Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Does anyone do their own fecals? I think I remember talking with someone that does their own but I'm sorry, I can't recall who it was. I would like to know more about what kind of equipment I would need to buy. What power or kind of microscope. What kind of solutions to do the fecal floats and smears. Do I need anything else besides a microscope? Christmas is right around the corner and my hubby wants to get the right set up to do our own fecals. Horray!

Thanks for any info.

Veronica
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Beautiful Dragons

I don't know anything about doing fecals, but to add another part to this, where would you get the meds to treat your dragons. It would seem like you would have to go to the vet anyway. I too would love to treat my dragons too, think of the $ you could save. maybe someone in here has all the answers.

The Microscope is easy, anything 400x plus will do the trick, I picked up one from the toy aisle at Target that is up to the taks for 25 bucks. The hard part is getting the solution for fecal flotation. You need a liquid with high specific gravity to concentrate the sample for observation under the microscope. You actually place the fecal smaple in the solution and the eggs (if any) float to the top while the rest of the fecal matter sinks. Placing a slide in the top of the surface and viewing it tells you if you have any of the various worm eggs in the sample. You can use sugar water but I don't want to risk the mess and would prefer to use the premixes I've heard of but have no idea of a source for them. I plan to ask my vet about it on my next visit as I've come up empty online searching for it.

QB

mel sobel is a good source for microscope, slide and covers.
the product to do a float is called fecasol
Reffrence book - understanding reptile parasites by klingenberg isbn# 1882770218

http://www.melsobel.com

http://www.burnsvet.com/scripts/prodpage.asp?CAT=7&SUB=36&GRP=DBVS98083011

http://lambriarvetsupply.com/index.pl?sid=P8yZ5BhqCdoAAEmteno&m=4&item=014-BLIFMED&category=
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Bennett

www.beardiedragon.com