Green Tea??

[silkie]

Hello,

I recently saw a dog food commercial, and they were going on about how they have antioxidants in their dog food and how great it is.

How about some (perhaps diluted, definatley not hot) green tea for our reptiles?? It has tonnes of antioxidants, it is great for the system, and it will make them feel classy. Green tea also prevents cancer and such........ what do you think??

(if not green tea how about some other organic antioxidant in their diets)

[Ed_r]

I think most tea has a stimulant in it like caffiene. Not sure how a herp would deal with that. I know I get the jitters from too much of it, can imagine what it would do to an animal.

[silkie]

Hrmm... true, I thought they might like the buzz (just kidding!!!)
I know that grape seeds are great anti oxidants. Does any one else know of anything that is a great antioxidant that a reptile might eat??
Its not fair that only dogs get such special food.... :)

[MAN OF STEEL]

the majority of tea has caffiene usually around half the ammount
of a cup of coffee, but you can get almost any kind caffiene free.
not exactly sure what it would do to a reptile? it sounds like a plan to me, but i am going to check with a couple people before i take action. if nobody answers your question directly i will post
you an answer! good question.

[silkie]

You are a Genius!! Caffiene free green tea!!!! That could be the answer!

Thanks, do keep us posted.

[Alicewave]

yes I would be leary of caffiene too. It's toxic to dogs I don't think it'd be too good for a herp. Camomile, that's naturally caffeine free...

[Linds]

If you want to increase the amounts of antioxidants yours herps (carnivorous and omnivorous) receive in their diets, the best way is to supplement the feeders. As the saying goes, you are what you eat :) As for what you could add to their diets, I'm not sure. I just maintain all my feeders (bugs and rodents) on complete and varied diet. As long as feeders are kept in their optimum health, I don't believe its necessary to supplement the herps diet.

[MAN OF STEEL]

pretty much all fruits and the majority of vegetables are full of anti-oxidants. grapes, berries, tomatoes and so on.
if it has vitamin a, e, c or some with beta carotine, it will have a useful ammount of anti-oxidants. they also aid to stress relief!
hold on let me find the answer to your question...

[unknownclown]

How about if ya fed the dog food to the mice/rats/whatever it may be safer that way. It also sunds like less of a hassle. I cant imagine feeding my snakes tea.

EDIT:
woops Linds already said that :rolleyes:

[daver676]

I suppose if your using prekilled frozen you could inject the food with vitamins or whatever with a syringe.

If it has to be tea, Celestial Seasonings sells all types of teas, and most are caffiene free.

Just my 2 cents....

[unknownclown]

How exactly do you go about getting the syringes for injecting them? Ive wondered this for awhile now, I surely don't wanna go to the drug store and have them all think Im some sort of junkie.

[eyespy]

Even if tea is decaffeinated, it still containes theobromines, the same ingredient in chocolate that can kill small animals. Cocoa bean mulch with theobromines in it has killed many dogs and a few green iguanas and may be toxic to herps in general.

I wouldn't risk the tea myself. Leafy greens of the brassica family, blueberries, and so many other foods have antioxidants that I don't worry too much about the trendy "health food of the month" for animals.

[LdyDrgn]

Considering rats and dogs are omnivores, I don't see the problem giving them green tea. Dog food for rats isn't the best idea unless it is completely organic (NO DYES!). Those dyes can kill the snake.

Snakes on the otherhand are carnivores. They are not equipped to digest vegetable matter themselves. Feed the rats a healthy diet if you are breeding them yourself or buy from a trusted rodent company.

[silkie]

If you feed rats dog food that is not grain based, the rats will get way too much protien, once they get used to high levels of protien, they will eventually start to eat eachother. It is gross!!

I thought of cricket water jelly that was made with some sort of antioxidants. That could be cool... but at the same time i guess if we feed choice greens to the crickets that should be good, but there could be something better...

[Tim and Julie B]

I don't know about reptiles but my cat loves it! Everytime I have a Sobe (green tea or Zen blend) he begs for a cap full! To funny! I was going to send a pic to the company! Jones loves the stuff!

[eyespy]

I wonder how big a problem oxidation is for herps, anyhow? They have a 3 chambered heart that gives equal importance to pumping, filling and oxygenating and carry far more oxygen in their bloodstreams than we do.

Yet in necropsies they show far less of the type of cell damage caused by oxygenation than mammals do. Cancer is fairly rare in herps unless they are inbred significantly, for example. But I bet there's hardly a person on this website who doesn't know somebody who's had cancer.

Herps are far more likely to suffer organ damage from poorly metabolized food, such as crystallization of minerals, fat buildup or toxins from poor protein metabolization. I've seen this in wildcaught specimens brought in for necropsy just as much as long-term or captive bred animals.

We still have so much to learn about herps.

[jadegrasse]

Most rivers in S. America are 'full' of tanic acid. Some rivers in the US also contain. The brown color in some river systems is a 'by-product' of leachate from tanic acid. Thats why so many SA tropical fish require dark high acid water. Some frogs may need this.

[icequeen]

My opinion on this would be to do it the "natural" way. In the wild, herps eat what nature intended them to eat. They know what's best for them...if they didn't, they would never have survived thousands of years. I don't believe anyone is out in the wild brewing up cups of tea for them.
The decaffination process is a CHEMICAL process, it isn't even good for humans.
I understand though that fruit teas, etc are naturally caffiene free. In which case, just feed the actual fruit, since making a tea from it, is nothing more than "stewing" the fruit (or whatever) in hot water.

Just my 2 cents....

[MAN OF STEEL]

i didnt find much on the green tea anti oxidant topic.
i tried to talk to as many people as i could. the only information ws that nobody knows exactly what would happen to a snake, but for a lizard it might be fine. i really dont know if it would make that much of a difference to them, it might i have no idea. i think the best thing to do is if you are feeding a lizard,
give him food that contains anit-oxidants like i stated before...
for a snake i would just get muli vitamin pills and stick them up the rats butt a few hours prior to feeding.

[daver676]

Originally posted by unknownclown
How exactly do you go about getting the syringes for injecting them? Ive wondered this for awhile now, I surely don't wanna go to the drug store and have them all think Im some sort of junkie.

Why would you care what other people think? If you need it you need it. They certainly can't say no. It's none of their business anyway.

[eyespy]

Originally posted by jadegrasse
Most rivers in S. America are 'full' of tanic acid. .....Some frogs may need this.

But do they need the tannic acid for its antioxidant properties or merely to maintain the proper pH their bodies have evolved to match their environments?

Chemicals just slightly above or below a creature's natural pH are capable of creating chemical burns and as little as 0.2 to 0.3 difference can cause a fatal pH shock.