Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i was paging thru my REPTILES magazines last night(well it was really like 3am..but whatever! ) and i came across an ad for midwest tongs. it said stuff about lab equipment and that if you perform your own fecal tests how it can save time and money, which made sense. since i have quite a large collection of herps and i am beggining my breeding projects soon i figured it would be a good investment but i dont really know how much it would initioally cost becuase they dont have the prices on there site. and i also am looking forward to going to college for exotic animal and herpetoculture veterinary once i get out of high school( sigh still got 4 years 2 go!) but if anyone has any idea where i could get the equipment for a resonable price it would be appreciated. thanks
~icy

sorry i musta got click happy... didnt mean 2 post that many... could a moderator delete the others? thanks
srry.
~icy

it really isn't that hard
Here is a list of things you will need

1) A keen eye and reference book of bugs AKA internal parasites
2) Some basic biology know how (to prepare slides ect)
3) A good microscope you don’t have to spend 400 bucks but a decent micro scope maybe made by American optical. A 1000x oil immersion lens is not necessary but is helpful. There are some good American optical scopes for sale on E bay. You don’t have to get an AO scope but they seem to be the best used deals on Ebay.
4) And the floating liquid (which most of the time is just a high sugar concentration) and maybe some stains for direct smears.
5) A lot of times you can ask your vet to show you how to do it. But most importantly gain the knowledge from some medium book, internet, or asking someone experienced how to perform the deal.
My method is I collect the stool
I than mix it on a sterile lid (butter tub lid) with the suspension
Than I drop a cover slip on it and wait oh maybe 8 minutes or so some people wait longer some less
Than I dry mount the cover slip to a slide and put it under the scope. This is one way. And will only find certain types of parasites.
The other method ( I do both normally) is a direct smear. I take a small sample of stool and wet mount it to a slide (using methylene blue or what ever staining I need to use)and hunt that slide.

This is the very basics to give just a general idea of what is done and how it is performed. Of course you should practice extreme sanitary caution when doing this as not to infect other herps or animals you may have. Things like coccida and pinworms are easly transferred sice they have a direct life cycle and can grow outside the host. Not good stuff.

My advice is ask you vet or vet tech to show you how or let you watch, most will. Hey or even a better idea you are in high school ask your Biology teacher to help you. It may even become a class project. I had a Leo with pin worms and it became a class lab to exam the fecal back in my Micro bio class or general bio I can’t remebr 0ne of those but I bet your teacher would love to help and teach you how to do this. They may even allow you to use the school equipment to do it and you wouldn’t have to buy anything!

Any other questions just ask

Mat price

after you do this, how do you get the medication for the parasites?

Unless you know exactly what you are doing you should consult your vet with your findnig bring your slides along with you. your vet will best determine the course of action for treatment.