cascade wrote:

LOL
They mite also start barking and wiping there ass on the substrate!

They do, but in tarantulas we call it stridulation and the feeding waltz. Now I'm being silly! :silly:

Ivan03 wrote:

I was wondering if there is some type of Vitamin that can bring out T colors better ?
I know there is lots of things you can do in reptiles and so on, but WHAT ABOUT TARANTULAS?

Any help on this ?

I don't know a lot about color enhancers in reptiles, but I've had some exposure to color enhancers in birds, especially canaries. If you feed yellow canaries food that is laced with excessive amounts of carotene or xanthines (some of the naturally occurring yellow, orange, or red plant pigments) they develop some really impressive colors on their next molt. Saffron has long been considered the best coloring agent to use ( en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saffron ), but also the most expensive. However, if you fail to maintain the enriched diet, the birds become the standard, relatively drab, yellow canary at the next molt thereafter. Breeders sometimes do this to promote sales. The practice is called "color feeding" and is largely considered unethical in the aviculture hobby. It is, however, commonly practiced on the sly!

A decade or so ago a discussion similar to this occurred on the old ATS forum. The results were uniformly disappointing. No one knew of any technique to accomplish the feat with tarantulas. However, I mentioned that the Aphonopelma species from west Texas typically occurred in a variety of color shades. A. moderatum, the Rio Grande gold, from some areas were vibrantly colored, but those from other areas were quite subdued. And, another species of Aphonopelma, putatively hentzi, from the Eagle Pass/Del Rio area changed the intensity of its brown body parts and the color of its carapace in captivity almost with every molt. And, no one seems to know why.

It is entirely possible that the variations in color with A., moderatum are merely the results of natural selection, a genetic predisposition. But not necessarily so. If the prey they routinely ate in some areas were unusually heavily laden with plant pigments because of some local food plant, it's possible that the tarantulas that fed on them might also develop an enhanced color as a result.

And, the Aphonopelma "hentzi" that we had captured and kept in captivity may have changed color with each molt because of changes in the diet of our feeder crickets.

So, here's an little experiment for someone to perform.

1) Do a little research to find out what is the next best, natural and organic thing to saffron (unless you're independently wealthy!) for coloring foods, fabrics and bird feathers. (If you can find an aviculture club in your area, you can visit them to ask about the practice and possible sources of the pigments.)

2) Develop or adapt your own home brew, cricket food laced with the aforementioned coloring agent, and feed it to all of your crickets for several weeks before feeding them to your tarantulas.

3) Time this experiment so that it begins with the next molt in your geographic region (perhaps March in the Northern Hemisphere and September in the Southern Hemisphere).

4) Save each tarantula's exuvium from a "before" condition, carefully labeled with the date and the tarantula's ID that it came from.

5) Save each tarantula's exuvium from after each molt, carefully labeled with the date and the tarantula's ID that it came from.

6) Take good color photos of your tarantulas within 72 hours after each molt before you start the experiment and after each molt during the span of the experiment. (You'll want to use perfectly reproducible lighting like pure sunlight to avoid tainting the data.)

7) After 3 to 5 years of this data collection, repeat the same experiment, only this time using the same cricket food recipe minus the color enhancing pigments.

At the end of the experiment, compare both the shed exuvia and the photos of "before," "after #1," and "after #2" to see if there is any significant, consistent change in color.

9) Then, write up your results and have them published either in the Bulletin of the British Tarantula Society or in the Forum Magazine of the American Tarantula Society. (Or in any other relatively major society you know about).

You'll become a published author, a recognized expert in arachnoculture, and may have a local school named after you! (Just kidding about the school naming thing. :lol: )

What else were you planing on doing with your tarantulas for the next 10 years?

Holy crap did you guys get who that was. We should truly feel honored. The author of the tarantula keepers guide just posted the last post. I have their book and it's a 10/10 must have.

Jip Gringo, Mr. Schultz has been a member of this forum for quite a while.

snarf wrote:

Jip Gringo, Mr. Schultz has been a member of this forum for quite a while.

...and we are very honored to have him here!

Stanley A. Schultz wrote:

So, here's an little experiment for someone to perform.

1) Do a little research to find out what is the next best, natural and organic thing to saffron (unless you're independently wealthy!) for coloring foods.

If I was to try this experiment with T's I'd use a hardy little feeder called the weavle or weavle moth. I have seen weavle in almost all the spices known to man. And would start this experiment using either tumeric or paprica as a cheaper option to saffron.