Oh No, Not Another Scorpion Thread! (Sedona: homes, shoppers, food)

[makeitagreatday]

....and they will not come to rest in your sheets. (That would so freak me out too!) Don't bother 'hunting'...uh...you live in the desert...there are many creatures that make it what it is...please do not disturb them...unless, again they make a very bad choice to rest in your sheets.

Seriously, we had seen a morning news thing where an exterminator charges $$$ to use a mirror around the exterior lip (wall and foundation meetup) for any openings and then caulk. I 'hired' my husband one Sat. morning and a case of caulk later...we were scorpion free.

[SluggoF16]

Originally Posted by makeitagreatday

....and they will not come to rest in your sheets. (That would so freak me out too!) Don't bother 'hunting'...uh...you live in the desert...there are many creatures that make it what it is...please do not disturb them...unless, again they make a very bad choice to rest in your sheets.

Regrettably that's where they sometimes do, in fact, rest. My wife's last sting was a couple months ago and it was in bed. Happened in Tucson once, too. As a habit I now shake out my shoes/boots EVERY TIME I put them on. Had a hitchhiker once, got to work, took off my boot, and out fell a bark scorpion. It was quite comfortable in its little hut.

All things considered, I'll take them over brown recluse spiders.

[Rick Lee]

Originally Posted by johnp292

Our back yard borders the desert. Is there really any point in hunting them, or is that just tilting at windmills?

Well, the 20 or so I've killed in the last two mos. are 20 fewer that can get inside my house. The two I killed in my house probably came from the yard. I don't live in their backyard. They live in mine. My house has been here far longer than the longest scorpion's lifespan and I don't want them anywhere near me. When you get stung by one, you'll see things differently.

[Ponderosa]

I've learned to just live with them. Everyone in the family has been stung at least once and we all lived to tell about it with no serious or lingering effects. We have been seeing little tiny ones in the house this summer. Smacked a big one in the garage today. But I let them come to me. I'm not going to go looking for them with a black light outside.

As someone who has felt the sting 3 or 4 times now, here is my advice: don't go walking around your house in the dark bare foot. Most of the family stings were from stepping on one. My wife/s been stung in bed. Another favorite is them getting in your clothes when you leave them on the floor overnight. Put on the shirt and OUCH! You feel the crawl and swat and then it's bang, gotcha. Oh, and be careful opening the pool umbrella, LOL. We have never seen one in a shoe.

Relax. You will come to see them as a minor nuisance. I like to tell people that of all the people I know who live here or have left, I have never heard anyone say they don't like Phoenix because of scorpions. It's a newbie's nightmare.

[makeitagreatday]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

Well, the 20 or so I've killed in the last two mos. are 20 fewer that can get inside my house. The two I killed in my house probably came from the yard. I don't live in their backyard. They live in mine. My house has been here far longer than the longest scorpion's lifespan and I don't want them anywhere near me. When you get stung by one, you'll see things differently.

Actually, Rick Lee, my husband has indeed been stung by one on the patio and...perhaps you could better utilize your time by actually preventing scorpion infestions inside by doing just a bit a caulking outside??

Seal...seal...seal as pest control will educate you so that you know that 98% of scorpions enter through the foundation/wall uncaulked/not sealed opening. A mirror and caulk would be better weapons of choice for scorpion battles for you to win the war!

[johnp292]

Originally Posted by Ponderosa

I've learned to just live with them. Everyone in the family has been stung at least once and we all lived to tell about it with no serious or lingering effects. We have been seeing little tiny ones in the house this summer. Smacked a big one in the garage today. But I let them come to me. I'm not going to go looking for them with a black light outside.

As someone who has felt the sting 3 or 4 times now, here is my advice: don't go walking around your house in the dark bare foot. Most of the family stings were from stepping on one. My wife/s been stung in bed. Another favorite is them getting in your clothes when you leave them on the floor overnight. Put on the shirt and OUCH! You feel the crawl and swat and then it's bang, gotcha. Oh, and be careful opening the pool umbrella, LOL. We have never seen one in a shoe.

Relax. You will come to see them as a minor nuisance. I like to tell people that of all the people I know who live here or have left, I have never heard anyone say they don't like Phoenix because of scorpions. It's a newbie's nightmare.

My real concern is for our littlest one. She is three but she has Down Syndrome and some serious medical conditions. I'm worried she will either try to play with one or get stung when she picks something up and she won't be able to tell us what happenned. An allergic reaction to the sting could be immediately life threatening for her because of some of her other issues, so if she gets stung its probably going to be a 911 call out of an abundance of caution.

[AZcatFan]

I lived in Tucson for 17 years and never saw a scorpion. Does phoenix have any less or more than Tucson? Do all areas of phoenix have this problem?

[SluggoF16]

Originally Posted by AZcatFan

I lived in Tucson for 17 years and never saw a scorpion. Does phoenix have any less or more than Tucson? Do all areas of phoenix have this problem?

It depends on where you live. I grew up in PHX, 22 years worth in the Valley, and saw one total, not counting the Phoenix Zoo, my neighbors had one in their house when I was maybe 5 or 6. In Tucson I was averaging one a night in the house when I first moved in back in 1990. In the PHX area I lived in a subdivision, in Tucson in the western foothills in the desert. Location makes a big difference.

[Ponderosa]

Originally Posted by johnp292

My real concern is for our littlest one. She is three but she has Down Syndrome and some serious medical conditions. I'm worried she will either try to play with one or get stung when she picks something up and she won't be able to tell us what happenned. An allergic reaction to the sting could be immediately life threatening for her because of some of her other issues, so if she gets stung its probably going to be a 911 call out of an abundance of caution.

Well, that is certainly something to raise one's level of concern. Still, there are millions of people in the Phoenix area and I suspect a typical fraction of them have Down's and hyper allergenic conditions. In spite of that, there has not been a scorpion related death in nearly 50 years in AZ. Some hospitals stock Anascorp, the antidote and it is needed from time to time with the little ones, especially. You should probably talk to your doctor about any particular risks and/or find out where the hospitals are that can deal with sting emergencies.

The way to tell if she may have been stung is she will scream almost immediately. The sting is nearly instant, intense and very localized to where you got stung (finger etc). You will inspect the area and see nothing, no stinger, no hole, no blood, no swelling. That should tip you off to get her to treatment. Over time, the sting kind of fades and you get pins and needles feeling that moves up wherever you got stung like your arm. That lasts a few hours to a few months (really, one of mine went on for 3 months like that).

[johnp292]

Originally Posted by Ponderosa

The way to tell if she may have been stung is she will scream almost immediately. The sting is nearly instant, intense and very localized to where you got stung (finger etc). You will inspect the area and see nothing, no stinger, no hole, no blood, no swelling. That should tip you off to get her to treatment. Over time, the sting kind of fades and you get pins and needles feeling that moves up wherever you got stung like your arm. That lasts a few hours to a few months (really, one of mine went on for 3 months like that).

Therein lies the concern. Certainly she'll scream and cry but that's it. Unless one of us actually sees the scorpion, we likely won't know what the problem is, especially if scorpion stings don't leave a mark. She can't tell us. So my focus is going to be on keeping the buggers out of the house as much as we can. Of course she could still get stung outside even if we manage to keep the house scorpion-free.

My wife wants me to get a chicken.