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Post by Rev. Redmond Farrier on Jul 9, 2012 19:12:10 GMT -8
Things had finally started picking up here again. The rain had eased up so I could collect. The moon was rising later so it was good and dark the first half of the night. The night before last I got a couple of female Dynasties and a female regalis moth so I was excited last night and hung around the light instead of checking it periodically like I usually do. I wound up with a horrible allergy attack so I took an antihistamine. I fell across the bed waiting for it to kick in and accidentally fell asleep. I woke up this morning and turned the light off. (I have a switch in the house to control the light in my back field.) After I was sure it wasn't going to rain tonight, I turned the light on and went to check it. I found the bulb shattered. Apparently while I was knocked out by the pill I took, it rained on the bulb and busted it. I now have no bulb to collect with at night. I just had to spend $60 that I really couldn't afford on a couple of new self ballasted mv bulbs that won't be here for about a week.  Conditions are finally prime for collecting and I don't have a bulb! |
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Post by lordpandarus on Jul 9, 2012 19:23:23 GMT -8
Sounds like you spent a lot of time preparing for this. It's too bad this happened
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Post by marsdenda on Jul 9, 2012 19:53:24 GMT -8
The self ballasted bulbs are very sensitive to rain, not the case with the unballasted bulbs. With the self ballasted bulbs if you set up your light so the bulb points down and cover the end of the socket so it does not get wet you should not have as much of problem with the bulb shattering in the rain, but you are better off using a seperate ballast and bulb rather than the self ballasted bulbs if you are going to collect in the rain.
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Post by Rev. Redmond Farrier on Jul 9, 2012 20:14:05 GMT -8
Right after I posted that, I ran to Walmart and picked up a couple of blacklights to throw down there until my good bulbs arrive, another $20. I am going to be kicking myself hard when I get a look at my bank statement. $80 on bulbs for collecting insects....
At least while I was down there setting up the blacklights a nice beetle that I have never seen before showed up so tonight wasn't a total loss.
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Post by Rev. Redmond Farrier on Jul 9, 2012 21:11:08 GMT -8
I just got back from the blacklights again. I guess they will work out better than I expected. I found this tattered guy down there. I stuck him in the refrigerator for a few moments to calm him down for a quick photo. You cannot get eggs from a male and he is way too tattered to keep as a specimen so after the photo he was turned loose. I am amazed at how well he can fly in that condition. Attachments:
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Post by admin on Jul 10, 2012 2:33:29 GMT -8
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Post by anthony on Jul 10, 2012 7:15:22 GMT -8
Sorry to hear of the accident but it seems you are back in business til the other bulb arrives.
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Post by Rev. Redmond Farrier on Jul 11, 2012 22:42:25 GMT -8
LOL! If anyone could find a song for my situation it would be you! Tracking says that I have to wait another week until my replacements arrive. In the mean time, I am amazed at how effective the cheap party type blacklights from WalMart can be! You saw the battered male Callosamia angulifera. I caught a female last night and saw a male E. imperialis tonight. (I also had another interesting catch tonight that you can see in my other thread here in Open Topics  ) I am not seeing the level of activity that I was with the mv bulb, but it is nowhere near as subdued as I expected. Oh, and I made a rainshield from a water jug for the cfl blacklight since I had one of them pop in the rain last year... Attachments:
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