Grenadine in crested mixture

[Brock]

I have used grenadine (that red sweet syrupy stuff) in my last two batches of crestie smoothies. They seem to like it, I read the ingredients and nothing jumped out at me that would say it's dangerous for herps:

Glucose - Fructose, water, citric acid, natural and artificial flavour, sodium citrate, sodium benzoate, colour.

The colour and artificial flavour are the only two things that would caution me, but I find that it sweetens the smoothies quite nicely, whereas honey tends to glob up and just stick to the side or bottom instead of mixing in.

Should I stick with grenadine or go back to melting honey in the microwave?

-Brock

[D Healey]

I was told that kevin dunne at dragons den uses humming bird food ( you know the red liquid ) and he produces some of the best reds anywhere!

[little_dragon_]

haa haaa...that's funny

[D Healey]

I dont know if it helps with the pigment or not but i heard this from someone that has bought alot of his geckos over the last few years.

[little_dragon_]

Kevin's a really nice guy. That's where I got my reds from. He has really nice orange tigers to.
Some of the babies I have right now look like they're going to be killer. Have you seen his recent ad's for an all black crested? Flamingos get the pink pigment in their skin from eatting a certain type of shrimp or something. So it could be possible certain fruits can help a geckos skin pigment. That's an interesting concept.

[JLewenza]

Where is the ad posted for all black crested? Can you post a link please?

[little_dragon_]

The ad is no longer there. But if you check out the dragons den website and email Kevin I'm sure he'll send you some pics.

[newticus]

I thought citric acid was bad for cresteds, that's why you shouldn't feed them citrus fruits, it hurts their stomachs.
correct me if i'm wrong

[DragnDrop]

There's way more citric acid in the fruit than in grenadine. A bit is okay, but the overpowering dose in oranges, lemons etc is what should be avoided.

I don't see anything in the grenadine ingredients that would sound dangerous to Rhacs, so I suppose it won't harm them. What I try to avoid is all those 'extra' chemicals in man-made concoctions but that is my personal choice.

Some animals are fed colour-foods, fish are an example, we've all seen the colour-foods for sale. Dart frogs tend to go dull coloured, moreso if they're WC, so quite often their food is spiked with paprika to keep red bright, beta-carotene for yellows and even one supplement brand has colour-enhancing additives in it, proudly says so on the label.
I have no idea if the colour additives work with cresties, they have enough red pigment as it is and they don't seem to dull with age. Selective breeding has refined the colour. If there's no way the crestie has red pigment already, adding colour to the food won't help make it red.