Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I made an appointment for a fecal float and the vet said she could do a fecal smear, and she asked me if there's a difference...is there?? (I'm a little nervous because she's not a herp vet and I don't know if she really knows what she's going to do, she's never seen a gecko before). Is it pretty straight forward?

I'm pretty sure they're both parts of the same thing...they just have to float it and then they do the smear. i'm surprised your vet hasn't heard both terms...I think usually people just ask for a fecal.
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Christina

Leopard Gecko Morph Descriptions

2.3 leos
-0.1 tangerine het rainwater albino w/jungle background (Blinkers)
-0.2 jungles (Vahz & Skissor)
-1.0 tremper albino (Spitfire)
-1.0 tangerine rainwater albino (Bronx)

-ignorance is not to be punished when one is trying to gain knowledge...what scares me is the vast number of people who, when given the information to gain knowledge, choose to ignore it.

Ha ha, thanks, I feel like a knob for asking lol, but ya just never know lol. We don't have any herp vets here, it was actually hard to find one that would even do the fecal, I assumed they were the same thing but when she asked it made me wonder. One more question...is there just a general all-round parasite treatment? 'Cause I went to the pet store to pick up some Jump Start and she told me that she would sell me some stuff that she got from a vet that should take care of any worms or whatever that Mango (my leo) might have.

I'm pretty sure there isn't anything that treats everything...that's safe anyway... I wouldn't take anything from someone unless its someone who can give you the proper dosage and method of administration...also...a lot of wormers can cause bad reactions and shouldn't be used unless its the only choice. Panacur is relatively safe and treats a lot of different things...but you can only get it from vets...and you still have to make sure you have the correct dosage.
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Christina

Leopard Gecko Morph Descriptions

2.3 leos
-0.1 tangerine het rainwater albino w/jungle background (Blinkers)
-0.2 jungles (Vahz & Skissor)
-1.0 tremper albino (Spitfire)
-1.0 tangerine rainwater albino (Bronx)

-ignorance is not to be punished when one is trying to gain knowledge...what scares me is the vast number of people who, when given the information to gain knowledge, choose to ignore it.

Thanks a bunch

n/p
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Christina

Leopard Gecko Morph Descriptions

2.3 leos
-0.1 tangerine het rainwater albino w/jungle background (Blinkers)
-0.2 jungles (Vahz & Skissor)
-1.0 tremper albino (Spitfire)
-1.0 tangerine rainwater albino (Bronx)

-ignorance is not to be punished when one is trying to gain knowledge...what scares me is the vast number of people who, when given the information to gain knowledge, choose to ignore it.

hmmmm im not studying herps in school but i have done many fecal floats on other animals, a fecal float can be done on reptile feces.... it would be kinda hard on gecko feces though becasue its so small...there needs to be a certain amount of feces to fill the float container.. do u want to test for parasites? thats what floats are for..umm ive never heard of a fecal smear, but i know a direct smear with feces, which is prolly the same. what they do is take a glass slide, smear some poop on it, stain it with dye and look at it under a microscope for certain pathogens (bacteria etc that casue disease) or blood cells or anything that shouldnt be there. This is useless for fecal samples though becasue there is too much "normal flora" in poop, like too much bacteria, and junk thats normal for poop to have. so i dont know what the vet means becasue that would be useless. but what is it that your testing for?

I haven't had her for long, about a month, and I figured it would be a good idea to just get her checked out to see if she's in good health, but unfortunately there's no herp vets here, and we're having some difficulties getting her to eat so people on this site suggested getting a fecal float done. I know there's bacteria and stuff that's there naturally, but if there's too much or if there's something that shouldn't be there, there can be problems. I just want to make sure she's in good health. And yes...I am being a paranoid mommy lol...I have suffered my share of sleepless nights staring at her lol. Thanks for the help

ok well im from canada so things are prolly termed differently from the usa....im a vet tech, ive never worked in an exotic clinic before, chances are if your geckos is captive bred, and has came from a line of captive breds, it wont have parasites...pet stores generally sell the old type of dewormers.... its important that it is formulated so it can be given to small lizards..comes in small doses. be careful whatever u give mango though that its safe for reptiles

where in canada are you? that's where I am actually

haha thats funny, i live in Kamloops, BC. how bout you? Ya i can understand your worried, im always worried about my geckos....well have the fecal done and see what the results are. im sure they will be negative, i havent seen many captive bred herps with parasites, where ive worked, only in the occasional snake. if you have anymore questions though id be happy to try help

Casey

I'm up in PG, keeping warm in my igloo lol. Thanks for the help...sounds crazy, but up here, with no herp vets, I'm feeling pretty panicky lol. She behaves like she should and everything seems fine, I just can't get her to eat and it's stressing me out lol!

yeah the only good herp vets in know of are afew on the coast, which is too far for me, and 2 in Calgary, which is still far so. Once a few yrs ago one of my female leos became ill, she seemed to have a respiratory infection. she didnt eat for about a month.. she had discharge coming from her nostrils. I didnt take her to a vet, but i asked the vet i worked for about it and he gave be some antibiotics to give her. He didnt really know about it,and instead of giving her the drugs i just left her alone and gave her lots of privacy. she recovered on her own and now shes big and fat and healthy, very spunky, kind of a bully actually. but anyways..if she acting funny and not eating, it could be something with her enclosure...maybe she doesnt feel confortable, or have an adequate hiding spot? sometimes this could stop them from eating, or if the temp is not right..could be alot of reasons really, doesant necessarily mean shes not healthy, but see what happens good luck

Casey

Hi Pinky69

Could you yourself, contact one of those good herp vet.s that she mentioned and see if they would be willing to talk to your vet. and give her advice on what to do and look for, and what is normal, so she could help your reptile better?.

TLB

I've actually phoned some herp vets, and emailed any one I could get an email address for, but none returned my calls and only one answered my email...the plan was to take her in for a fecal and take it from there...but she hasn't eaten in so long that I can't get a fecal from her. I'm not sure what to do for her anymore...

A fecal smear is just that--mix the feces with a bit of water, and put it on a slide.

A fecal float involves stirring the feces into a vial of a special solution (a saturated sugar solution works, but vets have commercial products to use). Then, you place a cover slip on top of the full vial.
Parasite oocysts will float to the top of the solution, and be concentrated on the cover slip, which you then remove and place on a slide for viewing.
A fecal float is far more accurate and can pick up problems that could be missed in a smear.
I'm a bit disturbed that ANY vet doesn't know what a float is.