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Diet Chocolate residue

2074red2074

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I work in a chocolate shop and often have to take home the chocolate-dipped strawberries, as we make them fresh daily. I usually give my guinea pigs bits of everything I eat within their dietary restrictions, but am wondering whether or not very minor chocolate residue on the strawberry leaves (the green part, I don't think it's actually a leaf) would be harmful.

By minor, I mean like if you were to take a leaf of lettuce and rub it on a chocolate bar. We grip the leaves when we dip the strawberries, and we usually have a good half centimeter between the leaves and where the chocolate ends. I'm pretty sure a leaf dipped in chocolate would be a bad idea.
 

oldnewie

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I wouldn't even try. Chocolate is toxic, I don't know if a smear of it would be harmful. See what others say first.
 

2074red2074

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I don't know how well this applies to guinea pigs, but the lethal dose of theobromine (the chemical that makes chocolate kill dogs) for rats is actually higher than the lethal dose for humans, when adjusted for weight. In mice, it's lower than for humans, but still three times higher than for dogs. I also know that mice have been fed dark chocolate in studies on how it affects the brain (positively) without them dying.
 

Pinny Gig

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I wouldn't. It would be awful if a guinea pig suffered/died to a personal experiment.

An accident is one thing, but knowingly testing food that doesn't exist in their natural habitat typically doesn't end well.
 

2074red2074

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I wouldn't. It would be awful if a guinea pig suffered/died to a personal experiment.

An accident is one thing, but knowingly testing food that doesn't exist in their natural habitat typically doesn't end well.
That's why I asked here. There might be someone who had some kind of incident with their guinea pig getting into chocolate and not getting sick.

Also, I'm pretty sure cacao exists in South America. I wouldn't be surprised if wild cavies occasionally ate a fallen cocoa bean.
 
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