how do you keep them alive for an extended time ?

Trust me on this one. Put them in wet newspaper, and keep the paper moist. They will last forever.

put them in a kiddy pool but make sure u use water from a pond creek river or somthin no water hose or nothin cleaned they will die by the chemicals we have about a 100 or so at the house an weve had them for a few months now but switch the water evry so often or it will turn green

The newspaper thing worked for me. I kept them for over a week to fish with but then I got hungry. Threw em in a bucket and they made their own little holes and everything.

dechlorinated tap water(aquarium water) works. theyll do fine. some die from getting beat up in the bag they come in.

huh?

i used to have 3 of them in my fish tank with my cichlids and they stayed alive for more than a year