Microscope zoom settings for fecal floats

Cruciform · 06-30-04, 01:58 PM

Anyone know the optimal magnification range for being able to inspect snake poo and other herp stuff?

I've been looking at a few digital microscopes online, but don't want to go overboard on the price if I don't have to. And I don't want to get an underpowered optical system either.

BWSmith · 06-30-04, 03:10 PM

If memory serves, 100x should do fine.

Capital Dragons · 06-30-04, 08:05 PM

The cheep ones work fine for fecal floats. I paid just over 100$ for mine. The double view model would have been nice though. Easier on the eye! I mainly use 10x for all my floats.

latazyo · 06-30-04, 08:09 PM

you'll want a dissection microscope....it would be way more interesting to view other things with a dissection microscope

I don't think a compound microscope is necessary for anything herp related, unless you know how to make and prepare tissue slides for necropsies

Cruciform · 07-01-04, 10:19 AM

I'm getting a USB one so that I can file the images images in my records.

And any really cool looking stuff will be ready to capture and post

latazyo · 07-01-04, 10:41 AM

oh, alright, I thought we were talking big time microscopes here...nm

my roommate got one for USB that's pretty cool...extremely cheap though, like 40 bucks on ebay, it does a decent job

Cruciform · 07-01-04, 10:52 AM

Is it the Intel?
It's surprisingly good for a toy.

And you can definitely get big time microsopes that are USB or use memory cards. There are also digital attachments for people who already have a high end microscope and don't want to shell out for a whole new one. Just do a search on google. You can go up several thousand dollars in price.

latazyo · 07-01-04, 10:58 AM

yeah, that's what I was thinking originally, I thought we were talking like fifteen grand....anyways, yeah, it's the intel toy one, it's good, unless you go to highest power, then it's just a blur, but at the two lower settings out of three it's not bad, and definitely is enough to examine fecals, which we did with it also

we also used it to examine mites in the plants

Cruciform · 07-01-04, 11:22 AM

Herp owner: "Check out these slides."

Friend: "Hey, that's pretty cool. I've never seen anything like that before. What is it?"

Herp owner: "Boa poop."

Friend: "Eeew."