# Albino Tarantula



## GazEmm (Jul 11, 2006)

A little dicky bird tells me that a certin someone has been lucky enough to obtain what has been described to me as an albino tarantula...a G. Rosea i think it was.

I'm just wondering whats the score with this and is it actually albinism (if thats the right word) in inverts and specifically tarantulas? Or is it just some other weird fluke??

I get basic genetics when it comes to other animals so would the same principals apply i.e. breed it to a 'normal', cross the babies back to each other and get a certain percentage of albinos?

Ta,
Gary.


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## iiisecondcreep (Oct 29, 2007)

Google it, there are a number of links that come up (mainly on other forums). One contained a link to an article but unfortunately the link no longer works... even more unfortunately the link to a picture of an apparent albino no longer works either!


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## GazEmm (Jul 11, 2006)

Hmmm from what i can gather then 'albino' is maybe not the correct term, as this appears to relate to the lack of malamine...which T's do not have.

I will be interested to hear how this T gets on and if it is used for breeding or not.

I just want to see the picture now :lol2:


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## shep1979 (Feb 24, 2008)

i know who has this spider :2thumb: and it is more pink then albino white


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## GazEmm (Jul 11, 2006)

shep1979 said:


> i know who has this spider :2thumb: and it is more pink then albino white


I'm hoping they will send us a picture of it so we can see it for ourselves:whistling2:

Be interesting to know if there is anything genetic behind it mind and whether the traits could be passed on...not really sure if the tarantula keeping world would be keen on 'morphs' mind.


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## Paulie B (Oct 28, 2008)

No such thing seemingly, they do not exist. Chances of survival in the wild would pronbably be nil.


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## Mutley.100 (Nov 3, 2008)

GazEmm said:


> I'm hoping they will send us a picture of it so we can see it for ourselves:whistling2:
> 
> Be interesting to know if there is anything genetic behind it mind and whether the traits could be passed on...not really sure if the tarantula keeping world would be keen on 'morphs' mind.



I can imagine , some T's are hard enough to ID without taking the colour away . :devil:


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## GazEmm (Jul 11, 2006)

Paulie B said:


> No such thing seemingly, they do not exist. Chances of survival in the wild would pronbably be nil.


I agree survival in the wild would be pretty slim but we are talking cb here so thats completely different. From the bits i've read i do think it could be possible, even though the term 'albino' might not be completely accurate.


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## joeyboy (Jul 19, 2008)

Well it wont be a lack of melanine so it isn't true albinism but I suppose it's just a lack of what ever pigment colours it's hairs.


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## AbraxasComplex (Sep 3, 2008)

And besides, even if one molt lacks any pigment, there is a possibility when it molts again that the lack of pigment will not occure again. I had a roach that did this, stayed white until it molted again a month later.


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## Jamie (Nov 18, 2007)

GazEmm said:


> not really sure if the tarantula keeping world would be keen on 'morphs' mind.


Thats gonna open up a can of worms...:whistling2:

Sounds pretty cool though :2thumb:


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## C_Strike (Feb 20, 2007)

albinoism - lack of melanine, specifically,

also, two main types of albinism exist.

Type one, where the body holds the enzmyes to produce melanin, but for extreneous reasons, cannot produce melanin.
Type two is where the body doesnt contain the pigment producing enzyme. 
The categorising to type one and two, could also be related to other pigments equally, obviously different enzymes.
Essentially it would be nice to see and be able to properly analyze pigment levels in suspected 'albino' inverts, and normal alike to be able to compare.
At the mo tho, iv yet to see any study that revolves around Theraphosids, and associated pigments. 
Tarnatulas if like scorpions (S maurus, H arizonensis of my head) do contain some levels of melanin, very low amounts, and pretty much centered around the ocular tubercule. So an albino T would look little different to your usual.

Tarantulas do not contain high levels of pigment as far as iv read, their colours are made up of a multitude of differing factors, with refraction being a reputed big player. Also would be the natural colours of the bodies substances and chemicals.
So low amounts of pigments, light refraction and molecular structure seem to be the current udnerstanding.
Tbh, until i read some actual research into the colouration and possible pigmentation its not something i hold with gospel truth or even close.


if iv messed up, its 3.30am soo MEH


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## Becky (Mar 26, 2007)

There are some 'albino' forms of spiders...

Take Holothele incei for example. In the hobby, a normal incei male was mated with normal incei females. For years they produced 100% normal spiderlings, then randomly there was an eggsac which contained a number of "white" spiderlings. These were then grown on and mated with "white" females and normal females.

The results were:

White to white = all white eggsac
White to normal = Percentage of normal and white babies

These are sold in the hobby now as Holothele incei "Gold" and they are lovely!!
This also worked with Selenocosmia peerboomi. Chris Sainsbury documented it in a fab BTS article. 

There was an 'albino' G rosea found in the wild by someone who i shall remain nameless incase its not common knowledge, but the people that were shipping the spiders from Chile decided to keep it. So as far as i know, there is no albino rosea in the hobby. If there was im pretty sure we'd of seen it everywhere by now.

EDIT: Thread about the incei golds, by Michael Scheller who sells them 

http://www.the-t-store.co.uk/forum/index.php?showtopic=13303


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## C_Strike (Feb 20, 2007)

Aye, iv read a number of posts and threads about this over the years.
Its amazing and also uncommon, but the only thing for me is when people refer to it as albinism, it just isnt. (most probably) 
Pigment mutation/ deficiency or something, but most likely not albinism par se.

Well, reading through some of those posts. Ray is refering to it as being albino, which suprises me as hes normally quite 'correct' 
would definately be interesting to read about Tarantula pigments, and the amount of present melanin.
Although Ray refers to it as albinism, i would still be weary of this, as i feel its most likely a misleading diagnosis.
But meh, il be much pessimistic of melanin content in arachnids purely because of the sole peer reviewd article about Albinism and scorps that i have read..unfortunately iv lost that article to the depth of my old pc


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## Mutley.100 (Nov 3, 2008)

Surely the only way to confirm Albino-ism is through genetics . Couldn't a white invert just be a recessive colour ? 

I'm not an expert so please don't set fire to your arrows before sending them my way .


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## Becky (Mar 26, 2007)

There was an albino scorp in that thread in classifieds..? Though i didnt follow it so i dont really know where it went and what was decided.

DNA work would be pretty interesting!


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## C_Strike (Feb 20, 2007)

Becky said:


> There was an albino scorp in that thread in classifieds..? Though i didnt follow it so i dont really know where it went and what was decided.
> 
> DNA work would be pretty interesting!


Aye thats a good point, forgot about that, it was a P imperataor iirc too, taht would be intersting to find out about


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