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OK two of my tinc patricias have light blue legs and two have dark blue legs. they all are brother/sister and started off the same color. I already use paprika to keep the yellow bright but what can I give them to brighten up the blue????

thanks all
Joe

did the paperika do any thing for their blues at all?

i havent used it, i dont know who has. but eds fly meat has Spirulina. They say its suppose to increase blues.

www.edsflymeatinc.com/prod04.htm

aj
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Click Here to see my vivarium and steps on how to make a basic vivarium UPDATED 7.18.03 Now complete! All that is needed are some New River Tincs!

kungfu28181: My god. You are insane. -Mon Jun 30 21:41:05

Interesting, eds doesn't say much about it though. Is it a dust or a bug or a pulverized bug?

Paprika works fairly well, I use it sparingly to prevent possible liver damage. I don't actually know that it can cause liver damage, but several herp vitamin products have killed PDF livers with excess vitamin A and paprika is high in beta carotene which is a precursor to vitamin A. Some people just sprinkle some in thier fly cultures which is most likely safer than my ocassional dusting method.

Anyway, anyone know much about spirulina? Is it worth 20 bucks for a half pound(froggie lifetime supply) of the stuff.

joe

Don't worry about overdoing the paprika. Beta carotenes are only sparsely turned into vitamin A, and this is done in the gut. Unlike the straight vitamin A from fat and liver or vitamin powders, which are almost totally utilized and stored even to a toxic level in the liver with overdoses, there is a feed back mechanism that prevents the metabolism of carotenes into vitamin A unless it is needed. Some of the excess carotenes, which are fat soluble may absorbed and stored in the lipids of fat cells just under the dermis and somewhat in the dermal lipids, enhancing the yellows and reds.

What would enhance blue, would be an interesting study, but I haven't found any research on it yet. The spirulina would certainly be safe enough to try.
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Patty
Lost River, Idaho

4 D. auratus blue
3 D. galactonotus pumpkin orange splash back
5 D. imitator
4 D. leukomelas
4 D. pumilio Bastimentos

Spirulina is an algae originally harvested from lakes by the Aztecs. Very healthy stuff for both frogs and humans. But I don't know if it will help the blues or not. Maybe just play some B.B. King for them. Hah.

I just did a quick search on ebay for Spirulina. I found several results most where human form tablets. (Couldnt you just take those and grind them up and itll be the same as what eds is selling?)

For example i found this Spirulina in powerder form for birds. What is your take on it, would it be safe for herps? If you want you can search Spirulina on ebay and get about 50 results.

aj
ebay

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Click Here to see my vivarium and steps on how to make a basic vivarium UPDATED 7.18.03 Now complete! All that is needed are some New River Tincs!

kungfu28181: My god. You are insane. -Mon Jun 30 21:41:05

It's a common ingredient in fish flake formula and used to feed tads. So it's safe for herps.
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Patty
Lost River, Idaho

4 D. auratus blue
3 D. galactonotus pumpkin orange splash back
5 D. imitator
4 D. leukomelas
4 D. pumilio Bastimentos

so as long as its 100% spirulina its safe to use no matter what application its says? I saw it on the GNC website also but no price listed with it. probibly a little cheaper then eds.

aj
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Click Here to see my vivarium and steps on how to make a basic vivarium UPDATED 7.18.03 Now complete! All that is needed are some New River Tincs!

kungfu28181: My god. You are insane. -Mon Jun 30 21:41:05

I imagine to feed frogs, you'd need to dust the insects with it (like the vitamins and paprika). I purchased just a small amount of it in pure form in a little vial for feeding brine shrimp, and used this with fish flake for the imitator tads, as well, but never tried it on adult frogs. I can't think of or find a logical metabolic reason that it would enhance blue color, though. It just might be worth a subjective trial.
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Patty
Lost River, Idaho

4 D. auratus blue
3 D. galactonotus pumpkin orange splash back
5 D. imitator
4 D. leukomelas
4 D. pumilio Bastimentos

Try contacting Saurian Enterprise. They should have Some Spirulina and Chlorella. I am not sure if does help with blue coloration or not but people say it does.

Try Chlorella, it's normally used as a color enhancer, and I'm pretty sure that I read it enhances blues and greens. Try looking on the BDG website for more info. about these kinds of things. Personally I'd like to get some Canthaxanthin.

Canthaxanthin is what is used in yellow food coloring. It's from the mushroom Cantharellus cinnabarinus-- one of the edible chantrelles. The extract is a carotinoid, probably a lot more concentrated and stonger than paprika. I don't know of a powdered form for dusting flies. It might be worth looking into saffron, the pollen of Crocus sativus--As a rare spice, it is much too expensive, though.

This still doesn't answer the "blue" question. I think I'll go with Ella Fiztgerald. She's more my style and generation than B.B. King.
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Patty
Lost River, Idaho

4 D. auratus blue
3 D. galactonotus pumpkin orange splash back
5 D. imitator
4 D. leukomelas
4 D. pumilio Bastimentos

Umm..Yeah. It is also used as a human/canary(probably other birds) color enhancer. I'm sure that it comes in many forms, and theres bound to be a capsule, liquid or dust.

But, to the question at hand: I would ask this question on Frognet, even though there was already an gigantic discussion on it not too long ago, you may want to try the archives first, and then ask the question.

Under the Canthaxanthin post. [bleep]ood info. there.

Err, umm...I'm pretty sure you [bleep]ot the point as to what that said, Fro[bleep]net. I entirely for[bleep]ot about that happen[bleep].

I've been following that one but no one seems to have a definite answer, so I'll probobly have to experiment with the two current possabilities to see if either work.

thanks
joe