Tag Archives: critter care

Engage Students with Creepy Crawly Hands-on Science

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Launching your lessons with a hands-on activity is a great way to get kids re-engaged in your classroom after Spring Break!

Our most popular items for your students’ return are bugs and critters. Kids of all ages love exploring the world of creepy crawly bugs. Explore metamorphosis! Or teach about the critters’ roles in the ecosystem. Gather a variety of critters and host a bug show.

If you prefer to not have live critters, consider life cycle models for a hands-on, but not creepy-crawly, way to explore the life cycle of insects.

Caterpillars and butterflies.

We also provide classroom and individual student kits

Ants.

Harvester ants are HUGE and easy to observe. Keep them contained in a habitat.

Ladybugs.

Don’t forget a habitat!

Mealworms.

We also provide a growing kit with food, burlap, mealworms, pupae, and beetles; as well as an experiment kit to explore the mealworms’ sensitivity to light.

Praying Mantid egg case and habitat or individual egg case.

Pill Bugs.

These harmless roly poly bugs are a great choice for those of us who might be a tad bit squeamish about other bugs.

Snails: land and pond


Earthworms

Crayfish

Water Fleas

Crickets

Desert Millipede

Redworms

Hydra

Milkweed bugs and eggs

Planaria

Silkworms

Tenebrio Beetles

Vinegar Eels

Drosophila Fruit Flies

Brine Shrimp.

Shh, here’s a secret: Sea-Monkeys are actually brine shrimp.

 

What are your students’ favorite critters to explore?

Giant Ant Farm review

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We received a Giant Ant Farm and some harvester ants from Heath Scientific to try.

The Ants

Harvester ants are HUGE. These aren’t your run-of-the-mill tiny sidewalk ants. Even without a magnifying glass, you can clearly see their mandibles and other body parts.

The Farm

The Giant Ant Farm is fantastic for more than one child. The large, double-sided viewing area gives plenty of space for kids to come close and observe the ants.

The only drawback is the base: we’ve accidentally knocked it over a couple times. Then again, we have a 4-year-old and a 2-year-old, so accidents are not unexpected. I expect that older kids wouldn’t knock it over. A large-base alternative–that won’t get knocked over–is the ant hill, which has a smaller viewing area but is more stable.

Taking care of the ants

Ants are low-maintenance. They just require a few squirts of water and crumbs of food. The ant farm came with a year’s supply of food, which makes it easy to feed them.

For all ages

My 4-year-old and a 2-year-old were absolutely fascinated when we set up the ant farm. Elementary aged kids will love the farm, as well–and they will be thrilled to see the tunnels the ants build.

I find it fascinating to watch the ants, too. You can see how they communicate and react to events–like water raining on their farm. It’s unbelievable that, even though no one ant is directing them, they still manage to get communal activities done. At first, they’d dig and refill each others’ tunnels, but now they’ve built several together.

Butterfly Student Kit Review

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The Butterfly Student Kit from Heath Scientific comes with a butterfly habitat, guide, dropper, and coupon for live caterpillars. The caterpillars and their food are mailed directly to you, any time of year. The product comes with a guarantee that at least 3 of the 5 caterpillars will turn into butterflies.

The Science

Watching the metamorphosis process is fascinating as butterflies go through four distinct stages of life. Learn the butterfly’s life cycle by observing it firsthand.

Reviews

This product tends to get high and enthusiastic reviews.

One reviewer described how her children would rush to see the progress of the caterpillars every morning and would call “Hey, Mom, come look at this!” Soon, she found herself rushing to the caterpillars and calling, “Kids, come look!” also.

A 5th grade teacher reviewing this kit said it helps her students really remember the metamorphosis stages to see it firsthand.

Easiest pet ever

Simple care.

No messes to clean up.

No feeding: caterpillars come with enough food.

If the butterflies emerge when it’s above 55 degrees outside, you can let them go in the wild. If not, they live for 2-4 weeks and eat sugar water.

For All Ages

Children of all ages–and even adults!–enjoy this butterfly kit. It’s a favorite gift for elementary-aged children, particularly the 5-7 year-old age range, but children as young as 2 thoroughly enjoy the butterfly kit. (Of course, always be careful with young children. Small parts can pose a choking hazard.)

Adults reviewing the product frequently mention how they themselves were, surprisingly, captivated by watching the metamorphosis.

 

Formula For Successfully Hatching Chicken Eggs

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chicken eggs

No other bird in the world has a larger population than the chicken, chickens are used mostly as a food source as well as for their eggs.

Following these steps will help ensure you have success in hatching your chicken eggs.

How to Hatch a Chicken Egg

Succesfully hatching chicken eggs is a 21 day process. By using an automatic egg turner and still air incubator, the process can be very simple and successful.

Day 1

Place the chicken egg incubator on a level surface, fill trough with water, place automatic egg turner in (if you have one), adjust temperature to 97 degrees F and place the chicken eggs small end down in the turner.

Day 2-3

Monitor temperature and water level. During the chicken egg hatching process, leave the chicken egg incubator closed except for adding water.

Day 4

Remove the red plugs for ventilation and check water level.

Day 5-13

Monitor temperature and water.

Day 14

Chick development and metabolism during the incubation may cause the temperature to rise. The temperature may need to be reduced. Monitor this until day 18.

Day 15-17

Monitor temperature and water trough

Day 18

The eggs are getting close to hatching. Remove chicken eggs from turner and the turner from the incubator. Place chicken eggs on the wire tray and fill the large and small trough with water. Raise the temperature to 98 degrees.

Day 19-21

Maintain the temperature at 98 degrees. Allow the chicks to hatch and dry in the incubator.

Some chicken eggs may hatch slower. Leave them in the incubator for 2 more days. Supply heat lamp, chick feed and water for the chicks.

Where you can get Supplies

If you are looking for eggs you can hatch, you should check with local farms. Getting eggs off of Ebay or other online locations usually has a 50% hatch rate at best (this is due to shipping).

Have Questions or Comments?

If you’ve found great places to buy hatching chicken eggs, or have a question or comment- let us know below.

Care Instructions for Pet Crayfish

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crayfishCrayfish are marvelous classroom organisms. They are exciting and easy to care for. Through close observation, students can learn interesting details about animal structures while developing sensitivity to the needs of living organisms.

About

Crayfish are also known as crawfish, crawdads, mudbugs, and yabbies; they resemble and are related to lobsters. Crayfish most commonly live in freshwater, only a few have the ability to survive in salt water. There are over 500 different species of crawfish in the world and more than half of them are located in North America. Specifically, Louisiana produces 90% of the world’s crayfish for consumption as food.

Care

To keep your pet crayfish comfortable you will need to keep it in a freshwater aquarium, a fish tank will work just fine. Make sure to cover any holes in the lid of the tank to keep your crayfish from escaping. Feeding your crayfish is simple; many common fish foods will work. Pet crayfish will eat shrimp pellets, vegetables, fish food, algae wafers, goldfish, and minnows. Be careful which fish, if any, you put in the aquarium with your pet crawdad because they will attack and eat fish if they feel threatened or if they appear to be an easy snack. When using a prepared food, do not overfeed. The excess food will spoil the water.

Crayfish from the wild may have mud on their swimmerettes. The crayfish need to be purged (placed in clean, dechlorinated water) to remove the mud. Depending on how much mud is present, several water changes may be necessary.

Crayfish like to have a place to hide. The crayfish will molt, shed it’s exoskeleton. During the few hours after the molt, the crayfish has a soft exoskeleton and is vulnerable to predators. The larger the crayfish grows, the longer the time is in between molts. Crayfish have gills for breathing underwater, but can also breathe air.