you get a packet of eggs that look like tobaco, and you pour half of them in some natural mineral water that should be inside the inclded bowl.
Wait 24 hours and half the eggs should have hatched, your told not to feed them for the next 48 hours as they will eath the eggs. When there first hatched its hard to see them but you can see little tiny white tails swimming around, and lots of them!
Soon after 48 hours they should now be clearly visable and you can now feed them with your food that was included.
One of them was huge and I decided to name him Fatty, unfortanatly even when there is enough food the Triops love to eat eachother, I remember after 5 days seeing Fatty nibbling one of my Triops, I did get quite a shock seeing as he always played with them, guessing he loved to play eat tag!

Soon they die however you still have half a pack of eggs left so you can enjoy the fun again.
I recomend this product and children would love it, my son absoultly loved them.

A Tribute to Chompy, 08 Mar 2006
Is it possible to become emotionally attached to a kill-crazy cannibalistic worm that looks like a facehugger from the Alien movies and spends most of its time attempting to eat its siblings? Having recently shed a tear while burying my last one - Chompy - in the back garden, I'd say yes. These little beasties inspired fear and disgust in my girlfriend, but to me they were true friends.

How could I forget the way Chompy used to play with his smaller brothers, chasing them around their tank for hours on end? Every couple of days, one of the brothers would vanish completely, and Chompy would do an extra-long poo to show how much he missed them.

After about 30 days, Chompy disposed of the final, equally large brother - Ripley - by eating him from the tail up. I caught the two of them playing on the bottom of the tank - Chompy had Ripley's face in his mouth, and was munching away without a care in the world. The rest of Ripley was nowhere to be seen.

Heartbroken, Chompy only lasted another week after that. For a while, he ate his fish pellets and bits of carrot as normal, but a triops is only half a triops without his playmates. Eventually Chompy turned green, and the end was nigh.

Would I repeat the experience? Maybe, but next time I would have to steel myself for the inevitable tragic end. Triops might not live long, but they've got personality. And they eat Sea Monkeys for breakfast.

this is a realy fun and cool kit, 10 Dec 2005
This product realy works. The biggest one that I had was about one and a half inches. have fun!...

Don't waist your money, 07 Sep 2007
My son bought one of these kits out of his birthday money and it never worked, the made crystals were nothing like the ones on the box, tell your child to spend their money on something else!

excellent and educational fun, 24 Nov 2005
A great and education fun thing to do with your kids.My children love seeing if there crystals have grown in the morning.A Great education thing toi do with your kids

disappointing, 12 Sep 2008
The mechanical aspect of assembling the motor, and the accompanying explanation of how the motor works was interesting for my 6 year old. But the body itself is made from cardboard and was very fiddly, and took long to build. Cannot see it lasting too long.

Great!, 21 Aug 2003
My little boy loved this! It was something that he could have fun making and have fun using afterwards. I highly recommend it!

Fasten your seatbelts! Fly paper planes at speeds of up to 50 km/hr with the help of this self-assembly Electric Plane Launcher. Includes assembly instructions and fun facts. Requires 2 AA batteries, not supplied. Age 8 to adult.

Travel back in time with this fascinating prehistoric creature habitat with a crazy under-water volcanic landscape! Aquasaurs (Latin name triops longicaudatus) are thought to have been around for 350 million years. Their eggs can remain dormant for years but once re-hydrated in your tank then they begin to hatch out into tiny little creatures at first which then grow as you care for and feed your new pre-historic friends! Each Aquasaurs kit includes the 2 litre capacity tank with temperature gauge, an informative instruction manual with fun facts and enough live Aquasaur eggs and food for two sessions - just add water and see them hatch. But the fun is not over then as you can mail order new eggs and food and even become a member of the Aquasaurs Club! 6 Years +

Short-lived but fascinating creatures, 14 Oct 2008
This kit allows you to hatch and rear specimens of Triops longicaudatus, the longtail tadpole shrimp. You simply follow the instructions in the kit (it's basically a case of adding some dirt which contains the eggs into a pot of water and putting it somewhere warm and light) and the T. longicaudatus soon hatch and start growing at an almost alarming pace. The relatively short life cycle makes it an excellent teaching aid for teaching anything to do with growth and development. T. longicaudatus are fed on small pellets of fish food or diced vegetables but can (and invariably do!) eat one another. After a few weeks, you're eventually left with just one very large specimen who has eaten all of his or her brethren. Although the triops don't live for very long (6 weeks or so), they're quite low maintainance and can make a good first pet to help you see if your child would be able to cope with something a bit more long-term, such as fish. Given the short-lived nature of the triops, I don't think I can justify the price of the kit, so it's not going to get a very high overall rating from me, but in terms of educational value and fun, it's excellent!

Poor Fatty, 22 Aug 2007
Its simple really, you get a packet of eggs that look like tobaco, and you pour half of them in some natural mineral water that should be inside the inclded bowl.
Wait 24 hours and half the eggs should have hatched, your told not to feed them for the next 48 hours as they will eath the eggs. When there first hatched its hard to see them but you can see little tiny white tails swimming around, and lots of them!
Soon after 48 hours they should now be clearly visable and you can now feed them with your food that was included.
One of them was huge and I decided to name him Fatty, unfortanatly even when there is enough food the Triops love to eat eachother, I remember after 5 days seeing Fatty nibbling one of my Triops, I did get quite a shock seeing as he always played with them, guessing he loved to play eat tag!

Soon they die however you still have half a pack of eggs left so you can enjoy the fun again.
I recomend this product and children would love it, my son absoultly loved them.

A Tribute to Chompy, 08 Mar 2006
Is it possible to become emotionally attached to a kill-crazy cannibalistic worm that looks like a facehugger from the Alien movies and spends most of its time attempting to eat its siblings? Having recently shed a tear while burying my last one - Chompy - in the back garden, I'd say yes. These little beasties inspired fear and disgust in my girlfriend, but to me they were true friends.

How could I forget the way Chompy used to play with his smaller brothers, chasing them around their tank for hours on end? Every couple of days, one of the brothers would vanish completely, and Chompy would do an extra-long poo to show how much he missed them.

After about 30 days, Chompy disposed of the final, equally large brother - Ripley - by eating him from the tail up. I caught the two of them playing on the bottom of the tank - Chompy had Ripley's face in his mouth, and was munching away without a care in the world. The rest of Ripley was nowhere to be seen.

Heartbroken, Chompy only lasted another week after that. For a while, he ate his fish pellets and bits of carrot as normal, but a triops is only half a triops without his playmates. Eventually Chompy turned green, and the end was nigh.

Would I repeat the experience? Maybe, but next time I would have to steel myself for the inevitable tragic end. Triops might not live long, but they've got personality. And they eat Sea Monkeys for breakfast.

this is a realy fun and cool kit, 10 Dec 2005
This product realy works. The biggest one that I had was about one and a half inches. have fun!...

Don't waist your money, 07 Sep 2007
My son bought one of these kits out of his birthday money and it never worked, the made crystals were nothing like the ones on the box, tell your child to spend their money on something else!

excellent and educational fun, 24 Nov 2005
A great and education fun thing to do with your kids.My children love seeing if there crystals have grown in the morning.A Great education thing toi do with your kids

disappointing, 12 Sep 2008
The mechanical aspect of assembling the motor, and the accompanying explanation of how the motor works was interesting for my 6 year old. But the body itself is made from cardboard and was very fiddly, and took long to build. Cannot see it lasting too long.

Great!, 21 Aug 2003
My little boy loved this! It was something that he could have fun making and have fun using afterwards. I highly recommend it!

Great first try at taking care of a pet, 06 Sep 2008
I have to agree that this is a GREAT product and introduction to children to taking care of any future pets. Yes you do have to get spring water and yes you do have to clean the water and maintain it at a certain temperature but frankly as parents we do much crazier and complicated things for our children, so this is a no brainer. We did not get a lamp! They survived with the temperature of our house. It is true that they do eat each other and the last one left which we called STAR GIRL was huge - but we made it fun for our boys and it was a great experience for them. STAR GIRL survived for roughly the 90 days.

We will start again with some new ones..... now to think of their names!

Great intertainment for wee explorers, 19 Jan 2008
I can't believe the previous review!! Why on earth +0do a review of something you have not tried but just imagine will be bad...I mean, what outlook on life does that reflect...just ridiculous!
My 4 year old got this for Christmas from an uncle and I think it has been great. At four my son is very interested in absolutely everything and has wanted a pet for a while. This gave him the opportunity to have a fish tank but one that probably only lasts as long as his interest. The Aquasaurs live between 20 and 90 days so although I end up keeping the beasts happy i only have to do it for a limited time.
My son has been fascinated with the whole thing - preparing the tank, putting in the eggs, watching them hatch, feeding them and watching them grow. He spends lots of time just watching them swim. I think he even learned a lot when one of them died and got gobbled by the others or
had to be fished out.
I think this is a great wee education in the circle of life and a good way to test if the child is interested and able to keep a pet.
The aquasaurs need quite a bit of care - every 3 days you have to fish them out and change the water. They can only cope with spring water so that is a bit of hassle and extra cost. For the temperature of the water we just had a little lamp sitting close to the tank. When they had grown a bit bigger they seemed to cope fairly well with a lower temperature and we only had the light on when we wanted to look at them swim. I recommend this even with the extra work.


Save your money!, 06 Jan 2008
The main problem with this is that you need to keep the temperature of the water between 22-31 degrees. You are going to have to buy an incandescent lamp to do this and have the expense of the electricity! Of course you might get away with it in the summer months. I read some other reviews on Amazon.com which said that they get the water really dirty and also that they eat each other so you end up with one big one! I didn't fancy that at all so mine is still sitting unused in it's box. An additional complication is that you have to use spring water and the tank itself is very flimsy and can't be moved about once filled!

Excavate your very own natural crystals. Build and add your own rock collection, and learn some fun characteristics of different crystals. It's a cool mineral rock digging kit. Contains one plaster block with eight natural crystals buried inside, one specially designed digging tool, one brush, one magnifier, one display case with cover and base card, pouch bag and detailed instructions with fun facts. 5 Years +

Turn a simple toy motor into a generator that converts hand motion into electrical energy and powers a light bulb. No battery, no pollution, just amazement! The generator could be used as an awesome torch. Caution: High Voltage Inspiration! Contains plastic casing, LED light bulb, toy motor, gears and detailed instructions. 8 Years +

The most unique and non-polluting energy sources you can find on Earth - the potato, salt water and mud. Be amazed at how they light up a bulb or sound buzzer. Includes experiment guide for making a coin battery, fork battery, potato buzz wire game and more. Caution: High Voltage Inspiration! Contains 3 zinc plates, 3 copper plates, connection wires, 3 plastic cups, a light tower, a LED lamp with connection wire, a sound chip with connection wire, an experiment record sheet, adhesive tape and detailed instructions. 8 Years +

Recycle a soda can and turn it into a cool robotic bug. Switch it on and watch it vibrate causing it to slide across the floor. It even emits a 'buzz' as it moves along - just like a real bug! It's an awesome robotic science kit. Contains a plastic mechanic body (assembly required), motor with electric wires, 2 pairs of wire rings, 3 wire legs, screws and detailed instructions. 8 Years +

Crazy Duck! Make a crazy robot that walks like a silly duck! It's an awesome robotic science kit. Contains battery box, plastic disc, motor, screws, wires, gear box, nuts, plastic foot, metal legs and detailed instructions. Requires 2 AA batteries, not supplied. Age 8 and above.

Learn about the power of magnets and have fun too !

This kit contains super power magnets that can be transformed into different magnet gizmos for varous fun games that demonstrate all aspects of magnetic power !

The kit contains a selection of magnets, 2 car/boat chassis, 8 wheels, 2 fishing rods/boat masts, plastic fish templates, paperclips and more, along with detailed assembly and game instructions and fun magnet facts.

Developed by popular Wildlife Expert, Author and TV Presenter Nick Baker to give you the tools and information you need for a proper scientific adventure of learning and discovery! Investigate and study the amazing life of bugs and mini beasts that are co

Short-lived but fascinating creatures, 14 Oct 2008
This kit allows you to hatch and rear specimens of Triops longicaudatus, the longtail tadpole shrimp. You simply follow the instructions in the kit (it's basically a case of adding some dirt which contains the eggs into a pot of water and putting it somewhere warm and light) and the T. longicaudatus soon hatch and start growing at an almost alarming pace. The relatively short life cycle makes it an excellent teaching aid for teaching anything to do with growth and development. T. longicaudatus are fed on small pellets of fish food or diced vegetables but can (and invariably do!) eat one another. After a few weeks, you're eventually left with just one very large specimen who has eaten all of his or her brethren. Although the triops don't live for very long (6 weeks or so), they're quite low maintainance and can make a good first pet to help you see if your child would be able to cope with something a bit more long-term, such as fish. Given the short-lived nature of the triops, I don't think I can justify the price of the kit, so it's not going to get a very high overall rating from me, but in terms of educational value and fun, it's excellent!

Poor Fatty, 22 Aug 2007
Its simple really, you get a packet of eggs that look like tobaco, and you pour half of them in some natural mineral water that should be inside the inclded bowl.
Wait 24 hours and half the eggs should have hatched, your told not to feed them for the next 48 hours as they will eath the eggs. When there first hatched its hard to see them but you can see little tiny white tails swimming around, and lots of them!
Soon after 48 hours they should now be clearly visable and you can now feed them with your food that was included.
One of them was huge and I decided to name him Fatty, unfortanatly even when there is enough food the Triops love to eat eachother, I remember after 5 days seeing Fatty nibbling one of my Triops, I did get quite a shock seeing as he always played with them, guessing he loved to play eat tag!

Soon they die however you still have half a pack of eggs left so you can enjoy the fun again.
I recomend this product and children would love it, my son absoultly loved them.

A Tribute to Chompy, 08 Mar 2006
Is it possible to become emotionally attached to a kill-crazy cannibalistic worm that looks like a facehugger from the Alien movies and spends most of its time attempting to eat its siblings? Having recently shed a tear while burying my last one - Chompy - in the back garden, I'd say yes. These little beasties inspired fear and disgust in my girlfriend, but to me they were true friends.

How could I forget the way Chompy used to play with his smaller brothers, chasing them around their tank for hours on end? Every couple of days, one of the brothers would vanish completely, and Chompy would do an extra-long poo to show how much he missed them.

After about 30 days, Chompy disposed of the final, equally large brother - Ripley - by eating him from the tail up. I caught the two of them playing on the bottom of the tank - Chompy had Ripley's face in his mouth, and was munching away without a care in the world. The rest of Ripley was nowhere to be seen.

Heartbroken, Chompy only lasted another week after that. For a while, he ate his fish pellets and bits of carrot as normal, but a triops is only half a triops without his playmates. Eventually Chompy turned green, and the end was nigh.

Would I repeat the experience? Maybe, but next time I would have to steel myself for the inevitable tragic end. Triops might not live long, but they've got personality. And they eat Sea Monkeys for breakfast.

this is a realy fun and cool kit, 10 Dec 2005
This product realy works. The biggest one that I had was about one and a half inches. have fun!...

Don't waist your money, 07 Sep 2007
My son bought one of these kits out of his birthday money and it never worked, the made crystals were nothing like the ones on the box, tell your child to spend their money on something else!

excellent and educational fun, 24 Nov 2005
A great and education fun thing to do with your kids.My children love seeing if there crystals have grown in the morning.A Great education thing toi do with your kids

disappointing, 12 Sep 2008
The mechanical aspect of assembling the motor, and the accompanying explanation of how the motor works was interesting for my 6 year old. But the body itself is made from cardboard and was very fiddly, and took long to build. Cannot see it lasting too long.

Great!, 21 Aug 2003
My little boy loved this! It was something that he could have fun making and have fun using afterwards. I highly recommend it!

Great first try at taking care of a pet, 06 Sep 2008
I have to agree that this is a GREAT product and introduction to children to taking care of any future pets. Yes you do have to get spring water and yes you do have to clean the water and maintain it at a certain temperature but frankly as parents we do much crazier and complicated things for our children, so this is a no brainer. We did not get a lamp! They survived with the temperature of our house. It is true that they do eat each other and the last one left which we called STAR GIRL was huge - but we made it fun for our boys and it was a great experience for them. STAR GIRL survived for roughly the 90 days.

We will start again with some new ones..... now to think of their names!

Great intertainment for wee explorers, 19 Jan 2008
I can't believe the previous review!! Why on earth +0do a review of something you have not tried but just imagine will be bad...I mean, what outlook on life does that reflect...just ridiculous!
My 4 year old got this for Christmas from an uncle and I think it has been great. At four my son is very interested in absolutely everything and has wanted a pet for a while. This gave him the opportunity to have a fish tank but one that probably only lasts as long as his interest. The Aquasaurs live between 20 and 90 days so although I end up keeping the beasts happy i only have to do it for a limited time.
My son has been fascinated with the whole thing - preparing the tank, putting in the eggs, watching them hatch, feeding them and watching them grow. He spends lots of time just watching them swim. I think he even learned a lot when one of them died and got gobbled by the others or
had to be fished out.
I think this is a great wee education in the circle of life and a good way to test if the child is interested and able to keep a pet.
The aquasaurs need quite a bit of care - every 3 days you have to fish them out and change the water. They can only cope with spring water so that is a bit of hassle and extra cost. For the temperature of the water we just had a little lamp sitting close to the tank. When they had grown a bit bigger they seemed to cope fairly well with a lower temperature and we only had the light on when we wanted to look at them swim. I recommend this even with the extra work.


Save your money!, 06 Jan 2008
The main problem with this is that you need to keep the temperature of the water between 22-31 degrees. You are going to have to buy an incandescent lamp to do this and have the expense of the electricity! Of course you might get away with it in the summer months. I read some other reviews on Amazon.com which said that they get the water really dirty and also that they eat each other so you end up with one big one! I didn't fancy that at all so mine is still sitting unused in it's box. An additional complication is that you have to use spring water and the tank itself is very flimsy and can't be moved about once filled!

At last - some for bug-hunting that works!, 07 Dec 2006
Ths is an excellent bit of kit - simple, robust and easy to use. None of the over-engineered delicate gadgetry that such kits usually comprise. And it all works! Nice to see some gear where the bugs that the kids find are the stars, not some colourful bits of of easily broken plastic. I'm a professional entomologist who does a lot of bug work with kids and I will be using this kit as the gold standard for Mums & Dads to get their kids interested. Well done indeed Nick!

Don't waste your money!, 11 Oct 2006
This "kit" is rubbish! Nick Baker is a fraud to support such an unimaginative, useless product. The kids were sorely disappointed when they opened the box to find everything we already had laying around the house. Nick Baker, shame on you.

Ants are fascinating creatures and this habitat is the perfect way for kids to explore how they live, work and feed. Launched in 1956, the world-famous Uncle Milton Ant Farm has sold over 20 million units in the Unitied States. Fantastic educational fun for kids as they can watch the ant "engineers" dig a myriad of interconnecting chambers and tunnels. You can even connect up a series of ant farms using the clear plastic tubing which is included in the pack. The habitat is easy to set up and then we encourage children to harvest their own ants from the garden. Alternatively you can mail-order a European ant species from a laboratory using the enclosed coupon (there is a p&p charge for this service).The 23 x 15cm habitat comes in four assorted colours.

Short-lived but fascinating creatures, 14 Oct 2008
This kit allows you to hatch and rear specimens of Triops longicaudatus, the longtail tadpole shrimp. You simply follow the instructions in the kit (it's basically a case of adding some dirt which contains the eggs into a pot of water and putting it somewhere warm and light) and the T. longicaudatus soon hatch and start growing at an almost alarming pace. The relatively short life cycle makes it an excellent teaching aid for teaching anything to do with growth and development. T. longicaudatus are fed on small pellets of fish food or diced vegetables but can (and invariably do!) eat one another. After a few weeks, you're eventually left with just one very large specimen who has eaten all of his or her brethren. Although the triops don't live for very long (6 weeks or so), they're quite low maintainance and can make a good first pet to help you see if your child would be able to cope with something a bit more long-term, such as fish. Given the short-lived nature of the triops, I don't think I can justify the price of the kit, so it's not going to get a very high overall rating from me, but in terms of educational value and fun, it's excellent!

Poor Fatty, 22 Aug 2007
Its simple really, you get a packet of eggs that look like tobaco, and you pour half of them in some natural mineral water that should be inside the inclded bowl.
Wait 24 hours and half the eggs should have hatched, your told not to feed them for the next 48 hours as they will eath the eggs. When there first hatched its hard to see them but you can see little tiny white tails swimming around, and lots of them!
Soon after 48 hours they should now be clearly visable and you can now feed them with your food that was included.
One of them was huge and I decided to name him Fatty, unfortanatly even when there is enough food the Triops love to eat eachother, I remember after 5 days seeing Fatty nibbling one of my Triops, I did get quite a shock seeing as he always played with them, guessing he loved to play eat tag!

Soon they die however you still have half a pack of eggs left so you can enjoy the fun again.
I recomend this product and children would love it, my son absoultly loved them.

A Tribute to Chompy, 08 Mar 2006
Is it possible to become emotionally attached to a kill-crazy cannibalistic worm that looks like a facehugger from the Alien movies and spends most of its time attempting to eat its siblings? Having recently shed a tear while burying my last one - Chompy - in the back garden, I'd say yes. These little beasties inspired fear and disgust in my girlfriend, but to me they were true friends.

How could I forget the way Chompy used to play with his smaller brothers, chasing them around their tank for hours on end? Every couple of days, one of the brothers would vanish completely, and Chompy would do an extra-long poo to show how much he missed them.

After about 30 days, Chompy disposed of the final, equally large brother - Ripley - by eating him from the tail up. I caught the two of them playing on the bottom of the tank - Chompy had Ripley's face in his mouth, and was munching away without a care in the world. The rest of Ripley was nowhere to be seen.

Heartbroken, Chompy only lasted another week after that. For a while, he ate his fish pellets and bits of carrot as normal, but a triops is only half a triops without his playmates. Eventually Chompy turned green, and the end was nigh.

Would I repeat the experience? Maybe, but next time I would have to steel myself for the inevitable tragic end. Triops might not live long, but they've got personality. And they eat Sea Monkeys for breakfast.

this is a realy fun and cool kit, 10 Dec 2005
This product realy works. The biggest one that I had was about one and a half inches. have fun!...

Don't waist your money, 07 Sep 2007
My son bought one of these kits out of his birthday money and it never worked, the made crystals were nothing like the ones on the box, tell your child to spend their money on something else!

excellent and educational fun, 24 Nov 2005
A great and education fun thing to do with your kids.My children love seeing if there crystals have grown in the morning.A Great education thing toi do with your kids

disappointing, 12 Sep 2008
The mechanical aspect of assembling the motor, and the accompanying explanation of how the motor works was interesting for my 6 year old. But the body itself is made from cardboard and was very fiddly, and took long to build. Cannot see it lasting too long.

Great!, 21 Aug 2003
My little boy loved this! It was something that he could have fun making and have fun using afterwards. I highly recommend it!

Great first try at taking care of a pet, 06 Sep 2008
I have to agree that this is a GREAT product and introduction to children to taking care of any future pets. Yes you do have to get spring water and yes you do have to clean the water and maintain it at a certain temperature but frankly as parents we do much crazier and complicated things for our children, so this is a no brainer. We did not get a lamp! They survived with the temperature of our house. It is true that they do eat each other and the last one left which we called STAR GIRL was huge - but we made it fun for our boys and it was a great experience for them. STAR GIRL survived for roughly the 90 days.

We will start again with some new ones..... now to think of their names!

Great intertainment for wee explorers, 19 Jan 2008
I can't believe the previous review!! Why on earth +0do a review of something you have not tried but just imagine will be bad...I mean, what outlook on life does that reflect...just ridiculous!
My 4 year old got this for Christmas from an uncle and I think it has been great. At four my son is very interested in absolutely everything and has wanted a pet for a while. This gave him the opportunity to have a fish tank but one that probably only lasts as long as his interest. The Aquasaurs live between 20 and 90 days so although I end up keeping the beasts happy i only have to do it for a limited time.
My son has been fascinated with the whole thing - preparing the tank, putting in the eggs, watching them hatch, feeding them and watching them grow. He spends lots of time just watching them swim. I think he even learned a lot when one of them died and got gobbled by the others or
had to be fished out.
I think this is a great wee education in the circle of life and a good way to test if the child is interested and able to keep a pet.
The aquasaurs need quite a bit of care - every 3 days you have to fish them out and change the water. They can only cope with spring water so that is a bit of hassle and extra cost. For the temperature of the water we just had a little lamp sitting close to the tank. When they had grown a bit bigger they seemed to cope fairly well with a lower temperature and we only had the light on when we wanted to look at them swim. I recommend this even with the extra work.


Save your money!, 06 Jan 2008
The main problem with this is that you need to keep the temperature of the water between 22-31 degrees. You are going to have to buy an incandescent lamp to do this and have the expense of the electricity! Of course you might get away with it in the summer months. I read some other reviews on Amazon.com which said that they get the water really dirty and also that they eat each other so you end up with one big one! I didn't fancy that at all so mine is still sitting unused in it's box. An additional complication is that you have to use spring water and the tank itself is very flimsy and can't be moved about once filled!

At last - some for bug-hunting that works!, 07 Dec 2006
Ths is an excellent bit of kit - simple, robust and easy to use. None of the over-engineered delicate gadgetry that such kits usually comprise. And it all works! Nice to see some gear where the bugs that the kids find are the stars, not some colourful bits of of easily broken plastic. I'm a professional entomologist who does a lot of bug work with kids and I will be using this kit as the gold standard for Mums & Dads to get their kids interested. Well done indeed Nick!

Don't waste your money!, 11 Oct 2006
This "kit" is rubbish! Nick Baker is a fraud to support such an unimaginative, useless product. The kids were sorely disappointed when they opened the box to find everything we already had laying around the house. Nick Baker, shame on you.

Educational, but not interesting for long., 06 Sep 2008
Firstly, you should choose Ant World over this product. The price is the same, but Ant World gives you more for your money.

Note that ants are not available in the winter, so this isn't a great christmas present.

Collecting ants for a farm is easy. Leave a little jam outside a dish for a couple of hours and the ants will have homed in on it.

I found some of the breathing holes were too large and ants started to escape. A little sellotape and a needle soon cured the problem. Ant farms are more fun when connected together with the tubes provided. All the farms on the market conveniently use the same diameter tubes.

Ants farms are a better choice than worms, because they will tolerate some light, they work faster and have a wider range of behaviour.

ant farm magic, 01 Jul 2007
I was given an ant farm when I was around 8 years old. That was in the 1950's!! It was THE BEST present I have ever had and it gave me so much fun watching the ants at work. I have NEVER FORGOTTEN it.
Now I am buying one for my granddaughter. Thankfully, this old fashioned amusement has not been digitalised or made to make noise.
Highly recommended as a gift. Also, see if you can buy a worm farm. It is along the same lines, excepting that worms move more slowly!

Now this is one big bunch of bugs! Little insect lovers will be overwhelmed with this stampede of beetles, caterpillars, spiders, ants, flies, praying mantises, and more. Made of sturdy, flexible plastic and colourfully detailed. The resealable tube keeps all the bugs in one tidy place, and the tote strap is great for kids on the go. Size range varies. Approx. 6-8 cm. Ages 3+

With glow-in-the-dark bones and a light-up Shark's tooth base, children can learn and discover the anatomy of Sharks with this fun and educational anatomical model. The front opens to the body cavity and the back shows the skin. Model comes with fully illustrated instruction booklet. 8 Years +

Short-lived but fascinating creatures, 14 Oct 2008
This kit allows you to hatch and rear specimens of Triops longicaudatus, the longtail tadpole shrimp. You simply follow the instructions in the kit (it's basically a case of adding some dirt which contains the eggs into a pot of water and putting it somewhere warm and light) and the T. longicaudatus soon hatch and start growing at an almost alarming pace. The relatively short life cycle makes it an excellent teaching aid for teaching anything to do with growth and development. T. longicaudatus are fed on small pellets of fish food or diced vegetables but can (and invariably do!) eat one another. After a few weeks, you're eventually left with just one very large specimen who has eaten all of his or her brethren. Although the triops don't live for very long (6 weeks or so), they're quite low maintainance and can make a good first pet to help you see if your child would be able to cope with something a bit more long-term, such as fish. Given the short-lived nature of the triops, I don't think I can justify the price of the kit, so it's not going to get a very high overall rating from me, but in terms of educational value and fun, it's excellent!

Poor Fatty, 22 Aug 2007
Its simple really, you get a packet of eggs that look like tobaco, and you pour half of them in some natural mineral water that should be inside the inclded bowl.
Wait 24 hours and half the eggs should have hatched, your told not to feed them for the next 48 hours as they will eath the eggs. When there first hatched its hard to see them but you can see little tiny white tails swimming around, and lots of them!
Soon after 48 hours they should now be clearly visable and you can now feed them with your food that was included.
One of them was huge and I decided to name him Fatty, unfortanatly even when there is enough food the Triops love to eat eachother, I remember after 5 days seeing Fatty nibbling one of my Triops, I did get quite a shock seeing as he always played with them, guessing he loved to play eat tag!

Soon they die however you still have half a pack of eggs left so you can enjoy the fun again.
I recomend this product and children would love it, my son absoultly loved them.

A Tribute to Chompy, 08 Mar 2006
Is it possible to become emotionally attached to a kill-crazy cannibalistic worm that looks like a facehugger from the Alien movies and spends most of its time attempting to eat its siblings? Having recently shed a tear while burying my last one - Chompy - in the back garden, I'd say yes. These little beasties inspired fear and disgust in my girlfriend, but to me they were true friends.

How could I forget the way Chompy used to play with his smaller brothers, chasing them around their tank for hours on end? Every couple of days, one of the brothers would vanish completely, and Chompy would do an extra-long poo to show how much he missed them.

After about 30 days, Chompy disposed of the final, equally large brother - Ripley - by eating him from the tail up. I caught the two of them playing on the bottom of the tank - Chompy had Ripley's face in his mouth, and was munching away without a care in the world. The rest of Ripley was nowhere to be seen.

Heartbroken, Chompy only lasted another week after that. For a while, he ate his fish pellets and bits of carrot as normal, but a triops is only half a triops without his playmates. Eventually Chompy turned green, and the end was nigh.

Would I repeat the experience? Maybe, but next time I would have to steel myself for the inevitable tragic end. Triops might not live long, but they've got personality. And they eat Sea Monkeys for breakfast.

this is a realy fun and cool kit, 10 Dec 2005
This product realy works. The biggest one that I had was about one and a half inches. have fun!...

Don't waist your money, 07 Sep 2007
My son bought one of these kits out of his birthday money and it never worked, the made crystals were nothing like the ones on the box, tell your child to spend their money on something else!

excellent and educational fun, 24 Nov 2005
A great and education fun thing to do with your kids.My children love seeing if there crystals have grown in the morning.A Great education thing toi do with your kids

disappointing, 12 Sep 2008
The mechanical aspect of assembling the motor, and the accompanying explanation of how the motor works was interesting for my 6 year old. But the body itself is made from cardboard and was very fiddly, and took long to build. Cannot see it lasting too long.

Great!, 21 Aug 2003
My little boy loved this! It was something that he could have fun making and have fun using afterwards. I highly recommend it!

Great first try at taking care of a pet, 06 Sep 2008
I have to agree that this is a GREAT product and introduction to children to taking care of any future pets. Yes you do have to get spring water and yes you do have to clean the water and maintain it at a certain temperature but frankly as parents we do much crazier and complicated things for our children, so this is a no brainer. We did not get a lamp! They survived with the temperature of our house. It is true that they do eat each other and the last one left which we called STAR GIRL was huge - but we made it fun for our boys and it was a great experience for them. STAR GIRL survived for roughly the 90 days.

We will start again with some new ones..... now to think of their names!

Great intertainment for wee explorers, 19 Jan 2008
I can't believe the previous review!! Why on earth +0do a review of something you have not tried but just imagine will be bad...I mean, what outlook on life does that reflect...just ridiculous!
My 4 year old got this for Christmas from an uncle and I think it has been great. At four my son is very interested in absolutely everything and has wanted a pet for a while. This gave him the opportunity to have a fish tank but one that probably only lasts as long as his interest. The Aquasaurs live between 20 and 90 days so although I end up keeping the beasts happy i only have to do it for a limited time.
My son has been fascinated with the whole thing - preparing the tank, putting in the eggs, watching them hatch, feeding them and watching them grow. He spends lots of time just watching them swim. I think he even learned a lot when one of them died and got gobbled by the others or
had to be fished out.
I think this is a great wee education in the circle of life and a good way to test if the child is interested and able to keep a pet.
The aquasaurs need quite a bit of care - every 3 days you have to fish them out and change the water. They can only cope with spring water so that is a bit of hassle and extra cost. For the temperature of the water we just had a little lamp sitting close to the tank. When they had grown a bit bigger they seemed to cope fairly well with a lower temperature and we only had the light on when we wanted to look at them swim. I recommend this even with the extra work.


Save your money!, 06 Jan 2008
The main problem with this is that you need to keep the temperature of the water between 22-31 degrees. You are going to have to buy an incandescent lamp to do this and have the expense of the electricity! Of course you might get away with it in the summer months. I read some other reviews on Amazon.com which said that they get the water really dirty and also that they eat each other so you end up with one big one! I didn't fancy that at all so mine is still sitting unused in it's box. An additional complication is that you have to use spring water and the tank itself is very flimsy and can't be moved about once filled!

At last - some for bug-hunting that works!, 07 Dec 2006
Ths is an excellent bit of kit - simple, robust and easy to use. None of the over-engineered delicate gadgetry that such kits usually comprise. And it all works! Nice to see some gear where the bugs that the kids find are the stars, not some colourful bits of of easily broken plastic. I'm a professional entomologist who does a lot of bug work with kids and I will be using this kit as the gold standard for Mums & Dads to get their kids interested. Well done indeed Nick!

Don't waste your money!, 11 Oct 2006
This "kit" is rubbish! Nick Baker is a fraud to support such an unimaginative, useless product. The kids were sorely disappointed when they opened the box to find everything we already had laying around the house. Nick Baker, shame on you.

Educational, but not interesting for long., 06 Sep 2008
Firstly, you should choose Ant World over this product. The price is the same, but Ant World gives you more for your money.

Note that ants are not available in the winter, so this isn't a great christmas present.

Collecting ants for a farm is easy. Leave a little jam outside a dish for a couple of hours and the ants will have homed in on it.

I found some of the breathing holes were too large and ants started to escape. A little sellotape and a needle soon cured the problem. Ant farms are more fun when connected together with the tubes provided. All the farms on the market conveniently use the same diameter tubes.

Ants farms are a better choice than worms, because they will tolerate some light, they work faster and have a wider range of behaviour.

ant farm magic, 01 Jul 2007
I was given an ant farm when I was around 8 years old. That was in the 1950's!! It was THE BEST present I have ever had and it gave me so much fun watching the ants at work. I have NEVER FORGOTTEN it.
Now I am buying one for my granddaughter. Thankfully, this old fashioned amusement has not been digitalised or made to make noise.
Highly recommended as a gift. Also, see if you can buy a worm farm. It is along the same lines, excepting that worms move more slowly!

plants with no attitudes, 01 Nov 2006
My 10 year old daughter received this as a birthday gift. The rose of jerrico is impressive, it goes a bit green then dries up then comes back to life ad infintitum. However none of the seeds germinated. The seeds are also very tiny and only have 3 or 5 in the packet so are difficult to get out and plant. It would have been fantastic if it had worked, but I don't recommend this project as is quite unreliable.

Honey, we shrunk the Anthill! Our regular size Anthill is so terrific, we decided she needed a little sister. Mini Anthill features all of the same live-ant action as the larger size kit. Send away for your live ants, put them into the Mini Anthill and watch them dig! Offers hours and hours of fascinating fun. Note: Insect Lore does not stock live ants and our facility. Please allow 2 to 3 weeks for live ant delivery. £2.00 required for ant shipping. Ages 6 & up.