Blacklights for Scorpion Collecting Discussion Thread

[MrDeranged]

Well, the light does fine on my scorpion rack. I haven't tested it for distance yet. As for longevity, it was on for 5 1/2 hours before Tamara turned it off last night with no sign of fading.

Cheers,
Dave

Have you been working out to carry the battery all over the desert?

Seriously though, have you??? ;P

It looks nice Dave, good luck with it

Scott

 

[skinheaddave]

Scott,

The battery only weighs about 5 lbs and is supposed to go in a backpack. It actually fits quite well in a pocket on some webbing I have, but I don't know whether I want to be parading around at night looking even the slightest bit paramilitary.

EDIT: In answer to John's question, it seems to go about 12 hours before it starts to fade. At this point it is good to only about 8' for picking up a scorpion M.martensii size. That being said, these are surpluss batteries, so results may vary from battery to battery. I will try to determine the best ones over the next month or so when I have the time.

Cheers,
Dave

 

[heyjeyniceid]

SkinHeadDave,

whats your motivation for building a blacklight like that when you live in canada, which, if i remember correctly, has no native scorps?

Do you take trips to the southern united states or something?

 

[conipto]

SkinHeadDave,

whats your motivation for building a blacklight like that when you live in canada, which, if i remember correctly, has no native scorps?

Do you take trips to the southern united states or something?

Yep, the ATS convention is coming up, and the skinheads will all be there this year..

Bill

 

[da_illest]

hey, i just found another scorp light that's pretty cheap and looks good quality... it's actually a Mag-Lite with a UV bulb in it.. i know you may be able to build one yourself but since i have no clue how that works and i'm sure others here don't i'm posting it anyways.. i believe it's $70 canadian which makes it just over $50 american i believe.. anyways, here's the link

CLICK ME

 

[carpe scorpio]

Kugellager, that thing is totally cool!, If I didn't live in Alaska, I would have to have one.

 

[Kugellager]

Kugellager, that thing is totally cool!, If I didn't live in Alaska, I would have to have one.

Thanks...I'm going to a bit of experimentation and compare it with the $70 32 LED mag light in the banner which I also bought and the 12" battery operated tube ones...I know already the LED lams will far outlast the AA powered tube lamps and save on the back pain from having to hold the tub lamp close to the groung...we'll see how it goes...Dave made one as well...slightly different design but using the same LED heads as I used...should be interesting in the real world testing.

As far as living in AK...You'll just have to come to Carlsbad and do some collecting with us...Plan to do alot this year.

John
];')

 

[carpe scorpio]

Thanks, I might just do that. I always wondered, If one could design a snake-proof suit that had 360 degree UV emitters to provide hands-free collecting?

 

[skinheaddave]

Thanks, I might just do that. I always wondered, If one could design a snake-proof suit that had 360 degree UV emitters to provide hands-free collecting?

Don't forget an air conditioning system. I can't help but picture something based on hip-waders -- hot!

Cheers,
Dave

 

[pandinus]

really? i was more invisioning something like in Dr. NO :}

 

[carpe scorpio]

Actually I was thinking of a sort of ultra-fine titanium/kevlar mesh setup, but a backpack mounted battery array with refrigerant capillary tubing would be a good idea for those hot evenings.

 

[pandinus]

easy for you to say! :}

 

[da_illest]

kug, i never noticed the mag lite in the banner.. lol.. :8o ..

 

[Kugellager]

kug, i never noticed the mag lite in the banner.. lol.. :8o ..

Snicker snicker....well...now you know

Carpe...I have found the evenings in Carlsbad to be quite comfptrable actually...usually a cool desert breeze as well.

John
];')

 

[John Bokma]

Scorpion detection with UV LEDs

I made my own Scorpion detection unit using UV LEDs based on an article I found on the Internet.

Since I have Centruroides flavopictus living on my roof (caugt 3 already, and the female I caught turned out to be pregnant), I didn't made a portable version yet.

See Scorpion detection using UV LEDs for circuit diagram.

Male Centruroides flavopictus under UV light

There is also a movie showing a C. flavopictus walking under blacklight.

 

[Kugellager]

Very cool...what do they look like in natural light...we don't see that species very much...actually we never do as we can not have or collect scorpions from Mexico in the US.

LED lights work very well for collecting.

John
];')

 

[pandinus]

i have more sucess collecting centruroides in the day. I may see more at night, but these are far more difficult to capture as they are awake and aware.

 

[carpe scorpio]

Excellent, where can one obtain individual UV LED bulbs?.

 

[Kugellager]

Excellent, where can one obtain individual UV LED bulbs?.

http://www.superbrightleds.com/

This link is posted all over the place. There are lots of other places to get UV LED's as well...google it.

Note...LED's are not lightbulbs by the way. LED=Light Emitting Diode.

Nice sig by the way ;P

John
];')

EDIT: I have started a thread HERE that has lots of LED/UV lighting information.

 

[John Bokma]

Very cool...what do they look like in natural light...we don't see that species very much...actually we never do as we can not have or collect scorpions from Mexico in the US.
];')

Didn't know that, but I can imagine why.

http://johnbokma.com/mexit/2005/05/31/ has a pic with scorplings (yay!),
http://johnbokma.com/pet/scorpion/ has links to more articles with pics.

For looks, I would recommend the c. gracilis (or at least the one I got):
http://johnbokma.com/mexit/2005/05/24/