BLACKLIGHT SCORPION - Unedited and Awesome!!!
This is an unedited photo of a scorpion under a black light that we took last night.
It is pretty awesome that this is how scorpions fluoresce when they are exposed to Ultra Violet light. In fact, since scorpions are nocturnal, they are often found roaming around at night. Unfortunately, their small size and their habit of running around in the dark makes them hard to see sometimes.
This is why some companies actual produce and sell black light flashlights, and thankfully, @papa-pepper has one.
I picked this one up years ago from "Scorpion Master" before one of our trips to Texas. For some reason, I always wanted to catch some scorpions and rattlesnakes, and now, I've done both. My first scorpions ever were caught behind a gas station in Austin, TX back in 2012.
I went for a walk to stretch my legs with my daughter, and I have the habit of always poking around a little bit. As I've been known to say, "You never know what you're gonna find, but you find more when you look." True story! Anyway, under an egg carton in the bushes were two little scorpions. Man was I excited! It was almost like getting crickets at the pet shop because those are often on egg cartons too.
Since I had zero experience with scorpions, it was a little intimidating, to say the least. But, I'd heard that scorpions in Texas were non-lethal, so I didn't consider it to be too big of a deal. I tried to poke one into a container, and soon realized that they were very fast. Almost cockroach fast!
How @papa-pepper picks up scorpions.
I figured that is I just grabbed the tail, where the stinger is, then they couldn't sting me, right? Well, it worked anyway.
Since then, I've gotten either a little more foolish or brave (opinions vary), and will even let them crawl around on me. In fact, I thought about trying to take a verification picture with one on my tongue for this post. A friend of mine was bragging about the high quality of photos that his new phone can take, so I had him take a few of these black light ones for me last night. I agree, the quality is pretty good.
These other shots I just took myself, and they look pretty good this time too.
Since all scorpions will show up fluorescent under black lights, this can be helpful information worldwide. Whether you're out camping in the south or just live in an area where many scorpions are, picking up a black light flashlight for evening strolls may be a good idea, or just to take a quick peek in the tent before you crawl in for the night.
If you ever see a black light poking around in the dark, it just might be @papa-pepper, out for a late night adventure, enjoying one of his peculiar hobbies. Whether or not this was some new information for you, I hope you enjoyed the photos and my story. Check out this cool video of the flashlight and the scorpion.
Blacklight Scorpion - See what happens when the light is turned off & on.
As always, I'm @papa-pepper, and here's the proof:
proof-of-a-scorpion-in-the-hand-is-worth-two-under-the-rock
Awesome Handcrafted @papa-pepper logo kindly donated by @vlad - Thank you!
I prefer spiders to scorpions. Spiders are friendlier. :-D
One time I was walking in the woods and seen that cool huge net hunting spider. You know, ones that sit in the center of big net, so that their net becomes an extension of their sensory perception. I was on acid, and wanted to take a photo, but in the dark it didn't work out. I decided to come back during the dawn, but it was gone already. And pictures without the spider aren't as impressive. I've got some cool pictures of other nets with dew drops upon them. Hmm, it is probably something I should post, sometime!
Yeah, you should post that sometime.
And done
Ugh... can't get used to these guys. You'd think I would, growing up in Arizona, but nope. We get at least a dozen in our house each year, plus a bunch out in the yard. Ours aren't very potent here, but down in the east part of the Phoenix valley (Apache Junction, near the Superstition Mountains), they can be pretty powerful. As far as I know, I've never been stung. I've had a couple of questionable "bites" though, so maybe...
I've seen where folks will pour sand over them then pick them up by the tail that's sticking up out of the sand. I've never seen someone do what you did though, out in the open like that. It' looked pretty relaxed until you nabbed it.
Sometimes they get kind of angry, but I've never had any issue so far picking them up like that, although I've only met about a half dozen. ;-( Hopefully I can encounter some more. That sand trick sounds smart!
Arizona has so many scorpions! I lived in Tucson for awhile and had great fun taking a portable blacklight with me when I went camping with friends. Between all the animal pee and the scorpions, folks were surprised, to say the least. It sure pointed out how there's a lot more going on out there than we realize.
Yeah, the Sonoran Desert is really quite alive. Folks don't realize how much life is out there, and how much food! If you know what you're doing, you can graze as you're hiking.
That's great that you know some of the good things to eat there in the Sonoran desert, @anotherjoe! I harvested and ate a lot of mesquite pods, prickly pear pads and fruits, and summer weeds like common mallow. But I enjoyed the palo verde beans, cholla buds, and saguaro fruits, too. And then there are all the citrus, dragonfruit, dates, jujubes, and olives in town, too! One of my favorite was young tumbleweeds - they came up thick, all at once, in my yard, so they were easy to harvest when they were about 3 inches high. They were great just sauteed in a stir fry. I am determined to get some seed on my next trip down there and try growing them for microgreens - they are that good! Enjoy your local desert -- and scorpions! : )
I've not had the saguaro fruit yet, but have heard that it's great. Never had tumbleweeds. Didn't even know about eating them, but it makes sense to get them when they're young. We have a lot of purslane in our yard. And the amaranth is supposed to be good, but wifey is allergic.
One of my favorite snacks are the fruit from the barrel cactus. I don't know that much about the food sources available though... not nearly what I should.
Your wife is the first person I've come across who is allergic to Amaranth. That's too bad. I eat it regularly during the summer and I freeze a lot of it, too, for using it anytime of the year. It's a great green. You are lucky with all that purslane and barrel cactus fruit! There is so much out there -- we can't even learn about it all in our lifetimes, let alone eat it all! It won't stop me from trying, though! You, either, it sounds like! :D
Wow, I never saw these comment that you made to @anotherjoe when this post first went out. That's a lot of great info, and I like what you're up to!
Wow, that's incredible! Nature is AMAZING!!
I think I enjoy all of the creatures.
Very cool stuff!
I think so too!
Thanks @daveks.
My friend, you are officialy brave!
haha thats crazy stuff, i am a wuss when it comes to anything that crawls
I appreciate you voting for "bravery".
There is certainly "no need to try this at home"... you can just watch me. ;-)
You should be selling tickets to this stuff ...
If you want to buy one, I'll sell you one for $1 STEEM. (That includes your faithful follower discount.
Thanks for the encouragement! It is a lot of fun!!
This is where the promote button comes into play ;)
Scorpions are cute :)
In mortal combat game scorpion is one of my favorite character
Yeah, I was always a fan of him and reptile.
OH MAN!!!! PLEASE DON'T MAKE ME CHOOSE A SIDE!!!
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This post is full of spiders! Ok, not really, just spiderwebs. by @xanoxt
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N.B.: They weren't always small! See Pulmonoscorpius
I'd hate to stumble on that guy in the dark
I think I might be up for it!
WOW
Cool Post