Meet George, He’s a Triop!
by adminSay hello to the Spectrum store’s newest inhabitant: George!
George is a Triop, a creature that was around during the time of the dinosaurs. For over 220 million years Triops have been on this Earth, and they haven’t changed much since those dinosaur days.
Triops exist on every Continent on the Earth except Antarctic. They are found in ponds and swamp locations. The major survival feature of Triops is their eggs naturally ‘freeze dry’ during dry periods. So a Triop can lay eggs in a pond, the pond can dry up, and the eggs will remain unharmed until the rains come back and the ponds refill. Then the eggs can hatch and the new generation of Triops is born. If there is a dry spell for a years, the eggs can still survive.
Triops are available as an amazing “Grow your own…” project. Unlike Butterfly, Ladybug and Frog kits where you send away for the insects or animals, the Triops Eggs are actually in the kits themselves! You get everything in one nifty envelope that we sell at Spectrum! All you need is in the envelope: Triop eggs, water conditioner, food, and instructions. Once the water is conditioned, the eggs can be added and will hatch within 24 hours!
As of the (rather crude) picture of George was taken, he was only about 2 weeks old and still growing. Triops can get up to 2″ long and are fascintation to watch swim as they propel themselves by ‘flapping’ their sides. They happily swim upside-down, and some varieties have three eyes!
Triops are not long-lived. The last about 90 days on average. In that short time they show an amazing amount of an animal’s life cycle. All of this for a product under $6! Amazing!
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