Found a negative aspect to living in Arizona today!

Dad was reassigned from England to the Vietnamese language school at Biggs Field in 1968. The folks purchased a new house, and I only had to walk one block and cross a drainage ditch before loading up my .22 to hunt jack rabbits.

We had all manner of creepy crawlies. Scorpions, centipedes, rattle snakes, you name it. It was a daily routine of turning your shoes and boots upside down and being careful where you put your hands. Dad killed one next of baby rattlers that were next to our garage wall with a shovel.

Desert life can be very interesting.

Spent some time at Biggs AAF and my wife's aunt grows avocados out by Canutillo. Lots of nasty critters around.
 
My family moved to Tucson from NJ in 1968. One of the first things we were told was to turn our shoes upside down when taking them off and shaking them out before putting them back on. Thankfully none of us ever got stung though in high school a girlfriend’s German Shepherd did get stung on the nose. Poor pooch, the worst was that he looked like he had a clown nose but recovered in about a week.

Then there were the rattlesnakes……
 
Yes the rattlesnakes. I know they help control the rodent population but, if they are close to my living space I summarily dismiss them with my chief special loaded with CCI snake shot. I cut off their heads and bury them to prevent other critters from being poisoned. I save the rattles (I know it’s a bit perverse) and let the wildlife enjoy the forest buffet. It amazes me how fast the body disappears.

Tom H.
 
Scorpions in my book are the one animal that I have a phobia on.

I've seen what they can do to a person in both the desert and in jungle enviroments. I've never been a victim and hope to stay that way. They are not common in my neck of the woods.

When I was a teenager, we stayed with an aunt and uncle in Central Texas...Falls County to be exact. My aunt swatted one in a flyswatter that was crawling on her dishes.

When I saw it, I definately was "uncomfortable" and especially when she said they "are all over the place around here...." in a noncaluant fashion.

I slept that night with my boots on and one eye open.

Nuke them or send them to North Korea, Russia, China, Iran but keep them the heck away from me!

If I say anything else on scorpions, I'll be banned, put to the rack, burned at the stake, and beheaded here......
 
Thank you for all the replies and advice! The one that got me was off-white and about 1"-1.5". I sprayed the perimeter of the house and around all the doors and windows with Harris scorpion killer so I'll see what happens. Finger is still completely numb and I do feel a little "off" (which may be all in my head), but no worse for the wear.

We did have a rattlesnake show up on our back patio one evening last summer but, uh, he won't be back.
 
I just Googled scents to repel scorpions and found this:

Scorpions dislike the smell of lavender, cedar, cinnamon, and peppermint. You can use these scents to repel scorpions by mixing a few drops of essential oil with water and spraying the mixture around entryways, window casings, and other areas where scorpions are a problem.

How to Kill Scorpions the DIY Way: What Kills Them Naturally?
 
The little monsters can be anywhere. Many years ago, up here in the PNW, I was working out in the woods, maybe 1000 ft. or so. Lunch time, I go to sit up against a stump, kick some loose bark away, and HOLLY *******. A big scorpion was right there, at least 2.5 or 3 inches long!!! A size 12 caulk boot did him in.
 
The little monsters can be anywhere. Many years ago, up here in the PNW, I was working out in the woods, maybe 1000 ft. or so. Lunch time, I go to sit up against a stump, kick some loose bark away, and HOLLY *******. A big scorpion was right there, at least 2.5 or 3 inches long!!! A size 12 caulk boot did him in.

On the East side, I'm guessing.

My brother worked for the parks department for a couple summers. He shared a house that backed up to some basalt cliffs with a few buddies. They had a pet scorp whose stinger was missing. Little bugger would still bap the **** out of you trying to cause you harm. As previously mentioned, they are tough little buggers.
 
On the East side, I'm guessing.

My brother worked for the parks department for a couple summers. He shared a house that backed up to some basalt cliffs with a few buddies. They had a pet scorp whose stinger was missing. Little bugger would still bap the **** out of you trying to cause you harm. As previously mentioned, they are tough little buggers.

Nope, West side. Had only heard of them on the east side. It was a nasty looking black one. I had seen them 1/3rd that size, small, on the East side.
 
I was on an exercise at Ft. Sill, OK many years ago. Us aviation types were camped out in one of the hangars. There were several big tarantulas nesting inside along the walls. Of course some of us had to poke at them and they would march around the floor trying to scare us. They did a pretty good job of it on some folks. No arachnids were harmed during the exercise. ;)
 
Have ya'll thought......

I lived near Austin TX and everybody had a scorpion story, they crawl on the ceiling and will fall down on your lap when your watching TV or eating dinner. I was in my living room one night and one was on ceiling near me so I wadded up some paper and knocked him down. He was walking toward me as I was shooting him in the face with big can of RAID and it had no affect on him. As he keeps backing me up I finally use the can to crush him, they're pretty tough. Its very common for them to fall on your bed while you're asleep and at first, it very difficult for me to go to sleep soundly.

....of using nets when you sleep, like mosquito nets, only, uh.....'scorpion nets'.:confused::eek:


The last black widow invasion we had I got one to come out of it's web/egg sack (I wasn't quite sure it was a black widow) and it was ready to fight. I creamed it with a Bernzomatic torch and fried the egg case.
 
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