Anyone out there with experience in doing fecal floats and fecal smears? I have a nice compound microscope with both 100X and 400X magnification. Got slides, coverslips, petri dishes, etc. Also have access to microbiology lab at the local university. Can someone recommend a good reference for identifying reptile parasites and other intestinal fauna ? I have four bearded dragons, and two leopard geckos. They are all healthy at present but would like to start doing routine fecal exams. If any of my animals were sick I would not hestitate to seek the services of a competent vet, but in the interim would like to take the time to learn as much as I can about reptile parisitology. Can someone point me in the right direction ?? Thanks. George
A good reference is Reptile & Medicine Surgery by Dr Mader's, however it's kinda pricey. Your best bet, is to run a fecal on one of you animals, see what you can identify by comparing to online photos of parasites and other things you could spot in poop. Then, take the slide down to your vet's for him to examine, and compare your results with his. Learning from your local vet will be a much more reliable & useful source than a book or the internet, because there will always be questions you want to ask that websites & books can't answer. But, that book is definitely a good start. It cost us $130 when we bought it, but Amazon has it for about 99 bucks right now.
Thanks Axe. I'll take a look at that book on Amazon. Also I hadn't considered the internet as another source for identifying parasites. I haven't yet checked out other forums. George
Chances are you're going to find more identification info on medical sites rather than reptile sites & forums. Almost all parasites & nasties in reptiles (even the ones you can't see) are in humans & most other species of animals too. They may be different versions of the same nasty (for example adenovirus is species specific, but you couldn't detect that without an electron microscope anyway).. But coccidia, pinworm, hookworm, etc.. they're all in humans, dogs, cats, etc.
Axe's book recommendation is a great book, but a cheaper alternative to start with is Understanding Reptile Parasites: A Basic Manual for Herpetoculturists & Veterinarians by Rodger Kingenberg. Amazon has it. I think it's about $8.00 dollars. I also do my own fecal exams. This book includes medication recommendations and dosage measurements. Tim.
Thanks Tim. Do you have a source for the float solution? I believe its a sodium nitrate solution, but not sure of the molar concentration. Thanks. George
http://petsupplies4less.com/index.html This is where I purchase Fecal float solution "Medium" I think its 1:25 1:30, its basically ready to use Sodium Nitrate. Its about $8.00 bucks a gallon. They also sell Fecalyzer cartridges that are pretty cool. They are about $27.00 dollars for 50 tests cartridges. Tim.
Thanks again Tim. I just ordered the fecalyzer cartridges and a gallon of the float solution from the website. That should last me a while. George
