Pterinopelma Sazimai Is a Purple Spider...Sometimes

This is a collection of clips of my Pterinopelma sazimai spider being fed. Pterinopelma sazimai tarantulas come from Brazil but you must only ever buy them as small spiderlets that have been bred in captivity because they're endangered in their natural habitat and if you buy an adult spider there is a chance it might have been caught in the wild.
They live at high altitude where the weather is often bad so they're quite hardy spiders. I give mine enough substrate to dig a spider tunnel, a water bowl and some cork bark to hide under. I always keep at least part of the substrate with moisture in, I don't let it completely dry out. Some people say their P sazimais are fussy eaters and sometimes won't take food but mine has always been highly feratious and eats everything I put in its enclosure, unless it's about to moult of course.

But the main thing about Pterinopelma sazimai is that theyre blue or purple, but only sometimes. There is only one spider in this video but as you can see sometimes it looks purple and sometimes it looks grey/brown with maybe a hint of purple. I think the reason is because its purpleness isn't because of pigment, its structural. Or at least, it has a structural component, there might be pigment involved too especially since they get purpler as they get older. Structural colour is when tiny tiny details on its bristles are just the right size and shape to reflect blue/purple wavelengths of light, and only in one direction, while other wavelengths are scattered or absorbed. The metallic and iridescent colours on some butterfly's wings and bird's feathers are made this way too. To make the spider purplest you need to turn off all the lights in the room except one, and that one should be right next to your face (or camera). Then the spider will be purple. If you hold the light away so its off to the left or right or above the spider its purpleness will disappear, and if there are other lights in the room or daylight from a window the purpleness will be less.

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