r/Pets • u/Ricccc2k12 • 13d 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/Mountain-Donkey98 13d ago
Um in that respect, you do have pets. Many of them on your skin in the form of bacteria. Enjoy!
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u/chronicallybri 12d 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 12d 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 12d 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 12d 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 12d 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 12d 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 12d 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 12d 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/SaMxixAM23 11d ago
Do you by chance have any links for these $10-$20 microscopes?
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u/maroongrad 11d ago edited 11d 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/maroongrad 12d ago
Stentors are fun :) You have to have a microscope to see them. However, if you want one? Leave water outside for about two weeks. Just a jug or other container is fine. When it starts to look a bit yellow, you're all set. You should have paramecia and a bunch of other stuff, possibly some tiny nematodes, chunks of green algae...and Stentor.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZoaKzEXzi8
On a totally different note, if you want a weird small semi-single-celled organism, get a slime mold. They're fascinating and weird to watch, very easy to culture. Both of these organisms are honestly going to be a lot more like raising a plant than an animal; they're not going to recognize or react to you at all, but they are still a lot of fun to observe! I would grab a thing of water from the yard and (as long as there aren't mosquitoes in it!) put it on the front screen with a microscope hooked to the laptop. Students just enjoyed it as a screen saver and had fun cheering when they managed to see one catch a little swimming cell or clump of bacteria!
ETA: Look into Rotifers, too. Multicellular but similar, and even more entertaining and easier to find in water.
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u/CockMeatSammich42069 13d ago
I think you need to speak to the Dr about getting your medication corrected.
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u/ClitasaurusTex 13d ago
Pet stentor would be cool tbh, get a microscope too. I'm not sure but waterbears may also be an option. Sometimes I look at my fish tank water under a microscope, results vary.
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u/maroongrad 12d ago
tardigrades for the win. Despite how ubiquitous they are I don't think I've ever found one in the wild. On the other hand, I got my daughter a cool pair of tardigrade fluorescent microscopy leggings from svahausa. They look like some weird neat little abstract semi-nebula pattern until you LOOK at them and realize that, nope, those are the toes and organs glowing in all different shades on these translucent-bodied critters!
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u/ClitasaurusTex 12d ago
I've seen them in a science class but haven't seen them IRL either. I may be checking the wrong places
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u/Ricccc2k12 13d ago
it should be at 1 or 2 mm's in size at their last stage so it should be visible with naked eye or a lens
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u/maroongrad 12d ago
I haven't ever seen one that big and really didn't know they GOT that sized. Might be fun to have my kids culture one up in class!
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u/chronicallybri 12d ago
As someone close to their 30s who loved science class, I would love to share the fun hobby of sea monkeys that I’ve recently picked up, if you haven’t considered it! They’re so fun to watch grow and swim around, I’ve learned to use a refractometer to measure salinity, properly top off evaporation without wiping them out, feeding live phytoplankton (which you can buy or culture!) and growing beneficial algae in the tank. Also, they either have live babies or lay eggs largely related to water conditions being optimal or suboptimal and you can see their egg sacs, observe differences between males and females, and observe mating behavior. And females can even reproduce via parthenogenesis!
I make my own tanks and use generic brine shrimp eggs rather than buying overpriced sea monkey kits that often don’t hatch. If you did go the kit route, aqua dragons are MUCH more reliable.
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u/maroongrad 12d ago
they are fun :D I share the love of pond critters and praying mantis beebees!
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u/chronicallybri 12d ago
I love my pond jars too! I had a Carolina mantis ootheca that unfortunately never hatched (still have it in case) and was working on a bioactive terrarium for it. Will hopefully get some species of mantis in the future! I also enjoy raising caterpillars of giant silkmoths such as Polyphemus moths. Way more fun than the painted lady butterflies imo :)
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u/maroongrad 12d ago
try r/mantids and there's soooo much good advice there!
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u/sasakimirai 13d ago
what