Customer Reviews

Insect Lore Earthworm Nursery

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is a horrible product. Here is why:
1. It falls apart. All the pieces you see are not attachted. When the kids pick it up it falls apart and everything spills on the floor.

2. You have to wait 4 to 8 weeks for the earth worm eggs, and ours never hatched. The kids were so bummed!

3. You can't fill the nursery with dirt more than half an inch. So even if your earth worms hatched you can't watch them in the dirt.

What a waste of time, the kids were so bummed!

I was surprised at the negative reviews. I got this a couple years ago for my kids. It did take awhile for the worms to hatch. As I recall they start out as these little seeds and then hatch into these tiny white worms. The hatching took awhile - maybe a couple months in some cases. You can put them in the dirt shortly after that but by then my kids had kind of lost interest. Once you put them in the dirt you don't see them much unless you are feeding them and you move the dirt around. After all, they are worms and that's what worms do...go underground. They don't come to the surface unless they have to. Most all the worms hatched and got to be a pretty nice size before we released them into the wild. I felt bad doing that because I figured the birds would get them and they were safer in the little plastic box. Like the moms who cry at Disney movies, I got attached to the worms. *sniff*

Another reason I liked this toy is that the worms don't fly or crawl around your house and make nests (like ants or butterflies or ladybugs). If any of those creatures got loose in my house I'd probably scream. But worms don't freak me out as much.

This was an initial hit, but the worms never "hatched". The company was nice and sent us another batch to try. These did "hatch" but never grew past the size of a speck. We figured maybe it was because we didn't keep them in ideal conditions although we tried. My daughter ended up putting worms from the garden in it. Once they are buried in the dirt, it was tough for my kids to enjoy watching them. They pretty much ended up digging them up and putting them back in just to see them dig. Overall, it was a bust for us, but your mileage may vary. The quality of the build was nice. My kids still use the hatchery as a general bug catcher and like to put snails in the dirt with plants.
Other Insect Lore products have been great, like the butterfly hatchery. That was a BIG hit and worth every dime. This... not so much so. If you can properly watch over these little guys on a daily basis, maybe it will work better for you.

I was very excited to order this Earthworm Nursery through an Amazon seller. It has definately been a fun project for my 4 children. The pieces are sturdy plastic and don't tip over easily...however, having researched the item both on Amazon and Insect Lore's (the product maker) website I knew there were Earthworm Nursery kits that include only the nursery with a certificate to send for the cocoons AND kits that came with both the nursery AND the vermipods (cocoons). The description of this item states "...Includes approximately 50 Vermipod earthworm cocoons, greenhouse habitat, special growth soil and instructional guide." This description led me to believe this kit was one in which the cocoons were included NOT a certificate. I was wrong. This kit only comes with a certificate to redeem for the vermipods (for an additional $4 fee). Had I known this, I would have ordered straight from Insect Lore and gotten everything at once rather than receiving the nursery, calling Insect Lore to order my vermipods, and waiting another week to receive those.

Overall, this has been a fun project and we plan to order additional projects made by Insect Lore. My kids are especially looking forward to the Carnivorous Plant kit and the Butterfly Pavilion. We will probably order straight through the maker next time, though, so we can eliminate the delay waiting for the cocoons/insects.

I think this is a great way for teachers to show students how the life cycle of an earthworm begins. It is also perfect for students to observe as the earthworms begin to grow and change and students really enjoy doing handson science projects and it is also very educational for both teacher and students.