Killed the my first scorpion of 2025

LVSteve

LVSteve

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So we've had a major blast of warm air here this week. Daytime temps spiked from the high 50s to 80°F on Monday, and followed up with 76°F yesterday. So, what's moving?

After dark I went out back with the big blacklight, my latest superb, UV blocking shades (Walmart!) and a can of Raid Max. Spotted one on the back block wall trying to crawl into a slot. Nailed him/her. Every bug killed now could be 40 you don't see later in the year.

You might be looking at the date thinking, 'Wow, that's early in the year.' Nope. Few years back we had a warm spike second week of January, and I found a couple of scorpions out and about. They died quickly.
 
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When I lived in Phoenix, almost every room was equipped with a drinking glass to trap the suckers, and a hammer to rapidly reduce their cross sectional area. If I felt mean, I would snatch them with a pair of surgical pliers, take them to the workshop, and blast them with a propane torch. Sounds rather barbaric —- you haven’t been stung by one!
 
Oldengineer said:
When I lived in Phoenix, almost every room was equipped with a drinking glass to trap the suckers, and a hammer to rapidly reduce their cross sectional area. If I felt mean, I would snatch them with a pair of surgical pliers, take them to the workshop, and blast them with a propane torch. Sounds rather barbaric —- you haven’t been stung by one!
Click to expand...

Reminds me of one of Clint Eastwood's early spaghetti westerns where a handful of kids are putting a scorpion on a fire ant nest.
 
Scorpions are not a joke in the southwestern US. It pays off to attend to business before they decide to move inside and take over the house. Once they have reached a certain level they are extremely difficult to deal with.

Couple of times each year here in southern Colorado the scorpions seem to be on the march. Nasty little critters by any standard.
 
I was cleaning up around the yard yesterday and found one under a cinder block. I had an issue last summer and killed 6 in the house. Bought some spray and went around the base of the house and all the doors and windows and haven't had one in the house since. Probably time to spray again. Got stung in early October and I don't care to repeat it. It took months for the feeling to come back in my finger.
 
Scorpions outside? Try closing the door! See? Wasn't that easy?;) More seriously, I had heard that standard repellents do not work on scorpions. Gal of my acquaintance had to sell her home; it was apparently built on a nest of these critters. She would find them all over her home like roaches, in profusion. Doesn't anything out there prey on them to keep their numbers in line? Another reason not to keep pets, so naturally curious.

Kaaskop49
Shield #5103
 
The trick is to eliminate their food source — other bugs like crickets, etc that are attracted to water. They also drop down from the ceiling, and enter the house from numerous unidentified openings. When I got rid of my water feature in Carefree, AZ, my problem was dramatically reduced. Steve is right about getting them now. I’ve witnessed a female with more babies on her back than I could count!

My encounter was with one that had found its way into my bath towel. It got me on the leg and I was numb for 2-3 days. I really don’t recommend this!
 
Oldengineer said:
When I lived in Phoenix, almost every room was equipped with a drinking glass to trap the suckers, and a hammer to rapidly reduce their cross sectional area. If I felt mean, I would snatch them with a pair of surgical pliers, take them to the workshop, and blast them with a propane torch. Sounds rather barbaric —- you haven’t been stung by one!
Click to expand...

How does this work?
Larry
 
kaaskop49 said:
Scorpions outside? Try closing the door! See? Wasn't that easy?;) More seriously, I had heard that standard repellents do not work on scorpions. Gal of my acquaintance had to sell her home; it was apparently built on a nest of these critters. She would find them all over her home like roaches, in profusion. Doesn't anything out there prey on them to keep their numbers in line? Another reason not to keep pets, so naturally curious.

Kaaskop49
Shield #5103
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, any slight failure in a door seal is an open gateway to a scorpion. I rate them ahead of roaches when it comes to getting into places they are not wanted. One favorite means of entry is via the weep holes at the bottom of the stucco walls. Some builders here were lax on covering those holes with metal mesh as they should. Former coworker had the damned things coming out of the walls under any receptacle or switch that wasn't totally sealed. Getting the walls foam filled will stop them, but expect it to cost a shed load of money.

As for your girlfriends house, if it was a nest of scorpions then they were the Arizona Bark Scorpion (ABS), most likely imported on palm trees by developers from nurseries in, funny thing, Arizona. Most of the native desert species are solitary, lumbering critters, but the ABS is gregarious, fast, and notoriously aggressive. Given your description of her infestation, they may have been on the building materials. Oh, sometimes people will say "the lumber had scorpion eggs on it". Nope, not happening. They bear live young.

There are several things that will discourage scorpions.

1) Eliminate their food. Yes, this means nuking the foundation and the entire yard with insecticide. I use a Bayer product I can attach on a hose. Get the one that also does for scorpions, although it can be oddly hard to get in Vegas.

2) Eliminate the places where the scorpions and their prey might live. That layer of fist sized lumps of red stone people have as borders against their homes looks wonderful, but it is MegaCity One to the bugs. You may guess how I know.:( I had all that stone removed and replaced by smaller gravel, leaving no cover. Don't have stuff stacked up against the outside walls.

3) Don't have water features, or a pool. You have no idea how many former coworkers' wives gave me the stink eye for that piece of advice.

4) If you have block walls at the property line, consider getting it stuccoed to seal it up remove more hiding places.

5) Hunt the buggers at night one-on-one with a blacklight and some means to kill them. Once I got the population here below a certain level, it seemed to crash hard. If your potential mates are dead, it's hard to breed.

6) When all else fails controlling them in the yard, get the pros in with the cedar spray. They do it at night. The spray flushes the scorpions out (they hate it) and the guys gather them up using a blacklight and long tongs. I know this works because the next door neighbor had it done. Next night I killed nine seeking relief on my side of the common wall.

7) If your efforts don't slow them down in the house, there's little alternative but to bring in the pros and get the home tented.
 
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Yep, I am spraying the whole property today. They be out.


You don't need a pro. Just order this


[ame]https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07X7JHNYX[/ame]



Kill the food supply and they go elsewhere... but this stuff kills them too





This big guy was from last year....


PXL-20221013-161134220.jpg
 
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eb07 said:
This big guy was from last year....


PXL-20221013-161134220.jpg
Click to expand...

I can say with some certainty that is not a Bark Scorpion. It's way too big, the tail is way too thick, and the pincers are wrong.

I had one on my wall that might have been near that size, but it ran to the neighbor's side after being sprayed, so I didn't get to see it in daylight to determine the species.
 
LVSteve said:
I can say with some certainty that is not a Bark Scorpion. It's way too big, the tail is way too thick, and the pincers are wrong.

I had one on my wall that might have been near that size, but it ran to the neighbor's side after being sprayed, so I didn't get to see it in daylight to determine the species.
Click to expand...




I'm fairly sure it's a giant hairy scorpion
 
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