Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I just have to share since it's been a long time. I have 6 females that I hope will breed with their mates. Well One of my Hypos from Scott Wright just mated for the first time. She shed 2 time and I tried some of the other males but no luck. Well this afternoon I tried another male Hypo from Greg Moss and they did the dirty deed. After separating a small glob of semen was evident on the paper towel. I just hope it all works out. I am thinking of getting a small microscope to check the semen after the seperate to look for viable sperm.

I just had to share this.!!!!!!

A microscope is well worth the money. Mine cost about 150 bucks and it is perfect for fecal exams and it was strong enough to see those suckers swimming too. It was amazing, total discovery channel type stuff but to see it live is really mind blowing,I am happy you had your first lock up over there, my Hondos have only recently shed their first time. Tom Stevens

Where did you get your microscope from, and what brand is it?
Paul

I have not gotten one yet, I will be looking for one. I am going to try ebay and do some shopping. Terry Dunham uses one I think, so you might want to ask him where he got it.

Sorry you meant the other Tom!! My name is also Tom.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=71409&item=7504786139&rd=1

I just looked on ebay and there are tons of them just have to look.

Believe it or not, microscopedepot.com they have all kinds of stuff and the sales people will understand if you do not want to spend a lot of cash. I will look at my exact model for you later, runnin out now. But mine was about 150 shipped, and it is very basic. If your eyesite is not the best a mdel with 2 eyepieces to look through is better. I will write again later, Tom Stevens

I agree about getting a microscope. You can get some nice ones on Ebay for around $100 or so and some exceptional ones for around $250.

I bought my first one at a pawn shop for $50. The one I use now is one I bought from a Community College surplus auction.

You don't need really high magnifications. Something with a 40 power objective (total magnification = 400X) is plenty. Sperm cells are small but you can observe them swimming at 400X. Many of the cheap scopes that have 100x or 160x magnifications have such bad resolution with those objectives to make them useless anyway.

They are also fun for doing fecal flotations of any wildcaught animals you have to look for parasites.

I would also want a scanning objective (4x objective) as many of the things you will want to look at will require lower magnifications.

You will also need some glass slides and cover slips.
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Chris Harrison

Many of the cheap scopes that have 100x or 160x magnifications have such bad resolution with those objectives to make them useless anyway.

That should read "many of the cheap scopes that have 100x or 160x objectives" giving them total magnifications of 1000x or 1600x.
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Chris Harrison

Thank you!!!

The Model 0 Student Compound Microscope-Fine Focus
Microscope depot also has all the supplies one needs to go along with thier scopes and sometimes have packages to get you going. I have Jani breeding as I type. It is the first time for them and the male was just cured of a bacterial infection, so I am hoping to get a look at his stuff under the scope later. Tom Stevens