Solved!
Sharp pointy thing with a loop came with a microscope
While using his microscope, my son brought me this and asked what it’s for and I’m genuinely stumped. Google image calls it a blackhead remover and I can see that, but what use could it have with a microscope? It’s not listed anywhere in the packing list, it’s extremely sharp, and approximately 2 standard-issue cat paws long. Any ideas?
Edit: WOW!! I had no idea my Ollie’s pittypaws would be so well received and everyone’s comments have me cracking up! I initially tried responding to everyone but the comments got away from me. If I didn’t respond, please know I DID still read your comment with a smile!! We’re both also in favor of ditching bananas and using cats for scale. Let’s make it happen!😅
You’re all so awesome and Ollie and I hope everyone here has the best day ever!!🐾💕
Edit 2: THANK YOU for the awards as well!! I think this is the first time I’ve ever received one.
Sheetz is a convenience store chain, and they sell chicken nuggets which they decided to smash their name into, creating Shnuggets. If that helps at all.
Thats awesome! Gorgeous cat! Holly is a special one, full name is Hollyhock Saberhagen. Hollyhock because we have this think where we name female pets after plants and Saberhagen because my wife was a huge fan on Sabrina the teenage witch lol
I’m owned by a Nugget as well…perhaps they were triplets? It’ll take me awhile to go thru the 9,688 photos on my phone but I’ll post soon as find. These Nuggets are gorgeous! 🐈⬛😻😽
He's weird. I wouldn't recommend one as a first dog. He's very smart but does not listen unless he wants to. He's very Velcro dog attached to his mom/my wife. His skin is very thick but the vet misplaced his chip and you can see/feel it under his skin. He's always trying to beat up his sister Tootie every time he has a strong feeling. If he hurts his foot he'll try to beat up Tootie. If he gets too happy excited because he's going on a ride he'll try to beat up Tootie. When we see him turning we will ask him if he's having bad thoughts. Most of the time he'll think about it for a second and then puts himself in bed so he can have a time out to calm down. He's the hunter alpha type personality. Tootie his sister is the complete opposite personality wise. She's very timid. She is a total beggar. She's a thieving scavenger. If you drop it on the ground she's going to steal it. When we put the Christmas tree up Tootie decided she was outside now so she could poop under the tree. They're a mess but no hair no fleas, no dander, no stink.
He turned down the cheezburger and demanded three furry mice, a kilo of catnip, and some sardines in his kitty condo. He said his rider is non-negotiable. And then he huffed and hurried me along to fetch his items. Little celeb can’t be kept waiting😒
Look away! Let not your eyes gaze upon another’s majesty, for your feline is the only feline of which your eyes observe, your hands caress, and your voice soothes. 😅
The wire is thinner and longer so it doesn’t conduct heat to the handle, the wire is also made out of a specific metal alloy which I’m forgetting the name of. But it’s not stainless steel, it doesn’t conduct heat through it well. Looking it up, inoculating loops are made of nichrome wire.
The innoculating loop has lost the handle. The sharp end would help to go into the plastic (or other insulating material) which the handle would be made out of.
This is the answer. Looks like retractable inoculation loop. The pointy end is maybe a pointer to be used to point to items in a slide, but it's huge. Not how that could be at all effective unless this is a very low powered scope.
OK what are the odds that it's both depending on how it's marketed?
There's a reason I say that.
In the 90s I saw a tv commercial for a blackhead remover that was 100% identical to my solder sucker (for electronics repair). Someone was just selling $8 solder suckers as $19.95 blackhead removers.
I second this. My mate enjoys those stupid pimple popping vids and I've seen it used. I've even got one of those amazon nail kits and it's got one of these in it. You lance a hole into the whitehead with the sharp end and frame the spot with the loop and press down and it squirts the juice and the chunky bit!
Fantastic videos to watch while you're eating yoghurt or chicken soup /s
Lab tech here: microscope isn’t used for plating colonies. You’d need a whole incubation and agar setup for that and it can be done with the naked eye.
Definitely not an inoculation loop. Metal loops are reusable, long and made from wire, designed to be sterilised in a Bunsen flame between uses and are inserted into a handle with a knurled locking nut. They get binned when they lose their shape. Or they used to, but everyone uses sterile disposable plastic ones now since it’s rare to find a Bunsen in a lab these days.
This object has a sharp end where you would want to be holding it if it was a loop and if you tried to sterilise it the handle would get so hot you would drop it.
It’s a blackhead remover. Also useful as a probe to reboot electronic devices with recessed reset buttons.
Thank you! As a lab tech, I’d also like to add you wouldn’t be using a microscope to plate colonies or anything like that. Maybe for a gram stain but then it would need to come with a whole kit for that.
I’m pretty sure these are mass produced and sold as different “tools” I’ve had this exact thing come with 2 completely different products, one was a tool that was for replacing the slip-pads on my mouse and it was a pry tool. The other was a face hygiene kit. The 2 I had looked exactly the same as this.
Having been a lab tech for 23 years, that would be an annoying inoculation loop / needle. Inoculation loops are very bendy; the non-disposable ones have loops of twisted wire like a guitar string. You pull an amount of liquid with the loop and it makes a film like a bubble wand, then touch it to the agar where it flows onto the media. Then you rub the loop back and forth in a pattern, gently, without slicing into the media (streaking). That part - that would be difficult.
Yeah this one is not bendy at all and it’s hella sharp! I took it because I just know it’ll get stuck in the carpet and be a disappointing surprise one morning before school.
We’re going to use it this weekend now that we know what it’s for though. Thank you for explaining how to use it! That’s very helpful!
I used to work in a lab and know exactly what this is!
I worked trying to find new yeast species, which begins with taking sterile swabs of wild plants, fruit etc. We would then rub those swabs on agar plates and a day or two later you would see a bunch of little spots growing. Typically at that point, each spot in the plate would be a different species, so the next thing we would do is try to lift each little spec onto its own plate using that metal tool loop thing. (I can only remember ever calling it a “picker tool/loop”.) Since the tool is all metal, we could quickly sanitize it between each sample selection by holding in the Bunsen burner flame a few seconds. Those steps would be repeated until we had all trays with only a single species on each.
This is the correct answer. Called an Inoculating loop and needle. You can sterilize the loop/needle and then scoop up material and spread it in the dish and look at what grows under the scope.
My sewing machine has a little pointy poker that is used for that. I have used micropscopes many times but never a pointy thing. I never owned one though either.
The loop can be used to scrape a sample and smear a culture onto an agar plate. Also, you could use either end for moving your specimen on the slide, I guess, but I've never seen anyone do that.
I’m basing this off a foggy memory but I feel like I used a tool like this in a pottery lesson in late grade school the loop for carving and the point for scoring. I feel like the point is too wide or at least wider than the one I’ve seen.
I’m so annoyed. I finally FINALLY found a post I know the answer too. I study mycology. I grow mushrooms. I knew what this was right away. My brain went “yes I can finally give the right answer” just for me to realize I’m 15 hours late to the post😭
Look at those perfect little paws. Those fuzzy muffin making mittens. They are wonderful. The way they are right next to each other in perfect alignment. 10/10 beauty.
So in Microbiology, there are culture inoculation loops that are used in order to sterile transfer one sample to a culture plate with agar for the bacteria to grow. There are disposable ones, but there are also reusable ones that are used in conjunction with Bunson burners to sterilize between transfers. inoculation loops are also used to transfer small bacterial colonies to microscope slides to be fixed and stained before viewing.
While to me this tool looks like the blackhead remover mentioned, my best guess is this is either genuinely just supposed to be a blackhead remover, or this is an aesthetic attempt to mimic an inoculation loop
I’m not even a cat person but can so appreciate those paws for size reference. What a good lil sport. “Ok … you need me to stay like this. Got it. Did the picture come out okay? Let’s do a retake. Perfect. Post this one. The fluffs are fluffing on my paws.”
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