Mutating Triops?

Question

My goal in an up-and coming lab project is to present a valid example of genetic mutations. (no fruit flies please!)
After studieng many small creatures, I decided it would be most interesting to mutate "Triops (notostracans)". I also want to increase their size greatly and to extend their life by a few days/weeks or so. I read also that they can survive extreme heeat, so i thought that if during their 12 hour larva stage if i place them in a microwave on a low power level the radiation would be extensive enough to mutate them...is this correct?
Any other mutating suggestions, (under 40$ please...). Please no suggestions on changing eating habits to carrots, fish, etc. unless very radical. ;)
To sum it all up-
How can i mutate them so they can
Live Longer,
Get much bigger,
and Have extra legs, heads, eyes, etc.

Answer 1

Mutating a particular species in order to have specific characteristics would require extraordinarily sophisticated manipulation of genes at the molecular level, and the species' genome would need to have already been mapped. There's no way you can throw tadpole shrimp into a microwave and expect them to grow bigger and live longer. However, if they can indeed endure extreme heat, then putting them in the microwave might reasonably be expected to cause some mutation. However, the mutation may not be evident upon observation of the subsequent generations; a mutation is any change in DNA, and it might not be detectable unless you actually had the DNA tested and compared to a pre-mutation sample.