These are not pets!

Quite a lame excuse for a pet.

awww mine always died!

They used to pitch them in ads on the back pages of comic books.  A friend of mine ordered some, thinking (like edt4 below) they would resemble the cartoon figures in the ads. 

When the tiny wriggling white things manifested he was as disappointed as I was. 

These things are the laimest excuse of a pet!

I loved mine as a kid, so this past Christmas I got some for my 7 year old.  Very easy to care of and a great starter "pet" for kids ~ especially ones who want fish tanks!

They are actually brine shrimp, and alot like fish, in that they are great starter pets, however they are very small and probally don't live long.

I bought them as a kid thinking they were going to look like the ad in the comic book- Dad, Mom, Brother and Sister sea monkeys with smiling, friendly faces, looking like a cross between Creature from the Black Lagoon and Ward and June Cleaver's family. Needless to say, they were far from that. Little microscopic white things maneuvering their way through the water. I never trusted another comic book ad in my life. Later, as a teenager, we made a trip via car to California and stopped at what I remember as a lake of some sort in Utah (I think) and countless sea monkeys were swimming around in the water.

Brine shrimp? Sounds more like an appetizer.

Great as a first pet, though I never really had one. They're a bit boring and definitely not very interactive. I prefer pets I can interact with (cats, dogs, rabbits, ferrets etc).

Yes -- in comicbook ads. I sent away for them 3 times.
Only received twice, though.
Somewhere, in a dark corner of some post office, is a box of very dried brine shrimp!
Most likely, they'll still come to life...if anyone ever mail-orders a gallon of pure spring water...
that ends-up busted, in a dark corner of some post office.

Remember when they were sold?The ads were on the back of comic books.Interesting pet.

Nice instant pets for little kids, but altogether too small.