Dosing and administering GSE?

[SnakeAround]

I'm expecting a bottle of grapefruit seed extract tomorrow or the day after, so I took out Freya's water this evening and plan to administer it when I get it. But; which solution should I use/start with? I cannot find a lot about it, but it goes from 1 drop for every 5 kg (!?) of reptile weight to 3 drops in a cup for any reptile. I'm confused cause it does not make sense to me to give heavier reptiles a higher solution; I'd expect the total amount administered would count, not the strenght of the solution. Since bigger snakes drink more, they would get more GSE with a drink then smaller ones automatically when using the same solution, right? And 1 drop for 5 kg would mean I have to use 0,1 drop for my roughly 500 gram snake?! I don't expect to be able to dose it like that... :shrugs:

Further; I read about giving GSE in the water, first time after withdrawing water bowl for a couple of days. I feel bad about withdrawing water and really want to start quickly to get this issue done with, for the snake (I hate to see her like this) and me. So, like I would have done anyway when getting antibio, could I just use a syringe to administer a bit of a GSE solution to Freya, only the first time? Or would that be more stress then have her waiting 2 days without water but maybe with stomach ache too?

Thanks for helping!

[Arcanefate]

Okay, first a question for you. What are you administering the GSE for?

My vet has me add it to the water to kill any bacteria and to keep the bacteria from growing, but it is not something given directly to the snake. Nor did my vet mention that it would have any other beneficial effects on the reptile other than to kill bacteria.

If that is what you are using it for, then I have been told to use 3-5 droplets in a 1 gallon container of room temp water during the winter, and 3-5 droplets per 2 liters (~half gallon) in the summer when temps increase and bacteria numbers increase.
This is all my vet told me about using Grapefruit Seed Extract for.

[SnakeAround]

Freya had some regurges and refuses to eat for some times now, her poo is weird (green/yellowish fluid and 'balls'/chunks, but normal urinate). Her poo has been tested about 3 weeks ago but was completely clean. I read a lot about GSE and it is used for stomach problems a lot on animals and humans, even children. Kathy Love also advices it for regurge/eating problems.

My usual rep vet is on vacation, and the one taking over knows a bit about snakes, he did the tests 3 weeks ago actually. Though my usual vet never complained about dry poo, this vet wants me to come back when I have fresh, soggy poo to have another test, but since she only poos tiny piles with mostly fluid and I cannot wait at home to get it to the vet right after she poos, since I have a JOB it is always little and dried. So since I wanted to order GSE anyway for any future use, I decided to give it a try at least until my usual rep vet returns.

[BeckyG]

I put three drops per 8 oz (250 ml) of water in Scarlett's regular drinking water. I would not try to syringe it in to Freya just yet. Put it in her drinking water, and give it a chance to work that way.

If Freya is regurging/ off feed, you want to keep her stress to a minimum. Syringing anything into a snake is very stressful on it. I know when I was giving Scarlett liquid feedings, she was very stressed out after each one. That's all I know to tell you.

[SnakeAround]

thanks Becky! I am leaning towards the waterbowl use.. I probably won't receive the bottle before the day after yesterday anyway, so then she will be without water for 2 days so I can give it back to her with the GSE anyway, I just realized.