Has anyone else tried to do their own fecals??

[RioReptiles]

I have a pretty nice microscope that I bought for home schooling and decided to order supplies from Veronica to try to learn to do my own fecals. Has anyone else here tried this? Just wondering how difficult it is and if anyone has any advice. If anything, I have a new science project to teach my son.

 

[pscaulkins]

I do my own fecals. Last Christmas I got a vet microscope for Christmas. But I started out with a toy one that works just fine. I like to do floats as they are more accurate than smears. You can get the chemical to do floats through beautifuldragons.com. I ordered it elsewhere because I do routine fecals on all my reptiles. I don't self treat though. You need to find a vet that you can communicate with and when you find something just consult the vet and he will give you the doses or double check it for you.

It's a great learning experience for kids. My grandkids watched me prepare the fecals, looked through the microscope and all of a sudden we were looking at lots of stuff they found around the house. :lol:

 

[dolphinsilversea01]

I was wondering about this the other day. Just a toy one huh? I have no idea what I would be looking for though! Can you give us a bit of schooling on the matter ?

 

[RioReptiles]

I ordered my "beginner" supplies from Beautiful Dragons. I understand you only need about a 400x magnification to identify most of the organisms. She sells the float kits and fecal solution and instructions with pictures of what you're looking for. I figure its a cheap alternative with 5 dragons so I can do it more often and seek a vets help for medications or if I find something of concern.

I still wonder about what is acceptable and what is not as far as healthy levels of certain parasites. I guess I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. I don't want to freak out about something I found and later find out its normal, or worse, the opposite. And I would always consult my vet for confirmation and medications.

There are many high quality student microscopes available that are fairly cheap so I think it's a good investment with quick return. A local breeder gave me the idea when I asked her if there was a vet around that did fecals without charging for an office visit. She said she did her own so I figured it coldn't be too hard to learn and BeautifulDragons.com has everything to help you learn.

 

[LJean]

I don't have a microscope yet, but have considered doing my own. If for nothing else just to keep an eye on things. (pardon the pun) I just wasn't sure which way to go when buying a microscope. It would be a neat thing to have either way.

 

[redflea13]

I did my own when I worked for a vet. The eggs are pretty easy to see but identifing them can be tricky. Coccidia is the hardest to spot because it is so small. An easy way to make your own solution is to mix salt in water until it won't disolve any more.

 

[RioReptiles]

I did it! Pretty cool stuff. It wasn't difficult at all. So far I got two tests done, one has a bunch of Coccidia with a few Pinworms and the other had a few Coccidia with a bunch of Pinworms. Guess I'm going to see the vet tomorrow once I do the other three.

Thanks for the help!

 

[pscaulkins]

I did my own when I worked for a vet. The eggs are pretty easy to see but identifing them can be tricky. Coccidia is the hardest to spot because it is so small. An easy way to make your own solution is to mix salt in water until it won't disolve any more.

Not if you do floats. Your solution is for smears. For smears I use saline solution that is pure for contact lens, works great and easy. Coccidia is easy to spot in floats as there is not a lot of normal stuff in them, just the bad stuff. I highly recommend Veronica's parasite sheet. A good way to identify the bad stuff.

I did it! Pretty cool stuff. It wasn't difficult at all. So far I got two tests done, one has a bunch of Coccidia with a few Pinworms and the other had a few Coccidia with a bunch of Pinworms. Guess I'm going to see the vet tomorrow once I do the other three.

Thanks for the help!

Now you just need to probably take them in once and tell your vet you do your own fecals. He/she may want to double check the fecals, the first time. And then all you have to do is call them with the counts and discuss treatment over the phone. If you see anything weird or not normal, you can call your vet. I did this a few months ago and since the vet hadn't seen Semi in a year, he wanted to see him so I brought him and a fecal in because I thought he had bad stuff in his fecal but it was clear. I learned that Semi had another issue not related to fecals so it was a good thing I took him in. I also learned my coverslips were defective. :shock:

 

[bugaboo]

I don't think I could mix up the Poo with the solution, I'll stick to paying someone to do it.

 

[RioReptiles]

Now you just need to probably take them in once and tell your vet you do your own fecals. He/she may want to double check the fecals, the first time. And then all you have to do is call them with the counts and discuss treatment over the phone. If you see anything weird or not normal, you can call your vet. I did this a few months ago and since the vet hadn't seen Semi in a year, he wanted to see him so I brought him and a fecal in because I thought he had bad stuff in his fecal but it was clear. I learned that Semi had another issue not related to fecals so it was a good thing I took him in. I also learned my coverslips were defective.

Can I ask how your coverslips were defective? Were they the normal kind or the counting kind? Another question I have is how they get the counts? I guess I'll leave that part to the pros. Some of the other ones I did only had 2 to 5 coccidia per field and some none at all, so I would assume that is a low count. It amazes me how completely different each fecal has turned out. I didn't even find any more pinworms so I guess I'm doing a good job of not cross contaminating. I'm worred about the one with the really high counts, now I play the waiting game for another sample to take to the vet for confirmation. She hasn't been going regularly or eating regularly and is in shed so she's all messed up, poor baby.

I come home from work yesterday to find my kids making slides of smashed bugs and anything they could find. Fun fun