All this talk about albino roaches

[cacoseraph]

Im kind of wondering if it isnt a disease as well. Just isolating the blond looking ones and guess Ill find out!

you know, there is probably a decent amount of research into roach diseases. much more so tara and scorp and cent diseases. i have little doubt diseases were researched to see if germ warfare would be safe and viable for roach control =P

i think i shall googleth

 

[bugmankeith]

It's not permanent, but right before my roaches molt their eyes turn a purple color. I took me years to notice that because at first I thought I had a special roach.

 

[Andrew273]

I was reading a tarantula book today that said insects and arachnids cannot be albino. Their coloring is due to the makeup of their exoskeleton not from pigments. Though it makes me wonder if there is a food source or something that could alter them in a way as to make them a white color. Could be a fun experiment.

 

[cacoseraph]

I was reading a tarantula book today that said insects and arachnids cannot be albino. Their coloring is due to the makeup of their exoskeleton not from pigments. Though it makes me wonder if there is a food source or something that could alter them in a way as to make them a white color. Could be a fun experiment.

this has been hashed and rehashed. the book is either wrong or you are reading it wrong (don't worry, i was in your camp for the first year i was in the hobby). if you search there are some just plain amazing threads with posts by like, phd bio-types. really quite fascinating.

short story... the coloration is due in part to refraction and reflection of the cuticle but is most definitely also due to a variety of pigments. one pigment, guanine, is critical to life processes, so it is unlikely a bug could be deficient in that pigment and still live. others, we don't know about... and there are some freaky specimens in the species of the various bugs out there

 

[cacoseraph]

It's not permanent, but right before my roaches molt their eyes turn a purple color. I took me years to notice that because at first I thought I had a special roach.

selectively breed the ones that keep the violet eyes the longest =P

 

[bugmankeith]

selectively breed the ones that keep the violet eyes the longest =P

I dont get it?

As soon as they molt, the eyes are black from the start. The purple color is like when snakes eyes turn bluish-white before they molt, their eyes dont turn blue after.

 

[cacoseraph]

selectively breed the ones that keep the violet eyes the longest =P

I dont get it?

As soon as they molt, the eyes are black from the start. The purple color is like when snakes eyes turn bluish-white before they molt, their eyes dont turn blue after.

well, all characteristics likely fall on a bellcurve of distribution. in this case, the desireable characteristic would be an increased length of time the roaches eye exo seperates from the new exo without shedding the whole skin.

i wasn't really serious as this kind of character would be a huge pain to breed for (since you would have to keep constant watch on individually seperated roaches to know which ones you would want to breed)