Agar agar safe for birds?

[Mothi]

During my days of keeping reptiles, I used to make what was called Moisture Munchies.

The nutritional information about agar agar can be found here.

Basically I first made it for the crickets and mealworms I kept. Then later I made a variety of it for my creasted gecko using baby food and mashed fruits. Since I often made batches bigger than I can use, I often fed excess to my pet rats at the time. My mom even used to make me jello type desserts using agar agar. It is stiffer than Jell-o without melting at higher temperatures like Jell-o tends to. Would it be safe to make them Gelatin Deserts with fruit and veges in it? Could use fruit juices instead of water I suppose as well. Any ideas or feedback? Anyone ever had recipes using agar agar? Any possible concerns about making gelatin treats with this?

[Mothi]

I guess the right person with some answers or comments has not been on yet.

I guess I will ask my birdies doctor the next time I go to him in under 2 weeks.

If anyone wants to throw around thoughts though, feel free to.

[felisdomesticus]

I pour petri dishes with agar. Never heard of cooking with it, though.

[grandma]

Sounds yucky!

[homebird]

I see it all the time in Health stores as a healthy alternative to ‘jello’ or gelatin - (there was concern about mad-cow with the gelatin but I'm not sure how that was dealt with)

I don't see a problem with it beyond the swelling if the agar is in powder form, & you wouldn't be using it like that.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agar

Agar is an unbranched polysaccharide obtained from the cell walls of some species of red algae or seaweed. The word agar comes from the Malay word agar-agar (meaning jelly). It is also known as kanten or agal-agal (Ceylon agar). Chemically, agar is a polymer made up of subunits of the sugar galactose. Agar polysaccharides serve as the primary structural support for the algae's cell walls. Dissolved in hot water and cooled, agar becomes gelatinous. Its chief use is as a culture medium for microbiological work. Other uses are as a laxative, a vegetarian gelatin substitute, a thickener for soups, in jellies, ice cream and Japanese desserts such as anmitsu, as a clarifying agent in brewing, and for paper sizing fabrics.
Uses in cooking
Agar is typically sold as packaged strips of washed and dried seaweed, or in powdered form. Raw agar is white and semi-translucent. For making jelly, it is boiled in water at a concentration of about 0.7-1% w/v (e.g. a 7 gram packet of powder into 1 litre of water would be 0.7%) until the solids dissolve, after which sweeteners, flavouring, colouring, and pieces of fruit may be added. The agar-agar may then be poured into molds or incorporated into other desserts, such as a jelly layer on a cake.

One of the latest fad diets in Asia is the Kanten Diet. Once ingested, kanten triples in size and absorbs water. This results in the consumer feeling more full. Recently this diet has received some press coverage in the United States as well. The diet has shown promise in obesity studies, but agar/kanten has virtually no nutritional value. It is approximately 80% fiber, so part of the diet's effectiveness may be a result of it working as a laxative. There are also some (claimed) effects as to the benefits of agar-agar in controlling diabetes.

[tiny_teesha]

agar can be really bad for ecclectuses, im not sure about other birds, but it can cause toe tapping and wing flipping in ecclectuses. Which is an involuntary muscle spasm that lasts a long time (can last for 2 weeks day and night). So that is due ( i rekcon) to over nutrition. but yeh, i suppose small amounts would be ok, but i know of no bird that in the wild skims the surface of water for alagae......

[The Outlaw]

I think I'd opt instead for Know Gelatin powder and reduce the amount of water. It seems odd to me after having birds for so many years that no agar has ever been mentioned in any recipe. I think I'd pass. The only time I've used Agar is to grow bacteria cultures.