Oh yes, you are gorgeous. IN the light of course

I have a couple of juvie P. sazimai - was feeding the other night and on a whim had to get my flashlight out on them. Oh my - color was gorgeous. I thought they were too young to be showing anything but a dull brown, but under the light they were an incredibly pretty blue.

I have a few tarantulas that have some color, but only under light. Makes me wonder how many times these beauties are photographed for hobbyists under ideal lighting conditions and of course they look stunning, but in normal light they look neutral. At the end of the day, their comfort is more important than my ooh and ahh factor, but I wonder if people ever add a little lighting to the cage area that won't impact the temps or irritate them, but will enhance the colors.

The lighting in the room where I keep them isn't ideal either, to be honest, but I still think to show the real color they'd need some brighter light in the cage.

I can't say I generally care how colorful the spider is, I'm usually much more interested in the individual personality. Yeah, the colors have a novelty, but that usually wears off pretty quick. Orange is my favorite color, so I was ecstatic to get an OBT after several years in the hobby... and that novelty wore off pretty quickly. Sure, there are spiders that I have in nice display cages to show them off (C. cyaneopubescens, P. striata, A. geniculata, B. emilia), but you'll note those all have "in your face" colors.

My favorite genus, by far, is Euathlus. I love their colors, I love their temperament, I love their feeding style. But they're all just this boring slate black, with the only exception being random stripes of red occasionally... that is, until you get a light under them. All of mine have this beautiful iridescent green to them - some on the head, some on the legs, some on the abdomen. Unfortunately, this barely shows up even in pictures, and it only shows up under a very bright light. But again, it doesn't matter, because the novelty would wear off even if I could see it.

In short, no, I personally wouldn't add any light at all. The spiders are perfectly happy with the low light of the rooms indoors they have. The only time I think I'd put a light in is if the enclosure was for educational purposes, like at a zoo or something similar.

I notice this as my t room is dark, so I always look at them via flashlight. The one I notice the biggest difference it my 1.25" LV slings, they look black, but if you hit em just right, its a WOW blue. My adult female P. ornata is another, when hit from the side with a light, the thing turns shades of green and gold, which as a packer fan, I like:wink: When I show people they are always impressed.