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Care Guides

Biology care guides ranging from bacteria, earthworms, aquarium and carnivorous plants, etc. Examine all the free material that Flinn Scientific has to offer you. 

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Caring for Xenopus Frogs

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Caring for Daphnia

Caring for Daphnia is a Flinn Biology Minute that provides tips to help maintain healthy, active cultures of Daphnia.

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Culturing Tardigrades (Water Bears)

Water bears are a fascinating, and quite adorable, microorganism. Use the Culturing Tardigrades Guide to learn about what they like to eat as well as their ideal temperature conditions and media requirements.

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Culturing Peridinium and Other Dinoflagellates

Peridinium is a freshwater dinoflagellate found in lakes, ponds and pools. These unicellular protists are frequently used in cell biology research areas of nuclear structure and function, circadian rhythms and endosymbiosis. They are circular–oval shaped and range in size from 0.01 to 0.1 mm in diameter. Peridinium range in color from green to yellow-brown. Few species of Peridinium are purely photosynthetic. Instead, most species are mixotrophic, supplementing autotrophy with heterotrophy.

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Anole (American Chameleon) Care Guide

Green anoles are also known as “American Chameleons” because of their ability to change colors from brilliant greens to shades of brown. They are relatively hardy, inexpensive to obtain, diurnal and quite docile. These features makes them a favorite pet and an ideal addition to any classroom. Anoles are native to the southeastern United States, ranging from the gulf coast states to Oklahoma. In the wild, they occupy habitats of bushes, trees less than 15 feet tall and rock walls or woods around houses. Anoles are strict insectivores and feed on crickets, grasshoppers, grubs, spiders and moths. Males can be territorial and should not be housed with other males. The average life span of an anole is three to five years, but with excellent care and nutrition, seven to ten years is common.

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Grass Frog Care Guide

Grass frogs, also called northern leopard frogs, range naturally throughout most of North America, except for the Pacific coast. They tend to stay near ponds or marshes, but can be found wandering into well-covered grasslands to search for food. Grass frogs are typically greenish-black in color with an array of irregularly-shaped dark spots on their backs and legs. The belly tends to be pearly-white in color and lacks spots. They average 3–5 inches, nose to rump, with females being larger than males. They enjoy feeding on all types of small invertebrates with the occasional vertebrate: beetles, ants, flies, worms, smaller frogs, birds and even garter snakes. An average life span is 2– 4 years in the wild; however, on occasion they can survive 8 or 9 years.

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Eastern Newt Care Guide

Eastern newts are a great addition to a life science or biology classroom. As amphibians, they have three unique life stages that include an aquatic larval, a terrestrial juvenile (called an eft) and an adult (newt) stage, when they return to the water. The terrestrial efts range in color from reddish-brown to orange to bright crimson with red spots and black speckles. Adult newts are greenish-brown to yellowish-brown. Depending on region, there may be a row of red spots or incomplete stripes of bright red enclosed with black borders along either side of the body. The belly is lighter in color, often yellow to orange. The entire body is covered in black speckles.

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Egg to Chick Care Guide

Watching a baby chick emerge from its egg is a remarkable experience. Hatching chicken eggs is an excellent, hands-on experience that captivates and encourages curiosity in students of all ages while building on important scientific concepts and skills.

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Fire-Bellied Toad Care Guide

Amphibians are a great addition to a life science or biology classroom. Brilliantly colored, diurnal and hardy, fire-bellied toads, Bombina orientalis, are an exceptional pet. Amphibian literally means “double life,” as they spend part of their lives in water and part on land. Fire-bellied toads can live up to 12 years in captivity with proper care and maintenance. They are native to northeast China, Korea, southern Japan and Russia, enjoying coniferous forests with broad leaves and slow moving streams or ponds. As omnivores, they feed on plant substances as tadpoles and invertebrates as adults.

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Lichen Care Guide

Lichen are often mistaken for plants. Actually they are a complex mutualistic symbiotic association between a fungal species and either an algae or cyanobacteria. Lichens are notable as pioneer species in the process of ecological succession and as residents of environments that few other organisms can tolerate. Although they seem to thrive under inhospitable conditions, lichens are highly susceptible to pollution and are often seen as natural indicators of air quality.

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Terrarium Care Guide

Terraria are mini ecosystems that contain plants and sometimes small animals. These mini ecosystems are ideal in a classroom as a visual reference when studying ecosystems, the water cycle, nutrient cycles, life cycles, and plants. The bog and insectivorous ecosystems are very different from the woodland and desert ecosystems.

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Care of Freshwater Fish - Live Material Care Guide

Freshwater fish are easy to care for and provide many opportunities for learning in any classroom. A classroom aquarium is an entire ecosystem in just a couple of feet of space. This ecosystem includes the nitrogen cycling bacteria and photosynthetic algae that form biofilms on the surfaces, protozoa in the filter, aquatic plants, and of course the fish. The fish population provides an opportunity to study animal behavior; from the schooling danio and tetra to aggressive cichlids, each tank offers a chance to study social, feeding, and maybe even breeding behavior.

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Care of Termites

Reticulitermes flavipes is just one of several species of subterranean termites native to North America. Termites are an important part of the decomposer food chain as they help decompose cellulose into nutrients that enter the soil.

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Care of Bessbugs

The Bessbug (Odontotaenius disjunctus) beetle is perfect for classroom studies. These common beetles are also known as patent-leather beetles, Betsy bugs and horned passalus. The adults are 1–1.5 inches long with golden “fringe” on the middle legs, pronotum and on the antennae. The common name patent-leather beetle comes from the shiny, black exoskeleton. Although they have wings, they fly very rarely. Instead, they slowly amble in search of food within rotting hardwood logs.

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Chalkley’s Medium for Protists

Use this handy guide to determine the ideal medium, food and temperature for protists.

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Culturing Brine Shrimp Eggs

Just add seawater to a small number of brine shrimp cysts and they seem to magically develop and hatch. Brine shrimp (Artemia) are amazing small organisms with the ability to survive severe environmental conditions. Watch nauplii larvae hatch and swim!

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Hermit Crab Care Guide

Use the following care guide to learn how to care for hermit crabs.

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Isopod Care Guide

Pill bugs (Armadillidium sp., aka Roly Poly) and Sow bugs (Oniscus or Porcellio sp., aka potato bugs or wood lice) are frequently confused but they are very easy to distinguish from one another if you look closely. (The diagrams below show them both but letter B is the pill bug) However, either species is very easy to keep in a classroom. Also, contrary to popular belief, these animals are not “bugs” (Class Insecta) but are related to shrimp and lobster (Class Crustacea). Female pill bugs and sow bugs carry eggs in a brood pouch under the exoskeleton and are difficult to see. Development of the young into full-size adults takes approximately a year.

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Bacterial Cultures Care Guide

Use the following recommendations to care for bacterial cultures.

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Duckweed Culture Guide

Use the following culture guide to care for duckweed populations.

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Use the following recommendations to care for seeds.

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Care of Classroom Plants

Use the following recommendations to care for your classroom plants.

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Care of Carnivorous Plants

Use the following recommendations to care for your carnivorous plants.

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Drosophila melanogaster Care Guide

Drosophila melanogaster are commonly used to teach genetics as a generation requires only 10–20 days from egg to mature adult. Drosophila are also prey for small lizards or venus flytraps. Plus they are easy to care for!

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Care of Aquarium (Aquatic) Plants

Use the following recommendations to care for your aquarium plants.

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Culturing Snails

Snail is a common name used for a large proportion of the Gastropoda class that have coiled shells.

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Culturing Rotifers

The name “rotifer” was derived from latin language meaning “wheel-bearer.” This is because the area around the mouth that resembles a wheel. They exhibit bilateral symmetry as well as a variety of different shapes. Their body is typically cylindrical and has three regions—head, trunk and foot.

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Culturing Worms

Use the following recommendations to care for worms.

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Care of Reptiles

Use the following recommendations to care for reptiles.

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Care of Amphibians

Use the following recommendations to care for amphibians.