Biolumiscent Dinosaur Pet

Product Description

Features

• Dino Pet micro-aquarium by BioPop
• Dino Pet is alive - Please open immediately upon arrival
• Bioluminescent Dinoflagellates
• The Dino Pet allows you to hold one of nature's most magical occurrences in the palm of your hand.
• Includes one pouch of Dino Food

Top Reviews

Its a big boy toy... and it's pretty cool
by Bryan (4 out of 5 stars)
August 22, 2017

I absolutely love the BioPop brand and all that they stand for. I've had my dinopet for almost 2 years now and I've definitely learned a few things.

First, you need to abandon your expectations before you can enjoy the concept. These are live animals that require time and money to maintain. They need to be fed and kept in a suitable environment (that means the right temp. And lighting). It's not a magical glowing night light that requires no effort to maintain. That being said, they don't necessarily require any upkeep between feedings once you've found a suitable place to keep them. The fact that they bioliminesce at all is incredible, but the reality is, they're only going to emit a brief flash of light when agitated at night. The blue light is beautiful- especially when you see it for the first time. I give mine a little shake almost every time I pass by it at night and it never gets old.

Second, they're expensive pets... but they don't have to be. It's recommended you feed them every 7-10 days, but that's ridiculous. I empty out about a 1/4 - 1/5 of the culture every month or so and replace it with fresh medium (their food). Thats all they really need to survive. You can probably even stretch it to a month and a half if the population isn't too dense. Instead of pouring the dinoflagellates down the drain, you can use that to start side cultures in other containers such as an erlenmeyer flask or bottle. Now, the initial cost is kinda expensive, but after that, you can get around buying the expensive "dino food." I instead use a medium from Carolina Biological Supply Co. thats specifically made for these kind of dinoflagellates, and it's a whole lot cheaper. Instead of paying $15 (not including shipping) for a 200 mL pouch of BioPop "dino food" I get a 1 L (1000 mL) bottle of "Bioluminescent Dinoflagellate Medium, 1 L" sold by Carolina Biological Supply Company here on Amazon for about $30 including shipping. So instead of paying $7.5 per 100 mL ($15 ÷ 200 mL) plus shipping for "dino food," you can buy esentially the same thing for $3 per 100 mL ($30 ÷ 1000 mL).

All things considered most people will really enjoy the dinopet. If you're naturally curious, a smart shopper, and willing to put in the minimal effort to maintain the dinopet, then you're going to love it just as I do.
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Not usable right out of the box, has a limited life before you must buy refills
by Shannan (3 out of 5 stars)
August 26, 2016

The Dino Pet is an interesting concept, but buyers need to be aware that it's not just an "open the box and you're good to go" product. First, the dinoflagellates are not included with the Dino Pet. There is a card included in the box that has a code you enter on the Bio Pop website. Other reviewers have noted that Bio Pop won't ship when the temperature exceeds 90 degrees, but mine were shipped the day after I entered the code on the website, and it was in the high 90s here in Idaho. I don't know if that's good or bad, but they seem to be alive. You add the dinoflagellates and the food to the Dino Pet and then wait until it's dark to see the reaction. You must gently shake the container in order to get the reaction. It is cool to see the blue glow and my grandchildren are pretty fascinated by it.

The Dino Pet is more like a real pet in that you have to keep feeding it every so often, it must be placed in a well-lit area (but not direct sunlight) during the day, and then it needs to be kept in a dark place at night.

If I hadn't received this product for free to test it, I would be very disappointed. It's not a product that can be used right away and when you run out of food, or the flagellates die, or both, you will need to buy refills. $70 is a lot of money to pay for this kind of thing and I just can't recommend this at such a high price.
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Cool toy/pet! But there is maintenance and only lights up in spurts (not constant glow).
by NotMarkTwain (4 out of 5 stars)
December 13, 2014

I initially purchased this via their Kickstarter campaign. It took awhile (like most delayed projects on KS) but they finally shipped. A few things to note about this product:
1. As they note, it's a living thing! You have to feed it their "Dino Food" every month or so to keep it alive. Included one but I hear more are sold separately. Just know it's not fully self contained and won't last a super long time without the refills.
2. As a living thing, it requires equal time in the light and dark. So it kind of needs care in terms of placing it somewhere to get good light but it's not really that bad (just so direct sunlight as they say).
3. Does it light up like the picture? Yes and no. The luminescence is super cool, but it only lights up when the flagella (sp?) are agitated. They'll light up bright for a second or two then go back to black. Then you can do it maybe 4-5 more times and it gets weaker until you can try again a bit later. So it's not a nightlight in any regular way--you have to agitate to get the effect and then it goes away after a pretty brief while.

All in all, it's a super cool little toy and a real pet to have in your home. Biopop has done a fine job to get this phenomenon in a bottle for your home use. The light isn't a constant on, and you have to continually refeed (every 4 weeks I think?) to get the effects, but as Spinoza so aptly said, "All things excellent are as difficult as they are rare". Props to biopop to make such a product so I can have this little guy by my bedside.
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Great! shout out to Krystal for great customer service.
by andrew s. (5 out of 5 stars)
May 9, 2017

You get the dino container first, with a coupon that you can redeem on their site for the dinoflagellates. Unfortunately, I wanted them to ship later after I had already redeemed the code. Krystal gave me a new code on the spot and i redeemed the code a week later. The website layout was easy to navigate and customer service chat is integrated in so it was very easy to find someone to talk to. The chat feature especially was nice.

The dinopets glow when you shake them for a split second, not all the time at night. The instructions were clear and easy to follow when setting up.

I got a follow email a few weeks later from Jack asking how my dinopets are doing and that if they're not alive or healthy, a new patch would be sent free of charge. You can tell they really care about their customers.
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Project cancelled
by Cameron Hunter (3 out of 5 stars)
July 1, 2018

Let's start with why I love this, these little buggers are just plain awesome. They emit a beautiful light and are quite neat to watch grow and multiply. The product itself is 10/10. However, as many reviews state, they are expensive to feed. More expensive than my dog (and I love him so he is well taken care of). To add to this fact, the company is shut down so people with this pet are now forced to buy food from other places (that charge even more). I love the pet itself and the plankton are amazing, it's just two costly to feed with this price tag.
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I really liked the concept and the whole idea behind this product
by Yong-Tae Kwon (1 out of 5 stars)
March 1, 2018

I really liked the concept and the whole idea behind this product. I got it as a gift for my little sister because she wanted a pet but we're not allowed to have any in our apartment complex. It was great and fun the first weeks. We would leave it somewhere with light during the day so they could do photosynthesis and all that, and at night we would cover it and put it somewhere with no light (they have to rest with absolutely no light, kind of like a sleep schedule like ours). After a few weeks the dinos just stopped glowing, we thought maybe we left it somewhere with too much light or too exposed because apparently that can kill them, so we tried switching spots, and moving it around the day so that it would be exposed to light but not too direct, but there was no change. I returned it and got a new one, hoping to get a better outcome but it happened all over again. Cool product, sad that it doesn't last that much :(
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Awesome!!
by Tamela (5 out of 5 stars)
December 2, 2015

I bought this for my husband for Christmas. If you get it from their site, you can get the set and have the recipient send out for the plankton when they're ready. As for me, I got it off of amazon and had to give it to him immediately. He thinks it's the neatest thing ever. He just got it today, and they are lighting up when I swish them around! The handbook says it can take a few days before they start to glow. I'm totally amazed at this! My husband likes it so much, that he's getting one for his friend.
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The DinoPet is a star
by Sean R (5 out of 5 stars)
August 1, 2017

The DinoPet is a Pet like the name says. I dont know why this surprises so many people. If you do not want to care for a pet then I would recommend buying a LED flashlight instead. If you do have patience and are willing to learn something new then the DinoPet will be a wonderful experience. It is not FOOL proof and not for the inherently angry or constantly complaining types. Dino has a 90 day guarantee and the folks at DinoPop are happy to help if anything happens in transit or while you are on the learning curve. We took our Dino to Death Valley and he lit up like the stars.
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Worth it
by catbolt (5 out of 5 stars)
January 13, 2018

I was skeptical about this at first, but it was at the top of my 13-year-old daughter's Christmas list so I purchased it. She loves it. It's actually pretty easy to care for (translation: I've hardly had to do anything). I consider it a win.
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Ignore the poor reviews. These things are amazing!
by S. N. Rhodes (5 out of 5 stars)
September 30, 2017

I read the negative reviews and decided some things should be cleared up. We received one of these as a gift and it has been perfect. the results don't look like the picture, especially not right away but they are exactly as you seem them in nature. If you ever get the chance to visit a bioluminescent bay, you will find that these creatures don't light up and stay lit. The glow is a defense mechanism and you need to disturb the water in some way to cause them to glow. However, to answer some of the complaints in a clear fashion, I want to address some of the more common complaints individually.

Complaint 1: They don't glow like a nightlight.

No, they don't. Nor should they. They are animals and not electronics. If you want a nightlight, buy a nightlight. If you want to see some awesome bioluminescent creatures that are, literally, living prehistoric animals, then buy the DinoPet.

Complaint 2: It doesn't come with the dinoflagellates.

Yes, it does... provided you buy the right package. There is a (slightly) less expensive version that comes with a code to order them from BioPop and there is the one we received that comes with the pouch included. Not the product's fault if you don't read.

Complain 3: They require too much maintenance.

No, they don't. You place the aquarium in indirect sunlight during the day and dark during the night. (Doesn't need to be perfect dark, either. A small nightlight will not disturb them too much.) You empty ~1/5 of the water and feed them 3tsp of food every 7-10 days. Make sure you and your kids don't shake it too hard to get them to glow. That's it. It's easier (and less costly) than a fish tank but it brings me to the next complaint...

Complaint 4: They are expensive to feed.

Yes, the DinoFood costs ~$15. That would seem like a lot except the package will provide food for 1-2 months (depending on how often you feed them). Even the most conservative estimate averages out to about $3.75 a week. That isn't very much considering what people are willing to spend DAILY on coffee and other unnecessary items.

Just like any living creature you take into your home, you have to invest at least a modicum of time caring for them. It isn't like they are Mogwai. Even goldfish are less resilient.

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