Grapefruit seed extract...

Hey guys and gals!

I've got a sick corn and I've left her for a while to build up her stomach enzymes. If you don't know the situation, pleae check out the thread called ... Puking Corn...

I read in Kathy Love's book that to help out corns with stomach sickness you can use grapefruit seed extract in their water.

What I'm wondering is if a person can use it as a preventative treatment or if I should just use it when they get sick. Also, does anyone have any idea about dosages?

Has anyone else experimented with this extract?

Any comments or help would be great! Thanks!

I

Looked up some information quickly after reading your post because I too was interested in this.

From what I could read quick, a few sources, websites and posts on other forums indicate that Grapefruit Extract is a natural bacteria and fungus. Apparently it is suggested that you withhold water for a couple days, then introduce the water with enough grapefruit extract in it that you can taste it but no too strong.

Now these are just opinions, and I am not sure I would use it until I had some solid articles/info. But maybe someone else knows more.

bmm

I've never used it on corns, but have heard of it used as a natural remedy for human stomach upsets. I wouldn't use it as a preventative because it only treats the upset. HTH

It helps if the stomach upset is due to a bacterial/fungus problem. I have had it work before. Dosage would be about two drops for a "baby food jar" sized water dish. I have discussed this with Kathy about a year ago. She said the best thing to do is to taste it yourself. You should taste some bitterness but it shouldn't be over whelming. At one time she said the only side effect to using too much was that the corn got dehydrated from refusing to drink. Then later on she revised that saying when Bill used too strong of a solution for his own stomach upset it caused some rawness in his mouth. So just a couple of drops for about a half cup of water. Depends on how strong the brand is too, so do your taste test. I'd withhold water for about two days so your corn will get thirsty and you can observe whether or not it is drinking the spiked water. Good Luck!

Prevention

The best way to prevent tummy problems in our corns is to watch where the food is comming from and keeping their tank clean. If you raise your own mice then keep them healthy and clean. If you buy live ones then buy from a store or breeder you trust to be clean. Frozen is the safest, but micros can live in freezing temps. Making sure the water in the tank is clean is also important in prevention. NEVER feed your snakes baby birds caught in the wild, or any other wild caught animal. This is a easy way to sicken a snake. Eggs, however are fairly safe. Just wash them with water to wipe away any dirt from the parent birds (but I still wouldn't do this too much). Being clean is the way for the snakes health.

Wow, sounds like a panacea. What else is grape seed extract good for? How potent is it? Will it get rid of stomach worms? How does it restore stomach acid levels? Is it safe to administer to my snake in trace quantities for long periods of time? Also I can see if she drinks it or not since she always takes a drink from my hand once a day.

I think I'll get some of this stuff. Off to go search the web for more info...

-13mur 6

I doubt it gets rid of worms and restores acid levels. It only really helps if the regurgitation problem is due to bacteria/fungal problem. It is always worth a shot when you have a regurging corn, but I don't think it would be beneficial to offer it over extended periods of time.

hmm.... says it can destroy single and multi-celled parasites, especially protozoa (wow, would this stuff cure crypto?). Can also cure warts. Interesting stuff... off to read more...

-Lemur 6

Reptiles and Grapefruit Seed Extract (G.S.E.)

Cattle, horses, hogs, fish, poultry, even reptiles can benefit greatly from use of GSE: it is an excellent remedy for skin diseases, external injuries, fungal infections, and internally, the diseases caused by parasitic, bacterial, viral or fungal infections.

Since animals can’t tell us what’s wrong, and since GSE is such a broad-spectrum solution, it is becoming the first-line of defense for many farmers and Veterinarians.
http://www.nutriteam.com/stock.htm
good site for info, theres better deals out there for G.S.E..

I raise handfed baby Parrotlets and use 3 drops of g.s.e. per gallon of h2o to hydrate there baby food.It elimates fungal/bacteria "souring"in my baby parrotlets crops. Many avian breeders are using with positive results.
Great for an effective organic method to sanitize equipment and enclosures(30 drops per gallon), this stuff just can't be beat.
They use in some hospitals to disinfect the carpeting among other things.

I would be very careful with the above dosage recommendation
("Dosage would be about two drops for a "baby food jar" sized water dish".)
Very acidic stuff, G.S.E. is , using a commonly available aquarium PH tester would show that to be a very potent acidic solution.
Reverse osmosis water lowers its PH much quicker because of the lack of dissolved solids in the water that "tap' water has a tendency to have a lot of, (dissolved mineral content).

Perhaps the secret is to use your 32 drops to a gallon (pretty dang strong) (8 oz baby food jar..?) ratio and possibly,

ADJUST THE PH with CALCIUM CARBONATE

(Rolaids, Reptical, Osteo-form... most anything Calcium carbonate based ...)
to the slightly acidic 6.0-6.9 ish range, lower than that and its not "slightly acidic" anymore.

10 drops to gallon would be more like it for an immediate medical crisis and 1 drop per gallon as a prophylactic (preventitive) treatment. imho

Edited may 29 2003:

My opinion on dosage has changed after consideration of other breeders positive experiences and I now use 10 drops per gallon as an everyday water supply element.
Some breeders successfully use up to 25 drops and I'm sure there are some using a single drop per gallon.

As I mentioned earlier, with 3 drops of G.S.E. to a gallon, fungal and bacterial "crop infections" have been eliminated from the equation as far as hand feeding baby parrots for myself and others I know of. Beating up and killing basic fungus and bacteria is easy compared to beating up crypto though.
I tend to err on the conservative side when establishing dosage levels of any water 'additive".