flash photography harming T eyes?

[xgrafcorex]

i too have taken tons of pictures of every spider i have owned, and i have not once seen anything that could be considered a reaction to the flash. the only reaction i've seen to photography is during the initial set up..ie moving the tank to a table, opening the lid, etc. but none of that is related to the flash at all.

 

[DrAce]

I would have to add that while intensity is a factor the wavelength is probably more important.

If you are worried get a tripod and use ambiant.

honestly I am not worried about this.

Duration and intensity "seems" unlikely to do any perm harm.

You're exactly right, and that's what I'm getting at - but thought I'd fill in the background while I was at it. Although, to flesh out your comments a bit, in terms of visible light there isn't a great spread of energies present (blue being highest, but it sounds like you know that). I don't know what sort of spread of wavelengths come from a flash unit, but I would have thought it'd be centered rather firmly in the middle of the visible, green; or greenish blue, if anything.

Retinol is tuned rather specifically to visible light, and the temporary blindness we get from flash units is an oxidative stress on the light receptors in the eye. After the intense light has triggered all the retinol, it takes a while for the cell to reduce the retinol back to its original form. That was the effect I was talking about. I would guess that the same effect would be visible in the Tarantula.

Mind you, a smart move on the Tarantula's part would be to do that Rock impression that they do so well until they had all their senses back, if they did lose them.

Unless someone's coming at their Tarantulas with a black light (wait, isn't that what some do with their Scorpions? - different topic...) then I don't think 'wavelength' is a concern.


I guess we're coming to the same conclusion: There shouldn't be any long-term effect, and this isn't worth worrying about. But it's good for everyone to be aware of all the possible things going on.

 

[Cerbera]

Just a small side note - flash isn't designed to work with close-up macro shots anyway. The effective range of any flash starts at around 3 ft minimum.

Behaviourally, I have never seen any of my T's react to flash at all. Then again, they take several minutes to register their disappointment that a bright room light has been turned on, and left that way. I think the transitory nature of flash makes it largely irrelevant to them...

 

[Nerri1029]

Mind you, a smart move on the Tarantula's part would be to do that Rock impression that they do so well until they had all their senses back, if they did lose them.

I can't agree with your statement.
reasons:
- T's use much more of their sense of "touch" than most other animals
- Many are quite nocturnal and therefore "running" around without much visual input is not unusual
- based on my own observations of many of my T's when they are quickly trying to find their burrows ... (IMO) the palps are doing most of the sensing (IMO)

<added> hey noticed you are a Kiwi one of my favorite Chem prof's was from NZ

 

[DrAce]

I can't agree with your statement.
reasons:
- T's use much more of their sense of "touch" than most other animals
- Many are quite nocturnal and therefore "running" around without much visual input is not unusual
- based on my own observations of many of my T's when they are quickly trying to find their burrows ... (IMO) the palps are doing most of the sensing (IMO)

<added> hey noticed you are a Kiwi one of my favorite Chem prof's was from NZ

I think we're debating the same point. I agree with you fully! I was trying to say that I thought that IF the spider was unhappy at being temporarily blinded, then a POSSIBLE stratagy would be to 'do the rock'. I know they touch more than anything else, and I really do think they would be fine if you blind-folded them.

I actually found some good info on spider sight just before... read the thread on viewing spiders at night, and it's all written there (I don't want to write it all again).

Who was your Chem prof? I hope he/she was good?! No doubt he/she was devilishly sexy... we tend to be.

 

[phil jones]

i guess they are stupid and blind a bit like some people LOL