Poor Sea Monkeys!

Its rather sad when you find out you can't even keep Sea Monkeys alive.

Published on September 18, 2004 By Ziggystyles In Life Journals

Well for the second time in less than a month, I have managed to kill a thing (bag?...what the heck do you call what you get in the box) of Sea Monkeys. The first batch lasted for a while...a while to me. I think I started them in February of this year. We had to move down here to Las Vegas, and so instead of just flushing them, I wanted to take them with me. They were fine the first couple of days....but on the last day of the trip...they died. I kept checking on them...but I think they were too close to the engine of the Uhaul truck. We had one of those Uhaul vans...and that Doghouse portion that covers the top part of the back of the engine...thats where you can put maps and cans and stuff....I put the Sea Monkeys there. Well I looked at them that after noon and they were all dead..and I figured the heat got to them.

Since then, I bought another Sea Monkey kit...and just like before, I took regular tap water and mixed in the water purifier. Well they were doing fine....lots of them...and then I checked the other day...and only one was left. Now he is gone too. This one wasnt my fault, however. I think it is the Las Vegas water. I dont know why....but they chlorinate the heck out of the water...so much so that i can smell the chlorine in the water. I even filtered the water out in our water pitcher before I put it in the container...but I believe the water still had lots of stuff in it.

Ok well that was a rather pointless post....but at least I posted something...its been a while.
Poor Sea Monkeys

Comments

writer365247

on Sep 19, 2004

Sea Monkey's? Really. I don't think I've ever seen one. Great posting though.

GhoS

on Sep 19, 2004

I haven't had Sea Monkeys for at least 25 years and I don't remember them ever living very long. Not that make very exciting pets anyway. Amazing they have lasted so long.

Gideon MacLeish

on Sep 19, 2004

mmmm, sea monkeys!

dmbishop

on Sep 20, 2004

Sorry to hear about your loss(es). It is truly a tragedy when we lose members of the shrimp community.

But seriously folks... I just got the Sea Monkeys From Mars kit for my son (he's 6). In the instructions, they say that if all your Monkeys die, let all the water evaporate and refill it with clean water. A suprisingly large number of eggs survive and can be reborn. Might have been worth a shot with the first batch.

As for the Vegas water, it is probably highly treated and/or has a lot of heavy metals in it. Next time, buy a bottle of Poland Spring and use that to start your Monkeys. I keep a lot of fish (10 gal tank in my office, 150 gal tank in my den) and I only give them filtered water (from a Pur Ultimate sink filter, not a quickie Brita pitcher filter) and I also put in 1 drop per gallon of Tap Water Conditioner ($5 to treat 1200 gallons from any pet store).

Dave

BlueDev

on Sep 20, 2004

Ah the joys of sea monkeys. Imagine my disappointment, after seeing countless pictures of them with their crowns and tridents in my comic books, to actually get some and find they were little, slimy, shrimp things. I was scarred for life.

Well, okay, maybe that was a bit strong.

canning-poverty

on Sep 20, 2004

Yes, Vegas water is nasty and heavily treated.

Back in February or March, there was a burst sewage line that dumped something like 2 million gallons of raw sewage into the storm drains and went straight into Lake Mead, a chief source of the city's drinking water (You might be able to find the story in the Las Vegas Weekly's archives). Lake Mead is otherwise fairly polluted as well, so the water is massively treated before it gets to you...so you don't die and such.

Bet you wanted to hear that.

Ziggystyles

on Sep 20, 2004

Hmmm, Im sensing sarcasm.

Well first, to me, a filter is a filter. I like tap water from anywhere I can find it. Im not picky. I got started on filtered water because my girlfriend had it at her place and when I went shopping at a thrift store, I found a pitcher and bought it...then I had to go out and buy a new filter...but I didnt want to spend 30 bucks on the whole package brand new. Then when we got down here, we started drinking the tap water and it was just nasty...it left an after taste and you could smell the chlorine, and the water was foggy for quite some time...so I went out and bought a Brita. Either way...they remove some of the junk in the water.

Also, its really annoying when there is no such thing as cold water. Im used to tap water, running out of the cold side....as being failry cold.....down here I figure the ground doesnt freeze up...water lines are closer to surface....water stays nice and toasty all day long.

I could let the water evaporate....but to let the 12 onces or whatever that is in there evaporate....its going to take a while....and my ADHD will kick in long before that happens.

And they do have tridents and crowns....you have to use the optional magnifying super octo-lens. very small.

Was weird....for about two weeks...two of them (in the first batch) got tangled up somehow...figured they were doing their funky monkey mating thing or whatever they do...but when it lasted for that long....i figured they got tangled up.

Gideon MacLeish

on Sep 20, 2004

Also, its really annoying when there is no such thing as cold water. Im used to tap water, running out of the cold side....as being failry cold.....down here I figure the ground doesnt freeze up...water lines are closer to surface....water stays nice and toasty all day long.

Water lines are set at 2 feet below the surface, where the ground temperature is a constant 75 degrees, so...yup.

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