I was in the kitchen, at the sink-it was clean, clear of dishes (for once.) I turned for 2 minutes to say something to someone, turned back and there was a big scorpion in the sink. There is always a hair catcher/strainer in my drains so I doubt it was through the drain (if that’s even possible), but there he was, I certainly hadn’t seen him about the counter or sink before.
We live in scopion country, we have about a dozen a year get in, and we spray to kill bugs (their food), keep horsehair doormats down at the outside doors, have Great Stuffed all the places we think they come in, yet they appear like bad magic. We have to keep rubber mallets about the house to dispatch the goddamn things.
A dozen a year is not bad at all. I just moved from the country where I lived for twenty years. Never saw a cockroach in all those years, but saw scorpions at about the same rate as you. One time I saw one every day for four days in a row and I was ready to bolt. But that never happened again. The time I woke up with a bat flying around the room the scorpions didn’t seem so bad. Found snakes in the house on two occasions. Just be glad scorpions can’t fly. And shake out your shoes.
There was the one time I was naked in the shower with the water running and I noticed something on the hand held shower wand and before picking it up, I got out of the shower and put on my glasses, and sure enough, it was a scorpion. Makes my hair stand on end to remember that.
I’m not saying I ever actually got used to them, but toward the end, I didn’t even bother to get up and kill them any more. Battle fatigue or something on my part, I guess.
Thanks, but a dozen is 12 too many for me, and shoes are NEVAH on the floor.
One time I opened the medicine cabinet without really looking, which knocked off Mr. Scorp who was on the top of it, and he came right at me thru the air, but luckily landed in the sink. Now when I enter the bathroom, I look around before I touch anything in there. And yes, butt assed nekkid in the shower once, and oops, I had company. I cannot comfortably have a bath in there anymore.
In South Texas, rattlesnakes are a much greater pest than scorpions.
A cattle dog on the King Ranch will last about 6 months before being
struck down by a rattler. Blue Heelers can survive fangs in a paw but
not on the head or shoulder.
Possums can kill rattlesnakes. Possums are hated in urban areas but
they are loved in the rural areas. As for scorpions, the stories in this
thread infer that these devils are looking for water, not human companionship.
Unfortunately, you’ll prolly never be able to reduce that number to zero. I did get stung by one once on my foot, and it was nothing- less than a bee sting. I took a Benadryl, immediately elevated my foot and put ice on it, and it never hurt or anything.
Actually, I observed that scorpions liked to hang out around rocks and bricks. They often came in around the fireplace in my living room. I lived out in the brush with nothing remotely resembling a lawn. I had some success controlling them when I got the exterminator to spray up in the attic.
…And is it spreading? A few summers back I saw one scuttle along a street gutter in Ocean City, NJ. I guess some college kids had some & let them loose at the end of a summer thinking it would be funny. That one was dirty beige & fast. Then again, maybe it’ll eat the sand-fleas?
It has been my experience(s) that scorpions usually enter or hang-out under door sills (thing on floor that door closes over, so to speak, unsure of actual name, maybe threshold?) - and especially if that part is wooden and has a small gap somewhere under it. More than once lots of baby and/or small young ones emerge if I banged on sill a few times.
I have also seen them drop from light fixtures (particularly in bathrooms or kitchens - moisture??) into sinks and I semi-regularly find them in the globe of ceiling lights if there is no way out of them.
My dog is pretty good at alerting us when he sees one on a floor and almost always it is very close to a door going to outside (not indoor door, per se) and scorpion moving away from doorway. This is in Oklahoma, fwiw, but pretty much the same experiences in Central and East Texas as well. South Austin had a LOT of them (Manchaca/San Leanna actually for those around there).
I have had good luck with preventing/killing the lil’ beasties by soaking outside portion of underside of door sills with malathion (or other ‘general-type’ residual poison). I do it two or three times between early Spring and late Summer, fwiw, and may or may not be appropriate for other households, etc. Out of curiosity, I once placed some glue traps (like for mice) in attic next to light fixture wiring of kitchen and bathrooms then weeks later found scorps in most of them
Scorpions are one insect that I go to great lengths to avoid - my Mom was stung decades ago and her leg swelled so much she could not get pants on for a few days. I ain’t wanting to see how affected I would be :eek: HTH
We left a few glue traps around the house. I don’t have enough data to say if this had a significant impact on encounters. I live in DC now and thus cannot conduct a proper test.
Almost forget the big brown/black scorp on the wall of one of the huts selling drinks at Chichen Itza. It was the length and height of a half-brick. The pointy end of the stinger seemed wicked & a full inch long. It made me understand why boots needed to be worn in that geographic region & why they needed to be incredibly tough on their sides, heels and soles.
That one looked like it could have survived an angry hit with a carpenter’s hammer…
I did get stung by one once on my foot, and it was nothing- less than a bee sting. I took a Benadryl, immediately elevated my foot and put ice on it, and it never hurt or anything.
