Scorpion season is almost here. Need a UV Light

[HappilyGrim]

Anyone have any luck finding an affordable but lasting UV Flashlight?

Scorpion season is gonna start here in the next month or two and I wanna be more prepared this year. I have a little UV light that I got at Home Depot for about $10.00 but it's crap. The lights are inconsistent in brightness and overall quality just isn't too hot.

Last year I killed about 20-25 bark scorpions during the summer, so I'm expecting it'll roughly the same this year.

As a side: Anyone find any effective way to keep them away/repel or a poison that works well on them? I'm not so much afraid for myself, however, I do have two small dogs and a bark scorpion can easily kill'em from what I understand.

 

[Daniel]

We have a LOT of scorpions here!

I use an Inova X5 UV light and it works great for finding them. Make sure that you use UV eye protection.

We had a cat who loved eating scorpions. I have not heard of any dogs dying from scorpion bites here. I cannot even estimate how many times I have been stung-especially on my feet. I am not even affected by them anymore, but my wife hates them.

 

[HappilyGrim]

We have a LOT of scorpions here!

I use an Inova X5 UV light and it works great for finding them. Make sure that you use UV eye protection.

We had a cat who loved eating scorpions. I have not heard of any dogs dying from scorpion bites here. I cannot even estimate how many times I have been stung-especially on my feet. I am not even affected by them anymore, but my wife hates them.

We live in the same state, so I suppose that could be a good reason

Cats are immune to scorpion stings except for their first one (which can make them a little sick) but small dogs can die (my fiance has a miniature dachshund and a corgi). I've been lucky to avoid stings, but I'm more concerned with her pups. Plus she's deathly scared of them, so she likes to carry the light with her when she's out back at night.

 

[Sid Post]

Check Candlepowerforums. I've picked up a couple good relatively cheap flashlights from their recommendations.

 

[buckmaster96]

I just got a battery powered 12 inch flourescent light strip and put a uv bulb in it

 

[RevDevil]

I just got a battery powered 12 inch flourescent light strip and put a uv bulb in it

That is what I've used with good results. I haven't seen many scorpions in the last 2 years, but there has been quite a lot of centipedes.

 

[Planterz]

My favorite UV light is a custom Aleph head on a Surefire E1E body, with tritium trasers in the bezel, running a Cree 1.3W UV at 395nm. But with nearly $300 into it, it's probably out of your price range. But man is it bright. I also have a Jil light that uses the same Cree and CR2 batteries (or 14500/AA with the spare tube, though it's not nearly as bright with a AA). But again, probably out of your price range.

The 395nm is ideal for hunting scorpions. They'll still fluoresce at narrower wavelengths, but not as well.

I also have an Arc AAA UV and a Photon Proton Pro both at 375nm. The Arc is always on my keychain. The Proton is nice in that it also has a white LED for making your way around in the dark. One advantage with using a narrower wavelength is that while scorpions don't glow as well under, your eyes don't get irritated as much. The Arc ($50) isn't much for scorpion hunting, as its small reflector creates a flood without much throw, so you're not going to see very far. The Proton is better, but will cost you $80.

If you search around (ie: google it), you can find Cree 3W 395nm lights out there. I can find one no-name one that runs on AAs for $50, or an Ultrafire (brand has a pretty decent reputation) that runs on 2 CR123As for only $25, but the batteries are expensive. There's also an interesting Streamlight that has 3 x 365nm LEDs and 3 x 390nm, as well as a central white LED (use either/or). But it also uses CR123As.

Stay away from the shower head lights. They're all crap, and are horrible on batteries.

I can't comment on the Inova.


Here's some pics I took that you might find cool / creep you out. All taken at or near my parents' old house in Vail (outside of Tucson).
Scorpion under flash.

Same scorpion under Cree 395nm.

Different scorpion under flash.

Under flash + Cree 395nm.

Under Cree 395nm only.

Different scorpion under 375nm Proton (courtesy of a generous giveaway by moshow9 a couple years ago).

 

[Planterz]

These next few pics have a story behind them. I was helping my parents move (they're in San Diego now), and my dad and I were going to move the rear bench seat of his van into the U-Haul. The seat was kept in a closed deck/Arizona room, so creepy crawlies were always there. My dad jokingly says to me, "Grab the other end, I don't think there's anything living in there. But I'm skeptical, so I take a close look.

And this is what I see.

Close up.

Now, the back of the seat is folded forward, so I'm thinking it might be prudent to unfold it to see if there's anything hiding in there.

I was right.

Under my Arc AAA 375nm.

Not that these are all very close-up pics. The scorpions might look huge, but the ones amongst the rocks are no more than 1.5" long, and the one in the car seat was about the length of a half-dollar. Also, the color under the Cree 395nm is a bit off, as digital cameras (especially cell phone cameras, which all of these are) aren't really meant to work under UV. Where the glow is blue from the light, it's really purple. And the scorpions themselves are more green. They're basically the same green as a glow-in-the-dark rubber toy. In fact, they look just like rubber toys. But they're not.

 

[RevDevil]

Cool pictures.

 

[Steven65]

Amazing pics. I had no idea that UV made them fluoresce like that!

We have some pretty big ones here......I must try that.

 

[Planterz]

We have some pretty big ones here......I must try that.

Be glad for that. Generally speaking, the larger scorpions have weaker venom because they have bigger pincers and don't need the venom to kill or defend like the smaller ones do. Except of course, the Parabuthus scorpions. Which can be a few inches long, and have very strong venom. And live in southern Africa. :foot:

My parents lived in that house in Vail for a few years. Scorpions, black widows, tarantulas, western diamondback rattlesnakes (my dad found one on the door stoop once), even gila monsters. Even though they were in a residential "neighborhood", it's literally houses in the middle of the desert. t's a wonder neither of them were bit or stung by anything.

 

[Steven65]

Be glad for that. Generally speaking, the larger scorpions have weaker venom because they have bigger pincers and don't need the venom to kill or defend like the smaller ones do. Except of course, the Parabuthus scorpions. Which can be a few inches long, and have very strong venom. And live in southern Africa. :foot:

My parents lived in that house in Vail for a few years. Scorpions, black widows, tarantulas, western diamondback rattlesnakes (my dad found one on the door stoop once), even gila monsters. Even though they were in a residential "neighborhood", it's literally houses in the middle of the desert. t's a wonder neither of them were bit or stung by anything.

I am afraid that I know very little about the local species of scorpion's. I have seen many in the bush though. Mostly I am concerned about snakes as we have so many lethal species that you need to have your eyes wide open when you walk, especially in thick grass.

One thing I have noticed about the Scorpion's is that they seem to like fire. In the Lowveldt area of South Africa I have them close to the burning coals at night regularly. Strange that.

 

[coyotebc]

Thanks for sharing those pictures

 

[Esav Benyamin]

If you use CR123A's in other flashlights, you can still use them after they're depleted by putting them in an Inova X5. They last a long time there. The Inova X5 UV works nicely.

 

[HappilyGrim]

Nice, a second recommendation for the Inova X5. Battery life seems pretty solid on it as well from what I've read.

Seems like all of us Arizona people are prepping for the upcoming Scorpion season. I hate those little bastards. They creep me out and they just look painful. I live in the McDowell Mountain area, so we see a fair amount of them.

Last year I even saw a gigantic tarantula. It was actually pretty awesome to see. I took a picture of it with my phone. Wish I could have taken a better one.

I've never seen any centipedes like the one you showed, Rev. Are you in Northern Arizona?

 

[Sid Post]

I'm liking this one: http://www.streamlight.com/en-us/product/product.html? pid=246#tabs The two different wavelength UV led's seems like a winner to me.

I've owned the Inova X5 series in the past and, while a good light I just didn't like the form factor or beam spread.

 

[sodak]

Are there any special safety precautions to take with UV (other than not looking into the light)?

 

[Planterz]

Nice, a second recommendation for the Inova X5. Battery life seems pretty solid on it as well from what I've read.

Seems like all of us Arizona people are prepping for the upcoming Scorpion season. I hate those little bastards. They creep me out and they just look painful. I live in the McDowell Mountain area, so we see a fair amount of them.

I think they're cool, but then I live in town, so I don't see them here and don't have to be worried about them. Of course, there's plenty of areas in Tucson that are "in town" where they're common. A friend of mine moved to an apartment on the northeast side of town; not in, but close to the foothills; and they had scorpions all over the place. A grown-over (yucca, sage brush, prickly pear) empty lot of just a couple acres is like a mini ecosystem of its own. Even in the middle of town it's not uncommon to see rabbits, javalina (a peccary), and coyotes running around. They use the washes to get from place to place. Hell, I even saw a badger running around the strip mall where I worked one night.

Rev. Are you in Northern Arizona?

He's in Tucson, like me.

 

[Gollnick]

Amazing pics. I had no idea that UV made them fluoresce like that!

It is actually a very recent discovery, just a few years ago. It has resulted in an explosion of identification of new species.

Making venom is quite expensive for scorpions and so they try very hard to conserve it and use it only for productive hunting. Their preferred defensive mechanism is concealment... and they do that very well. The UV light takes that away from them. The result is that researchers are now able to physically find a lot more scorpions and the result is that they've been able to identify a lot more species often in areas that were thought to have been exhaustively studied.

 

[RevDevil]

Nice, a second recommendation for the Inova X5. Battery life seems pretty solid on it as well from what I've read.

Seems like all of us Arizona people are prepping for the upcoming Scorpion season. I hate those little bastards. They creep me out and they just look painful. I live in the McDowell Mountain area, so we see a fair amount of them.

Last year I even saw a gigantic tarantula. It was actually pretty awesome to see. I took a picture of it with my phone. Wish I could have taken a better one.

I've never seen any centipedes like the one you showed, Rev. Are you in Northern Arizona?

Tucson area, just like Planterz sez.

I think they're cool, but then I live in town, so I don't see them here and don't have to be worried about them. Of course, there's plenty of areas in Tucson that are "in town" where they're common. A friend of mine moved to an apartment on the northeast side of town; not in, but close to the foothills; and they had scorpions all over the place. A grown-over (yucca, sage brush, prickly pear) empty lot of just a couple acres is like a mini ecosystem of its own. Even in the middle of town it's not uncommon to see rabbits, javalina (a peccary), and coyotes running around. They use the washes to get from place to place. Hell, I even saw a badger running around the strip mall where I worked one night.



He's in Tucson, like me.

It must have been me