What kind of rectal temp do you prefer?

I love my old fashioned glass thermometer!

Old-fashioned glass thermometer as you have to leave those in for a few minutes. the digital ones get a reading too quickly to let you enjoy it

I usually use a glass rectal, It is only slightly longer and larger in diameter than a typical rectal medical mode

Glass and the shaking down ritual....

Like most everyone else here I prefer the old-fashioned, glass rectal thermometer lubed with vaseline and taken over the knee.

Up until the end of age 4, my mom used the old mercury thermometer to take my rectal temperature. The felt nice and cold.

It doesn't matter for me, but I don't like the digital, their over too quickly.

Most times I take my temperature is with a glass rectal thermometer. It's lubricated with vaseline and always while on my belly with my undies pulled down mid thigh just like when I was a kid.

WAIT!!!! WHAT???? You mean there are options? There are thermometers other than the stubby or pear bulbed, glass, mercurial rectal thermometers??? !!!

I need to get out more often!!!

Play safe!

Channeling my inner @SwitchableSusie I’ll answer the question by stating 98.6 degrees?

Wow. This thermometer is similar to the oral ones at the clinic where the probe is connected electronically to a machine, but this is rectally. Check it out: https://www.4mdmedical.com/medical-supplies-thermometer.html pretty cool

Wow. This thermometer is similar to the oral ones at the clinic where the probe is connected electronically to a machine, but this is rectally. Check it out: https://www.4mdmedical.com/medical-supplies-thermometer.html pretty cool

@caresabouthealth Yes, very cool! But for $231 WOW, a mercury one (or whatever they are made of now) is far better. Heck use a mercury oral one even though it is more pointed, who cares? It certainly can be done safely.

That sounds like a rectal probe for a patient monitor, and yes they are expensive if that is what you are talking about but, they get covered with inexpensive disposable sheaths, so the cost of the probe may be spread over many probees.

I use a regular digital thermometer with a disposable sheath. Works just fine. Why spend all that money?

Ideal is if I'm actually sick in bed with a fever. I've had nasty respiratory infections with a hacking cough and 102 + fevers so taking my temperature rectally was the best way to go. Happened rarely, but I have nice memories of been cared for. I might be half-asleep from the medication, and my husband comes in our bedroom with glass rectal thermometer and Vaseline. About four hours have passed since he last took my temperature. He gently feels my forhead and pulls the covers down. No words are needed. He helps me turn on my side and slips my nighty bottoms down. What happens next is, well, it feels nice to have someone who deeply cares for me, especially when I'm ill. That is an intimate moment in a relationship between partners that shows deep affection, at a time when physically your're probably feeling awful.

@caresabouthealth Megan, every rectal thermometer in the world would look cool on you...I imagine :-)

Vicki,

Fuzzy and warm, very loving, I applaud your Husband's loving nature.

You must be a gr8 pair!

I can only wish you the best!

Dr Marcus Welby

Lying on my belly either partially clothed or in a hospital gown with my underwear pulled down to my knees and having a cool glass rectal thermometer inserted while I hold still for 5 minutes.

Old fashion glass bulb if available, the either on my knees or over a lap. Either giving it receiving!

We (my wife and i) have a good collection of glass thermometers for play. If a real and quick temp is necessary for illness, we have his and her digital to go in the bottom.

I like glass thermometers.

Any US glass type thermometer , I hate the new digital thermometers, as well as the European style glass ones.

I guess I'm old fashioned lol, but i like the US pear shaped bulb thermometers best. I have a number of them, DB 1950's, 1960's models as well as an older 1949 DB flat model 150. And the BD Red Flash thermometer that mom used on me as a kid. As well as a newer yellow back DB from the 70's mom got when my bother was in the hospital for his appendix.

My icon picture is the BD 1949 model 150 flat. as you can see it's a bit wider then the more triangular standard US rectal models. I found it at a garage sale years ago along with it's old bake-O-lite case only problem with it is you have shake it down really hard, it's not as smooth shaking as some thermometers to get it down below 96 or so.

Glass thermometers are best. Digital will do, but it's just not the same.

Glass thermometer. They have that cold and authentic feeling. Digital are just not the same!

The thermometer design makes all the difference. You won't have that "feels great" effect with a tiny bulb, or a thin thermometer. From the late 70's through the last half of the 90's, that was the only type available. A true rectal thermometer, is thick, has etched glass, and a large ? shaped bulb. They've been discontinued since the 60',s. The comparison is like driving a Porsche, and trading it in for a bicycle.

My preference is the older "vintage" glass mercury thermometers, including the "Flat Type" (BINOC) with a somewhat larger pear shaped bulb.

The BD flat model 150 came out about the same time as the BINOC did. I find the BINOC to shake down easier then the BD model. both have a larger bulb and are wider and flatter then the more usual rectal glass thermometer used in the USA.

I like the 60's vintage glass thermometer with the triangular shape. It gives a different feel when you spin it.

I like the glass mercury vet thermometer that BKuggs got me. I love the feel of it sliding in. I also like the one that is an electronic one like at a doctors office. I like the rough & uncomfortable feeling of it. It just registers way to fast to suit me. I have had to use it in a real life situation (not on me). That person wasn't happy about it but it was really requested by a nurse on the phone. We had a bit of an emergency and she was requesting it to be taken that way. My "patient" wasn't happy about it at all!!!!! LOL

I use a glass thermometer that I got from a veterinary supply house. They are over 5” in length and can be inserted deeper