# Super pig or other color enhancers?



## ktdarts (Nov 14, 2011)

I have been told that even the sweet paprika can have bad long term effects on darts and instead I should use super pig or naturose. Only problem is I don't know where to buy naturose or even know what super pig is. Anyone know where I can purchase these items for my byh.


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## Woodsman (Jan 3, 2008)

Super Pig (short for pigment) has naturose in it and is a great color enhancer. Allen Repashy makes it, but you can get it from Josh's Frogs.

Good luck, Richard.


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## Pumilo (Sep 4, 2010)

SuperPig is made by Repashy so you can get it from the same places you get your Repashy Calcium Plus.
Naturose will probably have to be found with a google search. I saw quite a few sources with a quick google search about a month ago.


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

ktdarts said:


> I have been told that even the sweet paprika can have bad long term effects on darts and instead I should use super pig or naturose. Only problem is I don't know where to buy naturose or even know what super pig is. Anyone know where I can purchase these items for my byh.


I'm not sure why someone told you that sweet paprika can have bad long-term effects as I can't see any reason for it nor is there anything that supports that premise..... 

The reason you want to use a more complete carotenoid profile is because paprika doesn't contain a wide variety of the carotenoids that are beneficial to the frogs.


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## powersauce (Sep 1, 2008)

Just be careful not to be overzealous with Superpig, it even warns on the label that it shouldn't exceed 6% of the Dry Matter Basis (DMB) of an animal's diet. I am a fan of using Superpig as a color enhancer, but you just have to be careful not to go overboard.


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## motydesign (Feb 27, 2011)

i have seen with the Cal + from Allen significant color enchantments on frogs in the past 8 months! just my observation, no need for super pig in my vit collection.


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

motydesign said:


> i have seen with the Cal + from Allen significant color *enchantments* on frogs in the past 8 months! just my observation, no need for super pig in my vit collection.


Did that come with a wand? 

Ed


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## powersauce (Sep 1, 2008)

motydesign said:


> i have seen with the Cal + from Allen significant color enchantments on frogs in the past 8 months! just my observation, no need for super pig in my vit collection.


Calcium Plus contains a small amount of SuperPig, which is probably why you have seen improvements in color in your frogs. It really does make quite a difference.


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## motydesign (Feb 27, 2011)

hahahha DAMN YOU AUTO CORRECT!


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## gturmindright (Mar 15, 2006)

I don't use Superpig anymore just Cal+. The color still looks good and for some reason Superpig didn't stick good to my flies anyway.


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## ktdarts (Nov 14, 2011)

Does Josh's frogs sell the Cal+?


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## Pumilo (Sep 4, 2010)

ktdarts said:


> Does Josh's frogs sell the Cal+?


Yes, they do.


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## Allen Repashy (Jul 17, 2009)

motydesign said:


> i have seen with the Cal + from Allen significant color enchantments on frogs in the past 8 months! just my observation, no need for super pig in my vit collection.


Calcium plus does contain about 6% superpig, which should be enough to be noticed for sure.

Cheers, Allen


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## Ondruch (Jun 16, 2012)

Hello everyone.
I have 1.2 vittatus group and soon I expect to have some eggs (I hope). I have read some of your forums (but not all of them yet) especially that ones about p. vittatus. And as many of you, once I saw these beautiful red striped p. vittatus frogs. As I far as I knew p. vittatus probably doesn't have any forms which would be different in coloration, so I though the reason has to be in the amount of carotenoids included in food. I'm glad I found this dendroboard where I found that my thought was right. So my question is: how much of sweet paprika can I use to be sure not overdose my little creatures with it? Or is there any other safe way to increase the amount of carotenoids in the food? I am from czech republic, europe, and I did not find any Super pig in our stores  Is there any possibility to buy any artificial human caroten pills or something else and give them these?
Sorry for my English. Thanks for answers!


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## frogparty (Dec 27, 2007)

Your English is fine! Where in Czech are you from? I love the Czech Republic. Many beautiful memories from there. I think since its a dry good, and not an animal you could get superpig shipped to you. Otherwise, if you are going to use paprika, I would just add a small pinch to your calcium supplement when you dust. If you use a small amount regularly you should still see positive results. 

There can also quite possibly be a morph of vittatus with a naturally red stripe
WELCOME TO DENDROBOARD


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## SnakePaparazzi (Jul 20, 2008)

Ondruch said:


> As I far as I knew p. vittatus probably doesn't have any forms which would be different in coloration, so I though the reason has to be in the amount of carotenoids included in food.


There are two different morphs that I know of... Whether they are from different locales or were just bred separately due to difference I do not know... The vitattus that I see commonly in the hobby have thicker and more orange colored stripes than the ones that I have which seem to have more narrow and darker red stripes.

Again, I am not sure if these are considered two different morphs or if they are bred for their color.

-Christian


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

Ondruch said:


> I found that my thought was right. So my question is: how much of sweet paprika can I use to be sure not overdose my


Paprika is not an ideal source of red carotenoids as those carotenoids are not well absorbed in the digestive tract and instead the primary carotenoid supplied by paprika is beta carotene (which is yellow). If you are unable to access Repashy products (I thought there was at least one EU vendor), then I would suggest locating a good source of astaxanthin instead. 

Ed


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## Ondruch (Jun 16, 2012)

*To frogparty*: I'm from Prague, the capital city. I'm glad you have nice memories. It's a small but beautiful country if we consider nature, architecture and for example our beer  But we have some financial and political issues here, our people really don't think and care about nothing but themselves and our president is a d**k  But that's kinda off topic. My girlfriend will go to america this summer so if I will not come up with any other possibility, I will ask her to buy me that famous SuperPig.

*To everyone else (included frogparty)*: Than you for your advice. I wasn't expecting to get some answers that fast! I read something about that astaxanthin so I will maybe try that. I was just curious about that red coloration and I wanted to try make parto of my future froglets "bloodred", but I just wanted to be sure I won't hurt them. So thank you.


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## slipperheads (Oct 17, 2007)

Paprika works wonders.


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## Ondruch (Jun 16, 2012)

OK, so lets say that I want try something another than paprika. And I can't get superpig right now. What are my possibilities? I was searching for something containing that _astaxanthin_. I found these pills called HEMA Astaxanthin cps.30 (I think the web site link is not necessary because of the language used there - czech). There is written that one pill contains 4g of "pure astaxanthin". When I found more complex composition, I found this:
Haematococcus pluvialis extract 10%
oil from safflower 80%
vitamin E 10%
with some "pill encapsulation" made of:
glycerol 20%
water 40%
gelatin 40%
I just wanted to ask, if this source of astaxanthin would be safe for the frogs. My idea was to make powder from the pills and add them to my calcium/vitamin powder, but when I see the composition of pills, I can't get rid of thoughts that it would not be even technically possible to make powder of them, because of the high amount of water and gelatin. Other source of that magic astaxanthin I did'n found in stores (yet).
The best choice so far seems to wait until I get the SuperPig thing or try some paprika (I am really curious about dangers of paprika. So far I read mostly positive XPs).

Another thing that I wanted to know (I swear it's the last one for some time, I don't want to bother you, and I really appreciate all the time you give me ) if it is possible to supply tadpoles with extra portion of carotenoids.
- buy some food with extra amount of carotenoids in it or
- ad carotenoids directly to the water where tadpoles are kept with some "caroten water solution". But I am not sure if this choice would be safe.
Do you have some advice please?
Again.. thank you for your time and patience. I really appreciate it!


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## slipperheads (Oct 17, 2007)

Yikes, what is dangerous about paprika? Been using it for years and matches the color enhancing agents in superpig. It even smeels and looks like repashy superpig has some paprika sprinkled in there. 

Long ago Pat Nabors suggested I use it to color up my SIs faster, but many others use ot for their galancs.

Will


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

Ondruch said:


> OK, so lets say that I want try something another than paprika. And I can't get superpig right now. What are my possibilities? I was searching for something containing that _astaxanthin_. I found these pills called HEMA Astaxanthin cps.30 (I think the web site link is not necessary because of the language used there - czech). There is written that one pill contains 4g of "pure astaxanthin". When I found more complex composition, I found this:
> Haematococcus pluvialis extract 10%
> oil from safflower 80%
> vitamin E 10%
> ...


That formulation of astaxanthin isn't going to work as the binders are going to prevent you from being able to dust the feeders with it. 

Paprika is safe, it just isn't ideal as the red carotenoids are not readily absorbed by the frogs instead beta carotene is the main carotenoid absorbed (and carotenoids can compete for absorbtion) as it is also the main carotenoid supplied by paprika. There is abundent indication that astaxanthin (and potentially canthaxanthin) are important for anurans as they are able to absorb it and in tadpoles convert it to vitamin A. There are a number of analysis of the important carotenoids for frogs and the six most common carotenoids are astaxanthin, canthaxanthin, beta-carotene, beta-cryptoxanthin, lycopene, zeaxanthin, and lutein... with smaller amounts of some other carotenoids. 

There are many reports of "red" frogs fading to orange over time even when supplemented with paprika, which is a strong indication that it is a poor choice for red pigmentation (which makes sense when you consider the main carotenoid is beta carotene). This thread has some pictures of red frog that had astaxanthin as the red pigment color http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/general-discussion/66425-pumilio-imports-4.html#post609756 

Ed


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## jeeperrs (Jan 14, 2010)

I love Prague! I have only been once and it was my most favorite vacation. I hope to go back some day


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## Ondruch (Jun 16, 2012)

Ed said:


> That formulation of astaxanthin isn't going to work as the binders are going to prevent you from being able to dust the feeders with it.
> (...)
> Ed


Thank you for all your advice. I was looking on the Internet for a "while" and didn't find nothing useful. I looked for some vitamin mixtures for reptiles, amphibians and even for fish and almost everything was only with beta-caroten. Probably the best choice will be buying that SuperPig. I will ask my girlfriend to bring me some from US, because of here the prices are really unreal (yes, I found someone who sells it, but it's three times more expensive).

Thank you once again.


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## Ondruch (Jun 16, 2012)

jeeperrs said:


> I love Prague! I have only been once and it was my most favorite vacation. I hope to go back some day


I'm glad you liked it. Yeah Prague is a beautiful city after all. Hope you'll come back soon and help improve our economics with your superdollars!


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## zimmerj (Aug 20, 2014)

Digging up an old thread here since I'm curious about Superpig. What kind of supplementation frequency is recommended for dart frogs? Maybe once a week or something?


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## zonz540 (Feb 8, 2012)

If you're feeding without Cal+, you could rotate it into your schedule every sixth feeding or so. If you're using Cal+, I'd just use that and maybe drop some SuperPig in every month or so. 
I use either SuperPig or paprika in my fly culture medium, so that and feeding with Cal+ is enough to satisfy me. The flies don't hold a ton of it, but I do notice that they they turn red for a couple of weeks after the first boom. I'd imagine that is enough, on top of the Cal+ on a consistent basis.


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