# dusting with spirulina



## Guest (Aug 8, 2006)

would there be any point in dusting crickets with this for larger frogs for nutrition? also could somebody tell me the food supplement that can enhance red colouration, im sure i saw a thread about it a while back.


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## dragonfrog (Feb 16, 2006)

I think it is paprika


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

Paprika is one possibility but many animals that use carotenoids for pink red colors use something like astaxanthin (like flamingos). This is the pigment that makes shrimp pink when cooked and lobsters red. It is found in the exoskeleton of many crustaceans. 

Ed


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## stchupa (Apr 25, 2006)

I doubt if algae would be readably digestable by the morphed gut of and adult that is now specialized in taking completely different foods. There may be some part of it that could be digestable but may inhibit the absorbtion and assimilation of commonly required standard compounds.

You can, and should if it's always available to you, use it in the media of your cultures. A half a tsp. is plenty. I use it with most everything cricket, flies, beetles, moths, springtails, to add additional variety.


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## Guest (Aug 8, 2006)

*spirulina*

i use it in fruit fly cultures and have found that it makes a noticable difference to the size and vigour of the culture.


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

snip " doubt if algae would be readably digestable by the morphed gut of and adult that is now specialized in taking completely different foods"endsnip 

As the cells have been dried this results in the breakdown of the cellular walls resulting in the animal being able to digest and/or upatake the cellular nutrients. 
As all carotenoids are plant derived animals that use them for pigmentation (like some dart frogs) have to be able to absorb them. 

Ed


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## Guest (Aug 12, 2006)

*algae*

could you clarify for me ed, does that mean that the nutrients from dusting with spirulina could be beneficial? i tried it with one of my toads a few days ago and he ate the spirulina dusted crickets no problem.


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

Yes it could be beneficial but it shouldn't be used in place of a vitamin/mineral supplement as it isn't a complete supplemet. If you are using crickets I would feed it to them instead of dusting them. 

Ed


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## rain- (Jul 28, 2006)

In fish, too much spirulina in their diet causes black pigment spots on their skin (they will fade away eventually, but takes a long time). But I don't know what too much spirulina would do to a frog and how much would be too much.

I was thinking about feeding my feeders some spirulina, because it sure is beneficial in reasonable amounts, it makes yellows and reds stronger and is otherwise healthy too.


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