Hello,

I'm looking for assistance from anyone who knows how to collect a ball python sperm sample to be viewed under a microscope... and yes, I'm expecting some good humor to come from this post, but I am seriously looking for help here. I recently obtained a lab quality microscope for the primary purpose of using it to tell when a male is getting the job done (i.e. depositing adequate quantities of live sperm). I've seen videos in the past of snake sperm under the scope, so I know it can be done, but so far I'm not having much luck... I'm sure my technique is just all wrong. So far I've tried swabbing the cloaca of a recently bred female with a wet Qtip and then wiping it on slide. I've also tried to get a sample using a large sexing probe, but so far nothing has resulted in being able to see any swimmers.

Any help is much appreciated!

Dan

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• Help - any experienced microscope users? - dwherp, Mon Mar 5 12:47:57 2012
• RE: Help - any experienced microscope users? - mikebell, Mon Mar 5 13:00:06 2012
• RE: Help - any experienced microscope users? - dwherp, Mon Mar 5 14:25:09 2012
• my first thought was - JYohe, Mon Mar 5 15:37:46 2012
• RE: my first thought was - dwherp, Mon Mar 5 16:27:37 2012
• RE: my first thought was - JYohe, Mon Mar 5 18:10:58 2012
• RE: Help - any experienced microscope users? - scott_austin, Mon Mar 5 13:47:25 2012
• RE: Help - any experienced microscope users? - paulbuckley, Mon Mar 5 17:06:43 2012
• RE: Help - any experienced microscope users? - Pyro4242, Tue Mar 6 06:51:12 2012
• RE: Help - any experienced microscope users? - dwherp, Tue Mar 6 08:44:15 2012
• Ask Dave or Tracy Barker - mikebell, Tue Mar 6 11:20:10 2012
• RE: Help - any experienced microscope users? - spitzu, Sat Mar 10 12:08:39 2012
• RE: Help - any experienced microscope users? - ssnakes, Wed Mar 14 13:11:17 2012