Update July 2024: This was originally posted in December of 2010, and since then it has been my most popular post ever (I'm not sure why ... maybe I accidentally did some badass SEO). My kid is now 21 and headed to his sophomore year of college to become a mechanical engineer and he is rocking life. And if you're looking for a fun triops kit, check out this Deluxe Triops Kit on Amazon!
We bought one at Michael's for Michael (haha) when he was going through a hard time with his OCD. He was so excited to watch these things hatch and to care for them. We tried both batches and nothing happened. The kit was over 10 bucks, which is a lot of money for a little kid to save up from an allowance.
I wrote the company asking if these are for real. They sent me a new set of eggs with a set of instructions with typos that looked like a 7-year-old had written them (no offense to 7-year-olds).
We cared for these two different sets, making sure we followed the instructions and kept them warm, etc. Nothing happened again. Sure, I was skeptical ... how do you freeze-dry something or however they come and then put them in water and they come to life? Let's do that with humans, wanna?!
Too bad for the Smithsonian Institution that they put their name on a crappy product. Too bad for Michael's that they sell this piece of crap product. We're hoping Santa brings sea monkeys for Michael ... I've heard better things about those!!!
Do Not Buy Smithsonian Triops Kit (aka Sea Monsters)! They are sold under many different names in all sorts of stores and online. UPDATE: I do recommend Sea Monkeys ... they always hatch for us and are SUPER CHEAP. Ours came from Toys R Us but I'm sure you can get them all over the stinkin' place.
Good luck, and let me know how yours turned out. I enjoy your comments, even the ones calling me a moron because I couldn't get them to hatch :-)
Updated April 2013 ... I always love reading the comments on this post and wonder why it is one of most popular ... why are so many of you Googling this topic?! Anyway, the reason I was so upset about this product not working (and we did everything right TWICE) was because my kid was disappointed, and am a Super Mama Bear.
I hope you'll forgive me for being a Triops Moron and check out some other fun stuff on my site ... my kids and husband can be QUITE entertaining!!!!!
And if growing triops makes you hungry, check out my book The Tater Tot Casserole Cookbook ... maybe I can't grow a triops very well, but I can make dinner and dessert and live to write about it! And my kids and their friends even like the stuff!
wtf, i bought that thing (also at michael's lol)
ReplyDeleteand my triops hatched ._.
i bought mine there too they hatched and everything it was really really creepy
DeleteHey Anon, I got those too but im curious to know, are the eggs the kind of brown powder-looking substance?
ReplyDelete(I'm not the same person you asked) They should look a bit like sand. The eggs are generally sold in packets of sand and detritus to help nourish the babies once they hatch (the detritus grows bacteria for them to eat before the are old enough for other types of food).
DeleteMy son got this for Christmas and it has been 2 days....still waiting.
ReplyDeleteIt can take up to a week for them to hatch. Also your water parameters might not have been optimal. Triops do exist and they are great fun when they do hatch and live out their lives. Give it another try! Go to The Triops Forum and talk to people for advice on how to successfully hatch them. Good luck :)
ReplyDeletehello my aunt bought this exact kit for my son at Bed Bath and Beyond in cleveland and i set it up last night and today i went to look at them and on my water bottle that i had next to the tank it had something brown crawling on it very small. What was That??
ReplyDeleteput them under heat
ReplyDeletereally? it been 3 days and i have like 6 triops swimming round
ReplyDeleteJust found this when I googled "smithsonian trips not hatching." My kid is REALLY disappointed. We followed the instructions carefully. Been 5 days. Nothing.
ReplyDeleteWe got the Smithsonian tropical sea monsters and they hatched within a day. Think people really have to follow the instructions and care for them properly. My son is really liking the fact that he has something close to dinosaurs in his presence. Yes it does work if you use the right tool and water also do what they instructed then it should work out fine. My son lost his tropical sea monster food and were just disappointed that we might not get to see them grow completely. If only we could find a store with the same type of food then we would be ok
Deletethey do work it is etier u failed at doing it or u just did not keep it warm because i see 1 small triop it my tank (aka i am 11 and i am pro)
ReplyDeletewash the sand with tap water and then wash once with DISTILLED water, otherwise the chlorine in the tap water will kill your creatures.
ReplyDeletewe got the kit and 5 of them hatched in one day! I know you did something wrong.
ReplyDeletewe followed the instruction to the T ... twice. i'm sure some kits are just different than others; i was just mad b/c ours didn't work and my son was crushed! good news: we got the cheapo sea monkeys and they ROCK and never disappoint and live forever. wonder why my michael's doesn't sell triops anymore? hmmm.
ReplyDeleteMine took a little longer to hatch, like a week and a half, must have been the water temp. But they do work and they are very cool. Give them another try (use hobby lobby coupon, way cheaper!)I also tried sea monkeys but the triops are way better ;)
ReplyDeleteI don't know what the heck you did wrong lol. I got my $5 triops kit and its been just over a week now and I have like 6 triops swimming around, mind you I have 2 chinchillas so I have to keep my house at 65 degrees, optimal temp is 72+. It took 3 days. Did you use distilled water???
ReplyDeleteMy son got these for Christmas too and only 2 hatched. Would have liked to see a few more. Also one of them looks like the picture on the box but the other one does not. It almost looks like it swims upside down and doesnt have the round shape to it. Its got the long tail but it doesnt fork at the end. Not sure if is a triop or something else. They are neat though. Just wish more of them would have hatched.
ReplyDeleteAfter getting six or ten small white thingies swimming around within a day or two, my 7-year-old ended up with one triops and one "fairy shrimp," just as you described. You may have gotten several to begin with as well,but apparently the bigger ones eat the smaller ones.
DeleteI also bought my kit from michaels. Mine hatched in 3 days. I have 2 triops but also have 2 of the long creatures that the last post talked about. Wondering what they are
ReplyDeleteI think they put other eggs in there, like stuff for the triops to eat, but I think they grew too big so the triops couldn't eat them. My friend got a full grown shrimp in hers, but it wasn't a smithsonian kit.
Deletefyi, people. it ain't rocket science. your "water parameters" should not have to be optimal. sea monkeys hatched no problem without special water or lighting or heat. they rock. i'm gettin' s'more! love ya'll, bloggy readers.
ReplyDeleteJust because you're too lazy to properly care for/ raise a slightly more difficult animal does not make sea monkeys any better or the kit as bad as you claim...
DeleteYou are making me roll on the floor laughing right now! Yeah, I'm certainly LAZY ... never a word to describe me! I homeschool and raise five kids while writing books and articles and am also a professional proofreader. Lazy! HAHAHAH! Oh, and we have a dog, 2 Betta fish, a tortoise and a bearded dragon. They are all alive and well. I got a bad kit. Deal with it. Stop being an asshole.
DeleteTriops in the wild need optimal temps because they purposely dont hatch till they are in a safe zone, hence the optimal temperature and conditions
ReplyDeletetry triop world its much better i got one to hatch from that and its cheaper 7.99 but thats in uk i dont know if they sell them eny where eles but u might be able to buy theem online there is also different types of triops kits made by the same people like triop kingdom and triop park there all awsome hope that helps xx
ReplyDeletethanks, xbabytx! that's good advice for those who couldn't get their smithsonians to hatch!
ReplyDeleteI found that the instructions that came with it were unclear and downloaded these ones that were significantly better.
ReplyDeletewww.smithsonianstore.com/.../12084_prehistoric_sea_monsters.pdf
Never heard of this before, but now my curiosity is ignited!!
ReplyDeleteMany different brands of Triops...they are easy to raise, just follow some basics..the best water to use would be RAIN water...for thesekits the water should be anywhere from 74-80 degrees. They are not freeze dried. these things have lived in puddles for several hundred million years. They use a process called diapause. The eggs go dormant when the puddle dries up, and then they hatch when the rains come again...they can be dormant for up to 10 years. If you want sea monkeys go to the fish store and ask for 1 dollars worth of brine shrimp...this will yield you ~500-1000 live shrimp depending on how generous the store is. For the posters who have things in the Triops kits that are not triops, those are fairy shrimp. Google is your friend, research before you buy. An educated consumer is the best customer.
ReplyDeletei've bought them before and they've had 2 Hatchlings but they died within a few days but that was because i put them in a tank that was too big. Hope this helps!
ReplyDeletemine hatched just fine didnt do anything special just put a warm light close to them thats it
ReplyDeletemy triops hatched in one day and i have 9 now
ReplyDeleteu are a fuckin idiot kerrie
ReplyDeleteoh yeah kerrie can u hatch triop eggs in tap water
ReplyDeleteNo offence but you must be doing something wrong, I bought that same kit at my local Michaels and mine hatched. It took a whole week but i have 4 now. The thing is it has to be distilled water, I kept a light on mine because my house is cold, and then thats pretty much it actually, they should hatch. BUT if you want better results getting eggs off ebay or a better site is better. Mine hatched 4 things but only one is a triop the other 3 are seamonkeys which i was upset about since its supposed to be a triops kit... oh well, better luck next time!
ReplyDeleteNo, it's not rocket science, but the water temperature does INDEED have to be correct for those eggs to hatch. These eggs are a marvel of nature in that they lay dormant until just the right conditions for them to hatch. My son received the Smithsonian Triops kit for Christmas this year, and we have hatchlings after 24 hours. In the directions we have for this very kit, it says the water needs to be room temp. Room temperature does not just mean the same temperature that the room is. Room temperature is usually 68-72 degrees. So yes, the water does have to be the right tempature for life to happen. Just like it has to be the right tempature in the womb for a baby to develop.
ReplyDeleteOurs hatched in about 6 hours!!! Love this kit! Want to buy more lol
ReplyDeletewow...quite the comments - 1st round, nothing!! Yes right temp, and checked PH just to see. Going to try the 2nd round this wknd, but a little disappointing. Maybe not all bags are stocked with the same amount of eggs if at all seems a little random when mixed with the moss/mulch? Good luck to all that try this kit! Thinking if this next batch doesn't hatch, we may try to order some from elsewhere and try once more :)
ReplyDeletePS love the comments that use the intelligent swear words - not LOL
You didnt look close anuf there only 3 nanometers big or near that anyway
ReplyDeleteI live on a tropical island, and it took us over 2 weeks to realize that we have triops in there. They are extremely tiny!! We did notice the mosquito larvae though -_____-
ReplyDeleteI also think our chlorinated water probably didn't help the situation. My nine year old wanted to do it all n her own, without fully reading the instructions lol.
we love our triops! we have twelve of them! and they are huge!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! we used distilled water!where can we get more food?
ReplyDeleteI bought at Michael and used half the bag and 3 hatched. Then my 5 yr old knocked it over and we just got the 2nd one from Barnes & Nobles. Its been 2 days and we are waiting. I didnt think it was real either but it is and saw 3 swimming around and they got bigger every day.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeletesea monkeys die in 2-3 weeks, and you will have to keep buying more and more. and even though there cheep, you will be losing the money you could have spent on triops because you have to buy so many. Take my advice: if your triops dont grow, let the water evaporate and freeze the eggs. triopsguys is a good website to check out for hatching. Also, if you live in the western part of the US,(particularly arizona or california) you can find both triops and sea monkeys wild.
ReplyDeleteso many comments ... looks like maybe I should give the triops another try. but sea monkeys are so much cheapter than the smithsonian kit!
DeleteI have this kit and we did everything according to the instructions and had no success. I have worked in a laboratory environment and I know we did everything right. At this point I feel that it must have been a crap shoot if you actually got eggs in with the other matter in your bag. For those that did it worked, for those like me it did not.
DeleteYou could always try a different brand if you are unhappy with it. My little guys hatched just fine. Did you use tap water? If you use tap water they either won't hatch or you'll likely kill them. I used deionized water that I found in the pet section of Walmart for bettas... seems to work well... Just don't use anything with chlorine because you'll kill them. They won't hatch in mineral water though the adults can live in it. And if you use purely distilled water it might not be as good as spring or deionized. Sorry my comment is way after you wrote the post. I agree the instructions were a bit vague but I did a lot of research before I hatched them online. There are lots of useful triops care tips and sites out there if you ever want to try again. Also the tank is really too small, but a microwavable food container would be a great substitute.
DeleteIronically I tried brine shrimp myself once and what hatched died within 12 hours. These guys have been at it for 4 days so far. Oh well I guess different people like different things. Hope you guys had fun with your shrimp :)
it has been a month and two finally hatched. guess the wheather is to cold.
ReplyDeleteWe have a kit and followed the instructions to a t. We now have about ten little triops and two bigger ones. I put the continer by a window that has quite a bit of sun coming into it and they hatched in about two or three days.
ReplyDeleteI've bought two different sets first one worked great the second one turned out to be all WATER FLEAS aka daphnia still cool but not what I paid for
ReplyDeleteIve got like a dozen fairy shrimp swimming around, not triops.....
ReplyDeleteDid anyone else get something other than triops with this kit? I got fairy shrimp and daphnia (I thinks its that but I am not sure). I was pretty upset.
ReplyDeleteUpdate! We have moved on and now my son has a lovely tiny tortoise for the last 3+ years. My other son has two Betta fish and my other son has a bearded dragon. Much more interactive than the triops! Thank you to everyone who has commented! I love hearing from all of you even when you are calling me a dumbass!
ReplyDeleteDo you do anything with the moss type stuff that was with the eggs after you poor the eggs in???
ReplyDeleteThat's their food.
DeleteI got a pile of water fleas and 1 fairy shimp no triops
ReplyDeleteFor those of you who are commenting after 3 days they aren't hatched. DO NOT THROW THEM AWAY...You need PATIENTS! The boxes says a week. If you live in a colder environment or don't have a heat lamp it could take up to a month. Also when they do hatch they are microscope so it might take a few days after they hatch to even see them.
ReplyDeleteAdvice for this kit: the instructions aren't very detailed as what to expect. For those of you who think they are going to hatch over night. HAVE PATIENTS! (DO NOT THROW THEM AWAY) Sometimes it can take longer than a week, depending on how warm it is, but a heating lamp (if you already have one) will speed up the process. When they do hatch you might not realize it, these things are microscope and it could take some time for you to be able to see them. Sidenote: it says if there are adults to keep them separate. I've found if there are bigger ones keep the males and females apart. My kids seen one of the adults. We thought it was female because it looked pregnant. Turns out it was his penis and he ate all the females :( hopefully this helps anyone who didn't have a very happy experience
ReplyDeleteGoing through the comments and I see a lot of "it didn't work we did it exactly right" we used bottled water. Didn't check the temperature of the water. None of the fancy stuff. (It took about 3 weeks) but we had no problem. They didn't have a problem hatching, growing and didn't die. I think that people aren't waiting long enough. If it doesn't work right away it's ok, don't freak out. Give it up to 6 weeks. I see a lot of money people wasted and they probably just poured out or flushed little tiny microscope babies..
ReplyDelete