RT's shells glow under UV light...

[RTfanatic]

We've had a scorpion problem in our house the past year so I bought a couple of flashlights that have ultraviolet bulbs (black light bulbs essentially) which cause scorpions to glow (see the article below) making it easier to see them. It works very well by the way and I've found several this way that were otherwise harder to see in normal light looking around.
Scorpion
I checked on the torts one night before going to bed and noticed that their shells much have a similar protein as they glow slightly. Not as bright as scorpions, but they do seem to glow similarly. I haven't really given it a good look to see if the lighter areas of the shell glow more than the darker ones, or compare my different torts to see if they glow differently. Not really good at photography, but here's an attempt to show the glow:
Glowing Russian
The left picture is taken with a flashlight on my RT who's sleeping halfway under a hide, while the right one is taken with UV light only. Not a great picture, but you can barely see that the only thing that shows up in the UV light is the tort's shell, and it's glowing a slightly green color that's like the scorpions, just not as bright.

Pretty cool, even if the pictures don't give it justice. I'm wondering if this is a way to find lost RT's in the yard and a brighter UV flashlight might make it easier...

 

[Crazy1]

Wow now that's a thought if the tort isn't burried, a blacklight bulb might just find it. I'm going to have to see if my greeks glow now. That sure would have made for a less frantic night when I lost you hatchling outside in his enclosure.

 

[Laura]

Finding them after dark: I had that issues several times.. I was tempted to install a flag or a some sort of night light that comes on after dark! Velcro or some sort of sticky safe thing...
Ideas?

 

[Crazy1]

A woman at one of the Club meetings I went to had developed a velcro strip that went around the tort and had a little like antenni thing on the top they were in bright pink and bright blue. Said since she has used them she has never had trouble finding them in the garden.