Green Tea??

[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.