Hello, just wondering if anyone has ever had any luck with blacklighting super lessers to see any possible pattern morphs i.e. clown. I’ve seen mention of this on various online sources, but when I try I can’t see diddly squat. Wondering if maybe it’s because I’m using a cheapie blacklight flashlight, or it’s just a tall tail online that this works? I’m just wondering because I have a few super lesser babies that could be clown (parents are het) and it would be cool to know if they are visual for holdback purposes. Thanks a lot for any input!
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Not all black lights are created equal. Went scorpion herping recently and my cheap light worked awesome, my buddies different cheap light was next to useless.
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Blacklighting works. Some of your issues might be the light you are using, some might be technique, some might be that you are slightly colourblind and do not know it, and some might be that you do not know what you are looking for so cannot easily identify it
I have some pics somewhere, I will try and dig them up and use them to issue pointers
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I know im not colorblind lol (I work as a weapons troop so we get a colorblindness test annually) but I am thinking my actual blacklight just sucks, I might look for a better light somewhere, any recommendations?
I am not sure the six or so standard tests that are commonly run cover the spectra that can contribute to a colourblindness to the excitation wavelength from UV fluorescence
Yeah, we run the gambit, its partially because color differentiating is very important in our job, and also some of the class IV lasers we work with can mess up your eyes, so the annual testing is to make sure we werent exposed without knowing.
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Blacklights do help!
Here’s a clutch of mine from last year.
3 pastel Mojave/lessers (poss. Enchi, spider, super pastel)
1 pastel lesser/special spider(poss super pastel)
You can definitely see the difference
The downside is that super lessers are so clean, I don’t know how well the pattern will show up. You can see how clean my BELs appeared vs the lesser crystal
I bought the blacklight recommended in a Chris Hardwick video. I forget the wavelength but he used two different types and I got the stronger of the two.
I haven’t really gone to blacklight my current hatchlings. They’re super mojo’s and a crystal.
And the unknown morph BEL I picked up a few months back looks to be a super lesser, he doesn’t show up more than a bit of darkness down the back. So it may still be a bit of a guessing game for super lesser clown unless maybe the eye markings show up under the light and not a body pattern. The eye markings do always appear a bit more than the rest of the body.
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Ill have to get a better light i think, definitely shows a difference, but yeah, super lessers are super clean…pun intended lol
I just watched that video, i have the wrong light, mine was 395nm, i just ordered a 365. So we shall see
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Did a quick blacklight on my super mojo’s.
They are pretty clean except for a more solid stripe down the back and a little bit of pattern around the face compared to the mojo lessers of last year.
So unfortunately I think you may be out of luck unless maybe clown will make that stripe a bit darker? I know 2 of my BELs ended up spider from the bit of wobbling they had. You can see a bit of distortion on 2’s dorsals a bit from spider. Assuming the super lessers do show that marking maybe clown would do the same.
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My super lesser adult with no UV and no stripe, apparently pure white in natural lighting
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Same super lesser with her stripe clearly visible under cheep £1 uv torch .
I think the range needs to be bigger, UV spans a range of wavelengths between about 10 and 400 nanometers .UVA B and C make a lot of difference, some crystals glow under one or the other but not necessarily all.
As you can see I only have a cheep rubbish UV torch at the moment with too much visible light of magenta and cyan, but I used to have most wavelengths in a professional unit when I was more in to florescent crystals a long time ago.
I am again Looking for one with multiple wavelengths agan for my snakes.
If anyone has a recommendation for a multiple wavelength UV light source please let me know.
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I have seen numerous Clown BluELs under blacklight and there is an obvious pattern to them
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Yep, definitely shows through if you’re using a good light.