Reptaid Review [IMAGE HEAVY]

by **Tsuhei** Thu Jan 05, 2012 11:08 am

Reptaid Review

Without further delay, here’s my review on the product, Reptaid! This product is an organic approach to medicating your reptile. The common uses for this product is to fight against parasites and infection.

WARNING:
Nothing can substitute a veterinarian visit. Self diagnosing animals and/or medicating animals can be dangerous.

[2 REPTAID PHOTOS]*
Reptaid Review [IMAGE HEAVY] Dscn1083e

The company has created two types of Reptaid: Reptaid and Reptaid XL. Reptaid is used for reptiles that weigh 250 grams or less and Reptaid XL is used for reptiles that weigh more than 250 grams (as broad of a spectrum that is). Both products are relatively cheap, varying from $25 per bottle to $31 per bottle (USD). Storage of the product is as simple as keeping it in the fridge.

Although the product sounds good for the price and its uses, there are a few important points to address.

I want to remind people that Reptaid is not an end-all-cure-all medicine. In fact, I would call this a supplement rather than medicine. In order to fully cure your reptile of parasites or infection, a veterinarian is in order rather than relying on a product with online reviews made by the company itself. I would personally use this in conjuction with a prescription since it has the potential to restore flora in your reptile’s gut.

I also want to point out that this product has not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. On the product site itself, it states, “This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. Regardless of some of the false reviews and product hype, this product seemed to be a good choice for me since Typhon did not respond at all to a prescribed antibiotic, enrofloxacin.

Although I understood that most of the reviews I found online were made by the company, I had found a few testimonies on other reptile forums of the use of this product. Basically, there were a few reptile owners who insisted that Reptaid actually worked on their reptile, such as a bearded dragon with mouth rot. Others, however, called this product a gimmick and a waste of money. Putting both testimonies to the test, I plunged into testing whether or not this product was a true “godsend.”

The ingredients used in Reptaid are organic and relatively unique for treating reptiles. What is included in this concoction is olive leaf, mustard seed, black seed, pau d’arco, cloves, grapefruit seed extract, distilled water, and ethyl alcohol. If you want to read what each ingredient does, I suggest visiting Reptaid’s official website. However, in the pamphlet included with the product, it mentions that there is an ingredient called “Jatoba.” This product is molluscicidal, meaning this kills snails. I do not recommend giving this product to anything except for reptiles.

What I don’t agree with is adding alcohol into this mix seeing as it could harm your reptile in large doses. However, this is used to preserve the herbs in the Reptaid, so one could only assume that it’s a small amount. Regardless, following dosing instructions precisely is highly stressed as not to harm your reptile. The only side effect of this product seems to be an increased appetite - I have not found a single testimony that mentioned the product killing their scaly friends.

In order to administer this product to your reptile, you can give it to your reptile orally via a syringe without a needle, or you can inject the dose into a food item, such as a dubia roach (the product instructions does not recommend injecting silk worms, hornworms, or wax worms as it either becomes less effective or has not been tested).

Dosing instructions vary according to the weight of your reptile. Since Typhon was about 25 grams at the start of the dosing, he received 0.025 ml of Reptaid orally every day for ten days. After the ten days, you are supposed to wait for two days to allow your reptile’s system to rest before finishing the product’s second ten day administration. However, if the reptile is still not looking well, you can continue dosing until your reptile’s health improves. When I started this product, Typhon’s mouth significantly improved (see pictures/chart below). However, his mouth began to return to its original state.

[REPTAID PICTURES AND TABLE]*
November 6
Reptaid Review [IMAGE HEAVY] November6

November 10
Reptaid Review [IMAGE HEAVY] November10pt1

November 16
Reptaid Review [IMAGE HEAVY] November16pt1

November 22
Reptaid Review [IMAGE HEAVY] November22pt1

Date	Food	Grams	Poop	Tank Clean	Handling Time	Shed	Reptaid
11/01/2011	15 MW	24			5 min		X
11/02/2011	0	24		X	15 min		X
11/03/2011	0	24	X		0**		X
11/04/2011	10 MW	24			5 min		X
11/05/2011	0	25			10 min		X
11/06/2011	0	25	X		15 min		X
11/07/2011	0	25		X	10 min		X
11/08/2011	0	24			5 min		X
11/09/2011	6 MW	24		X	10 min		X
11/10/2011	11 MW	25	X		10 min		X
11/11/2011	0	26			5 min		off
11/12/2011	18 MW	26			5 min		off
11/13/2011	0	26	X		5 min		X
11/14/2011	0	26		X	5 min	X	X
11/15/2011	4 MW	26	X		5 min		X
11/16/2011	2 SW, 2 MW	27			5 min		X
11/17/2011	0	27	X		5 min		X
11/18/2011	0	28			10 min		X
11/19/2011	0	28	X		5 min		X
11/20/2011	1 SW	28			5 min		X
11/21/2011	0	28	X	X	10 min		X
11/22/2011	0	27			10 min		X

Since I did not see results after the regular dosing, I extended him for another ten days.

[EXTENDED REPTAID]*
November 28
Reptaid Review [IMAGE HEAVY] November28pt3

Date	Food	Grams	Poop	Tank Clean	Handling Time	Shed	Reptaid
11/23/2011	0	27			0		off
11/24/2011	3 MW	27			5 min		off
11/25/2011	8 MW	27			10 min		X
11/26/2011	11 MW	28	X		10 min		X
11/27/2011	10 MW	29			5 min		X
11/28/2011	0	30			5 min		X
11/29/2011	11 MW	29	X		5 min		X
11/30/2011	23 MW	30	X		10 min		X
12/01/2011	0	31			15 min		X
12/02/2011	9 MW	31	X		10 min		X
12/03/2011	0	32			10 min		X
12/04/2011	18 MW	31	X	X	10 min		X

As you can see by the pictures above and the table regarding Typhon’s basic husbandry and dosing records, this product certainly does not cure “mouth gaps.” I say mouth gaps because Typhon, contrary to what it looks like, does not have mouth rot. The veterinarian simply said that he has “a little gingivitis”, nothing more. As for my testimony on this product, I cannot fully bash or support this product since Typhon’s mouth problem is most likely not bacterial or viral. It is my suspicion that he chews on objects in his tank, but I cannot yet confirm this.

However, I kind of recommend this product if your reptile is being a finicky eater. When I started Typhon on this product, he went four days without food (which isn’t a big deal, but it was concerning). After I finished this product, he became ready to eat more and more frequently. That being said, he did not eat as frequently as he does now when he was on Reptaid. The following tables regard Typhon’s eating/defecating rituals ten days prior to using Reptaid and ten days after the Reptaid dosing extension.

[BEFORE REPTAID]*
October 24
Reptaid Review [IMAGE HEAVY] Beforeao

Date	Food	Grams	Poop	Tank Clean	Handling Time	Shed
10/22/2011	12 MW		X		5 min
10/23/2011	1 MW		X		10 min
10/24/2011	11 MW		X		5 min
10/25/2011	11 MW				0
10/26/2011	0	24	X		5 min
10/27/2011	9 MW				5 min
10/28/2011	0		X		0
10/29/2011	0				0	X
10/30/2011	0				0
10/31/2011	0		X		0

[AFTER REPTAID]*

December 24
Reptaid Review [IMAGE HEAVY] Dscn1080c

Date	Food	Grams	Poop	Tank Clean	Handling Time	Shed
12/05/2011	1 MW	32			10 min
12/06/2011	16 MW	33	X		10 min
12/07/2011	0				5 min
12/08/2011	4 MW	34			15 min
12/09/2011	3 MW		X		10 min
12/10/2011	16 MW	34			10 min
12/11/2011	0				10 min
12/12/2011	23 MW				15 min
12/13/2011	9 MW	36	X		10 min	X
12/14/2011	0		X		15 min

Typhon began to hork down food like crazy after getting pulled off Reptaid. It seems that his stomach might have been upset by the product…however, it’s hard to say that since Typhon can’t tell me when he has a belly ache. Since I’m approaching this in a more assumptive manner, I would say that the only way Reptaid works for increasing appetite is to give this product to the reptile for the full dosing. After the regimen is completed, that’s when the reptile’s stomach feels better and his appetite significantly increases.

That being said, I do NOT recommend giving this to a sick or dying leopard gecko or reptile, especially one under 25 grams. I think this product would do more harm than good in that sense since it induces a belly ache and might force them off food. What this product does seem to do in terms of eating is help them gain weight, possibly retaining more nutrition from what is fed to a reptile. Typhon gained grams like crazy when I started him on the product which was really surprising seeing as he ate so little. Since using Reptaid, his weight gain progression has respectfully increased.

Overall, this product might have helped Typhon’s mouth just a little bit. It looks better than it originally was, but it’s not cured or as nice as I would have liked it. As much as I would like to wish this product could cure anything, again, this is a supplement, not a bottle full of magic and rainbows that makes your reptile mysteriously get better. Although this does not seem to have a negative effect on the reptile community as of yet, I recommend using caution when administering this product to your beloved reptile. It is ultimately the discretion of the reptile owner that decides the fate of their collection. If anything, I would recommend a vet visit over this product any day.

Overall score: 6 out of 10

* Let min = minutes; Let MW = mealworms (medium size); Let SW = silkworms (medium size)

By Tsuhei

by **Jordan** Fri Jan 06, 2012 1:13 pm

This is more than a review, its like a case study! Razz

Good Job Cerra, a great read!
before reading, I actually didn't know much about the product too.

Reptaid Review [IMAGE HEAVY]

Reptaid Review [IMAGE HEAVY]

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