# Collecting Fecal Samples 101



## Jason (Oct 14, 2004)

*1 - Before you begin.*
Contact a veterinarian and prearrange your fecal to be done. Some veterinarians are closed on various days, so it is best to contact them first to find out when is a good time to ship as well as how they want the feces shipped. Establishing a relationship is key. 

Another thing that may help you out, especially if your frogs are in quarantine containers, is to change the bedding (sphagnum, paper towels, etc.) 2 or 3 days prior to your ship date. This allows you to collect the freshest feces.


*2 - Supplies*
You will need the following.

- Paper towel
- Scissors
- Ziplock bag
- Pen
- Hand Sanitizer
- Rubber Gloves
- Plastic Spoon










Cut approximately a 1" x 1" square of paper towel.










Label your Ziplock bag with what tank they came from and the date. For instance mine says, D. Gal (for galactonotus) and 1-12-09 for the date. It is VERY important to label your bags especially if you are sending multiple samples.


*3 - Keep it as sterile as possible.*
Use the hand sanitizer before you begin your collection of feces. Use it before you put on latex gloves and after you take off your latex gloves.









Ware latex gloves (Warning: Latex gloves can cause an allergic reaction, if you are allergic to banana, avocado, chestnut, kiwi fruit or passion fruit avoid using latex. There are alternative NON LATEX gloves).









Change gloves, collecting spoon, ziplock bag and remember to hand sanitize in between each tank you are collecting feces from. AVOID CROSS CONTAMINATION. Dispose of gloves and spoon in a proper area away from your frog room or tanks. 

An easy way to try to keep everything clean is to take your gloves off inside out/rolling them off your hand while holding the spoon.


























*4 - Feces*
What is frog poo? According to David M Frye, DVM...


> Some are nice semi-firm tiny sausage shaped masses (this is ideal.) They can range in color from red to brown to black. Dark brown is ideal. Some frogs pass very loose stool that may be watery. Fecal material that is repeatedly misted will obviously begin to soften and run.



































It is real easy to find on white paper towels.


What is not frog poo?








Sorry, it was getting too serious.


*5 - Feces collection*
According to David M. Frey, DVM...


> When collecting a sample for testing, you should try to collect about 3 of the freshest looking feces in each vivarium that you want tested. If the vivarium has one frog or 5 frogs, it doesn’t really mater. Just collect 3-5 fresh looking “turds.” Frogs housed together will eventually carry the same parasites. If you just mixed a bunch of frogs together from different sources, be certain to test again at a later date – after all the frogs have had enough time to contract the various parasites that they may have been exposed to. It can take up to 2 months for certain parasites to show up in feces, but most appear with 4-6 weeks after exposure (remember that I am just speaking of dart frogs here.)
> 
> To collect the feces, I recommend using a clean plastic spoon or knife. Try to pick the “turd” off of a leaf or paper towel or rock or whatever without getting too much of any other debris. Place three or so feces from each tank into a SMALL, AIRTIGHT container. Film canisters work great as do tiny zip-lock type baggies. A small amount (1 inch square) of moist paper towel should be added to the container to keep the feces from drying out.




























Place them on the moist 1" square paper towel. Then place them into Ziplock bag.










*6 - Shipping*
Ship feces ASAP via next-day delivery, 2nd day does work but anythign longer than that is much more difficult to diagnose species of worms, according to Dr. Frey. I used a Ziplock bag because I think shipping would be easiest and cheapest than trying to ship film canister, but I do not know for sure.

I folded the Ziplock bag in thirds and placed it inside a folded up letter explaining who I am (Name, Address, Email, Phone) and what I want done.

It was then shipped via United States Postal Service using the following supplies, which are available at no charge at the post office.









Express Mail Next Day Post Office to Addressee









Express Mail Legal Size Envelope

I hope this helps. If I made a mistake, please learn from it.

Additional information on fecal and quarantine procedures can be found here.
http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/feedback-questions/33373-sticky-sending-fecals-examination.html
http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/ge...t/26685-asn-quarantine-medical-protocols.html
http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/be...ning-quite-probably-biggest-mistake-made.html


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## Nubster (Jun 16, 2008)

Good write up. Not sure that it matters but I wet my paper towel containing the fecal with distilled water. I figure that it was safer in case my tap water had any nasties that way Dr. Frye wasn't diagnosing my water rather than the fecal...lol


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## Jason (Oct 14, 2004)

I mailed my fecal samples "Next Day 3PM" on Monday, January 12th at 11:30 am. I received a phone call from the vet on Tuesday, January 13th at 10:00 am. Results were negative (that is a good thing). Total cost was $16.50 for shipping and $18.00 for the test.

The vet I used was:

David M. Frye, DVM
Milan Area Animal Hospital
517 West Main St
Milan, MI 48160

734-439-2273

If you know of another vet that does fecal testing (either local or via mail), please post contact information.


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## sports_doc (Nov 15, 2004)

Jason, 

Great job. I havent read through it line by line, but obviously you took time and effort to make it clear and easy. I'll promise to read it more thoroughly as soon as I can and comment if needed. Thanks for the extra effort!!

I added your post to the prior Care Sheet Creation on this topic.

If not already a part of the care sheet creation team, you should join in. 

I think with your info and pics we should be able to wrap up this care sheet asap.


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## Jason (Oct 14, 2004)

sports_doc said:


> Jason,
> 
> Great job. I havent read through it line by line, but obviously you took time and effort to make it clear and easy. I'll promise to read it more thoroughly as soon as I can and comment if needed. Thanks for the extra effort!!
> 
> ...


What ever you want me to do, let me know!


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## Rich Frye (Nov 25, 2007)

great job!


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## Jason (Oct 14, 2004)

Rich Frye said:


> great job!


Thanks, you should have seen the look on my wifes face when she saw pictures of frog poop on the camera.

Does anyone know if it actually costs more to ship a film canister overnight vs. a ziplock bag? I was wondering because of the unusual size and the fact it cannot be run through a sorting machine.


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## UmbraSprite (Mar 2, 2007)

This is great.

Would be excellent to have another looking at the slides. I recently bought a new scope but haven't footed out for the camera yet. I also wouldn't have access to too many parasitized slides (knock on wood) but I am sure we could get a parasitology 101 together.


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## beachbabe18509 (Oct 29, 2007)

Great thread wish their had been one of these around when I was first getting fecals on my guys....

I also was highly amused by "not dart poo", probably mainly because thats what I like to think of my ex doing since he moved away to work with elephants... except I prefer to imagine it landing on his head... anyways....


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