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This simple experiment uses:
quart jars
a magnifying glass
an
eye dropper
Here is a practical way to determine the infestation of parasites in your horse.
Put a ball of manure in a quart jar. Set the lid loosely on top and place the jar in a dark place at room temperature for approximately one week. Each day examine the inner wall of the jar for the presence of droplets of condensed moisture (evidence that a suitable degree of humidity exists in the culture).
If the walls of the jar are dry, add 10-20 drops of water directly to the mass of manure, cover the jar and return it to the dark. After a week to 10 days, examine the walls of the jar with a hand lens in bright daylight. Unless the horse that provided the culture medium had very few parasites, infective larvae will be easily visible as they writhe and thrash about in the droplets of condensed moisture.
Cultures from heavily infected horses contain so many larvae that the walls of the jar will appear to be frosted. If a microscope is available, transfer some larvae to a slide with an eyedropper and kill them by gently warming.
Hold a lighted match below the slide, view the loss of motion and extension of the larvae from above, and remove the match as soon as the motion ceases. Otherwise the larvae will be cooked! Now add a cover slip and examine the specimen with the lower powers of the microscope.
Date__________ Initial_______
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