Recently I acquired Sea Monkeys as a birthday present, and only about 8 or 9 days ago finally “planted” the little guys. I’ve been following the booklet instructions to the letter, and the little buggers are getting quite huge and numerous. I’m wondering - how big do they get? Do they all just suddenly up and die one day, or do they stick around for awhile if you actually take care of them? And how, pray tell, can they “regenerate” if they all die and I let the water evaporate and then add more water, like the booklet says? What is that about?!
Seriously though, they are pretty cool, and have become the wee mascots of my entire office.
That explains the “Final Solution MicroVue Sea Monkey Steamer” and the little “Banana Flavored Stars” treats I suppose.
I rehatched Sea Monkeys once- really does work, though when those died I couldn’t care less about doing them again. I actually took a “MicroVue Ocean Zoo” that I’d just hatched on vacation once when I was a kid- the water sloshed from Alabama up to Virginia and back and even though I took them because I knew they’d die if I left them for my g’mother to take care of, somewhere around North Carolina even I was tired of them and dumped the survivors in a toilet. For years- literally when we sold the car years later- the back seat and floor board of my dad’s Cadillac was called “the Brine Shrimp Gehenna” because we never were able to get the exeskeletons of the sloshed & damned out- you’d still find one or hear it crunch from then on.
In many ways and for many kids Sea Monkeys could well be the introduction to Critical Thinking skills. They don’t exactly live up to the pics. I also remember sending away $.75 and a SASE for a “Sea Vac” that was advertised- it was a “mini vacuum cleaner for cleaning your tank”. I still remember how pissed I was when the SASE came back with nothing but an eyedropper in it- no letter, receipt, or anything else.
My sea monkeys came with a book of ‘tricks’ that you could ‘train’ the little beasts to do – like shining a penlight through and watching them react to it. It occurred to me that these ‘tricks’ were more in the nature of ‘fucking with them.’
So, this is what **Cafe Society ** has devolved into? Discussions about Shakespeare, Rembrandt and Sea Monkeys!?
May I be the first one to amend the official description, as follows:
Cafe Society: Our salon for art, drama, literature, movies, music, comics, cuisine, and branchiopod behavior – all the artistic disciplines – if it’s about creativity, entertainment, leisure, or brine shrimp it goes here!
AN ODE TO SEA MONKEYS
In B minor
O little friends that swim about
In frollick and in Glee
The Briney shrimp that I do tout
No one is greater or Monkier than thee!
Your smiles so Sunny
Your Antics so Funny
I come to watch you build your castles and nest
But today instead I find you all still and at rest
And tho I feel I knew all about ye from what I had read.
I fear, and loathe that I forgot to feed thee,
cause you’re all dead.