Use an LED Light to Make a Firefly Lantern
Want a natural nightlight? Try making a firefly lantern.
Step 1: Make a mesh container from a piece of fiberglass window screen. Roll it into a tube with overlapping ends. Staple the tube together leaving a two-inch opening to slip fireflies through. Cap off each end with a plastic lid and duct tape.
Step 2: To use a female decoy firefly to catch males, connect the leads from a green LED light to two six-foot lengths of insulated copper wire. Attach one of the wires to a 9-volt battery. To make your “female firefly” flash, touch the second wire to the battery. Keep the light six feet away from you. (Fireflies avoid humans.)
Step 3: To crack the fireflies’ code, watch a female in the grass answer a flying male’s signal. Note how long she waits before flashing a response. With your LED light inside an open container, mimic the female’s pattern.
Step 4: Put any males that arrive into your lantern. At least 40 fireflies per lantern should give you plenty of light. Release them, unharmed, the next day.
Where do you get the wires and led light?
Also do the males just fly in and stay there if you use the led light or do you need to like run over and put them in?
please reply
dollar store
Exactly.
That is really sweet, except for 1 thing. Where are you going to get two six-foot lengths of insulated copper wire?
Hobby Lobby or other similar store
Awsome
Good idea compared with using a net. I used to go firefly catching and half the fireflies I caught would fall out of the net and die.
Very smart i will make it
man thats hard but cool anyway
it’s hard dude!!
what if you capture real fireflies
isnt that the point?
thats the hard way to do it
Hey, this is COOL!!!!!