Polyacrylamide vs acrylate, detrimental affects to beardies?

[SoleSky]

Okay, so I was reading some information online today on faunaclassifieds saying that polyacrylamide water crystals are safe for feeders to eat but polyacrylate crystals can be severely detrimental if not life threatening to herps who ingest the insects that these were fed to. This is due to the fact that it causes a break down of molecules into ammonia salts, carbon dioxide and nitrogen. Does anybody know any information about this? I have no idea what type of water crystals mine are but I immediately emailed the company because I am worried!

 

[SkeptiBee]

I think someone might have got confused. I've been looking all evening for information about this and here's what I've been able to find.

According to Wiki, polyacrylamide itself is nontoxic but if it breaks down it can be reduced back to acrylamide which is a known neurotoxin. Because polyacrylamide is formed by using acrylamide subunits, there are trace amounts of acrylamide found in it. There is caution to be had when handling it but generally the traces are very small. Now, looking at what acrylamide does:

Wiki says:
"Acrylamide decomposes in the presence of acids, bases, oxidizing agents, iron, and iron salts. It decomposes non-thermally to form ammonia, and thermal decomposition produces carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and oxides of nitrogen."

The person who initially posted over at Fauna I think is confused between polyacrylamide and acrylate. Acrylate polymer isn't marketed for animal consumption because it's essentially plastic.

Anyway, it also appears that cross-linked versions of polyacrylamide are more resistant to degradation as well.

I saw on one pet website that Anionic Polyacrylamide is safe for insects to consume but I don't see where they are getting that information from. Would be nice if they listed a credible source that did a study specifically for insects.

I hope this clarifies things. I had to read this stuff near a dozen times before my head wrapped around any of it. lol

 

[SoleSky]

Great info thanks! I'll link you to the page. http://www.bugh2o.com/index.php?main_page=faq_info&fcPath=4&faqs_id=17

I bought mine on amazon and it was labeled insect water http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0051V22VS/ref=oh_details_o04_s00_i01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

So worried now because I never knew this information before.

 

[SkeptiBee]

That's the website I linked too as well. It would be nice if they had some form of documentation to support what they claim because the wiki article is contradicting parts of their information. They might have good intentions warning pet owners, but at the same time I get the vibe of "ZOMG danger danger danger don't buy that stuff its danger! Buy OUR stuff! It's safe!" That might not be their intent, but it passes off as fear mongering and using large words to confuse readers.

I'm curious at what degree of tempurature needed to degenerate polyacrylimide back into acrylamide state though. My guess would be it would need to be very high to break it down. Let me see if I can't get an answer somewhere later today. Right now, its too early for science. My brain needs coffee.

 

[SoleSky]

I could ask some of my bio professors, we work with polyacrylamide in the lab as a type of gel for doing electrophoresis. It is a crosslinking polymer but that's about all I know about it. I've never worked with polyacrylate gel - I assume it could go either way with polymers.