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color enhancement for blue aurautus?

3K views 16 replies 8 participants last post by  Ed 
#1 ·
i hear paprika only benefits frogs with yellow strips?..
 
#2 ·
Dietary supplements for pigment enhancement are only available for yellow, orange and red, as far as I know. I believe that paprika produces red pigmentation, so if you have a Leucomela, for example, it could make the yellow look more orange.

I've never heard of a dietary supplement that enhances blue or green pigmentation.
 
#8 ·
Dietary supplements for pigment enhancement are only available for yellow, orange and red, as far as I know. I believe that paprika produces red pigmentation, so if you have a Leucomela, for example, it could make the yellow look more orange.

I've never heard of a dietary supplement that enhances blue or green pigmentation.

There are several carotenoids in paprika that in theory could play a part in coloration of frogs but sadly, the red pigments in paprika are not them. These carotenoids have a structure that significantly limits the ability of an animal to absorb those carotenoids (and this is before we take into consideration other things like competition between carotenoids..). Paprika does contain significant levels of beta carotene which is what intensifies yellows and to a lesser extent orange. It does very very little for red coloration at the levels fed the frogs. If you want to help with red coloration, you should be looking at astaxanthin and to a lesser extent canthaxanthin..

I have to admit the continuing folklore about paprika is starting to annoy me as I have documented the problems with it as a source for red pigmentation and repeated it multiple times...

Ed
 
#5 ·
I have never heard anything of the sort. I know some people including Josh's Frogs - Herps Feeders and All The Reptile Supplies You need include "color enhancers" in fruit fly medias, however is it tough to gut load fruit flys. What portions of the flies that are actually consumed and absorbed to the frog are highly controversial. To be honest, the color my Azureus look no different from those who induce color enhancements to the frog or fruit fly media. My Azureus seem to be blue, large, and happy. I have about 5 different lines of Leucomelas. Some are more orange and others are more yellow. Regardless of how I supplement their diet, they all seem to retain the same base color. I believe it comes down to genetics. I keep up with calcium and vitamin sups for all my frogs. I guess I over did it if my Azureus starts crapping blue terds :) Personally, just give them a variety of food every now and then and supplement the flies with vitamins and calcium with D3. If you feed often and have enough vivarium space, you will see the results of a happy frog. A bright, blue, happy frog that will suck you into the frog world we all love so much :)
 
#9 ·
I have never heard anything of the sort. I know some people including Josh's Frogs - Herps Feeders and All The Reptile Supplies You need include "color enhancers" in fruit fly medias, however is it tough to gut load fruit flys. What portions of the flies that are actually consumed and absorbed to the frog are highly controversial. To be honest, the color my Azureus look no different from those who induce color enhancements to the frog or fruit fly media. My Azureus seem to be blue, large, and happy. I have about 5 different lines of Leucomelas. Some are more orange and others are more yellow. Regardless of how I supplement their diet, they all seem to retain the same base color. I believe it comes down to genetics. I keep up with calcium and vitamin sups for all my frogs. I guess I over did it if my Azureus starts crapping blue terds :) Personally, just give them a variety of food every now and then and supplement the flies with vitamins and calcium with D3. If you feed often and have enough vivarium space, you will see the results of a happy frog. A bright, blue, happy frog that will suck you into the frog world we all love so much :)
If you add an appropriate source of carotenoids to the media, depending on the carotenoids, it can be taken up and sequestered in the eyes of the flies along with a metabolically effective version of vitamin A (provided the flies are kept in bright light).
If you feed out larval Drosophila, the carotenoids will adhere to the skin of larva staining it allowing for the frogs to take up the carotenoids.

Azureus pigmentation is not changable by supplementation. If you are not seeing any real change in your coloration of the leucomelas, then you may not be using the appropriate carotenoids, and/or insufficient levels of the carotenods and/or the metabolic demand is greater than the demand for sequestering them for pigmentation. If the demand is sufficient, a wide variety of carotenoids can be converted to vitamin A via several metabolic pathways. I suggest checking out the review in the latest issue of Leaf Litter....

Ed
 
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