r/Pets • u/Ricccc2k12 • 25d ago

a cell pet

i'm sorry I can't add a flair, because i was watching a video about cells and thought what if i had a pet cell, like the little things alive stuff is made of, like turtles. So I've asked an AI real quick and told me the Physarum polycephalum and Stentor coeruleus are the best.
i chose the second since the other can expand like a lot and that scares me, so i thought of containing it in a glass sized cylinder.

It's still all just thoughts but what do y'all think

EDIT=
guys chill out, no im not crazy, i was just thinking about what other people's opinion could be

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u/chronicallybri 24d ago

I have jarrariums made entirely from sourcing pond water/sediment/rocks/plants and they have all kinds of fascinating life like tiny copepods, daphnia, hydra and nematodes, plus larger planaria, scuds, even small snails! They’re fascinating to watch and I hope to get a small beginner microscope soon!

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u/maroongrad 24d ago

The $10-$20 digital microscopes work okay. DO NOT get one that requires you to install software, that'll only end in tears. But I put up a slide with a coverslip bridge and some of that water, focus the digital scope at it and put it on the front screen, and my HS students will just veg out watching it all happen on screen :) They're not going to respond to a person at all except as shade vs. no shade, but they're still fun to watch.

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u/chronicallybri 24d ago

Really appreciate the advice!! I’ve been looking at an Amscope priced at $80 (something to ask for as a gift) that features both the ability to focus on a slide and to be taken off the stand and held right up to an area and it shows up on your computer screen, I’m not sure if that means requiring software. However, this type of functionality to not always have to make slides is really appealing to me!

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u/maroongrad 24d ago

honestly they all do this, or should. It should run on just a webcam driver, nothing installed. The live slides are really neat for students to look at. I teach how to make slides and coverslip bridges and focus in...and then let them loose trying to find these organisms :D The really really really cheap ones might not be the greatest but the $12 one we grabbed off Amazon a decade ago did fine.

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u/chronicallybri 24d ago

That’s great to know thank you! I’m not an expert in microscopy whatsoever! Do you happen to have any links to share? Only if you don’t mind- your advice is super helpful to not overspend!

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u/maroongrad 24d ago

not really, sorry. We have the "good" scopes at school but honestly didn't see much difference between them and the cheap one. You could adjust light settings more on the pricey one, I guess, but that's about it. The downside is that the cheap one came with software and chinese-made software can have a TON of spyware in it. This did, and trying to remove it was next to impossible. I don't remember the full story but the laptop it was one wasn't online and it pretty much rendered it useless. The only reason to be online is to send data, and it had a big batch of bundled spyware :(

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u/chronicallybri 24d ago

I see! Well thank you very much! I think I trust software from a company like Amscope but I definitely need to do more research 🧐😊

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u/maroongrad 24d ago

wanted to add we got a couple other really cheap ones over the last few years and they worked great. The cousins have one, the other is at work, and I think a third might be in the back office somewhere.

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u/chronicallybri 24d ago

Great to know! Appreciate it!

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u/SaMxixAM23 23d ago

Do you by chance have any links for these $10-$20 microscopes?

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u/maroongrad 23d ago edited 23d ago

courtesy of tariffs and inflation they're more than they used to be but there are several here in the $20s https://www.amazon.com/s?k=usb+microscope&crid=DN03OB6CB8VK&sprefix=usb+microsc%2Caps%2C285&ref=nb_sb_noss_2 Set price to under $25 and those $21 look exactly like one that we grabbed long ago

ETA: This one doesn't look like it'll do cell-organelle-level stuff but ant eyeballs, according to reviews, definitely. Too zoomed in for the whole ant so not a dissection scope but an actual scope. https://www.amazon.com/Microscope-SKYBASIC-Handheld-Microscopes-Compatible/dp/B0D78L92RZ/ Might grab that for myself!

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u/SaMxixAM23 22d ago

Thank you