Houseguest

[Top Cat]

As I have said before, snow isn't so bad.

[BigRat]

CRAP. Just killed #2 in two days, this one IN the house, and pretty fat and juicy.

Looks like it will be a busy year again.

CRAP.

[smbke]

Originally Posted by cactusjack

We have those here too. Not in the house, thank God.

We have lived in this house since March of '07. We used to have a nasty cricket problem. Those little buggers would get everywhere and chirp all night. Scorpions love to eat crickets. We haven't had hardly any crickets at all since we started seeing scorpions.

Scorpions, rattlesnakes, tarantulas, centipedes, black widows and the only poisonous lizard in North America can be found here. We also have africanized bees.

Sounds like heaven!

[ponch]

Originally Posted by cactusjack

We have those here too. Not in the house, thank God.

We have lived in this house since March of '07. We used to have a nasty cricket problem. Those little buggers would get everywhere and chirp all night. Scorpions love to eat crickets. We haven't had hardly any crickets at all since we started seeing scorpions.

Scorpions, rattlesnakes, tarantulas, centipedes, black widows and the only poisonous lizard in North America can be found here. We also have africanized bees.

Don't forget the coyotes, bobcats, pack rats, coral snakes, and god knows what else.

[Kawhead]

Originally Posted by jlreeves

We have them here in North Georgia too. My wife has been stung twice by what they call a devil scorpion. Both times getting out of the shower and grabbing a towel with a scorpion in it. I've found them in my boots laid by the bed overnight so I always dump them out before putting them on.

In the United States, scorpions are most common in southern Arizona out through central Texas and Oklahoma. The common striped scorpion reaches from northwest Mexico to southern Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, and Mississippi. Other species of are found from Florida north to Maryland, the Carolinas, and Tennessee, and as far west as Oregon and California. Yet another is found through the Northwest U.S. and into Canada. Scorpions can be found in 31 different states in the U.S., including Hawaii.

I use to live in Juliette,GA and we had them there. I got stung once when I pulled a fleece throw over me and a dern good one when I put a boot on! My Godd they ain't nothin' like getting stung on the toes! It burns for what you think is going to be the rest of your LIFE. It stings like getting electrocuted!

I felt something like a Cow Killer ant like I stepped on when I was a kid. My eye still well up when I think about it.
When you've been stung by that bstrd, you been stung!

[danimal2]

It's 2:35 am. Sitting here with scorpion venom coursing through my veins. Stepped on the little bastard an hour ago when I got up to use the bathroom. Can't get back to sleep. Foot's burning/throbbing like crazy. Saw the Scorpion header on the post and couldn't resist.

I've lived in Arizona since 1986. Never saw a scorpion until two years ago. That year they were everywhere. We sprayed, used diatonasious earth at all doors and windows and I would hunt them at night with ultraviolet light and a can of scoripion "on contact" killer. I'd get at least half a dozen pretty much every night. Last year not so bad. This year they're back. I got 14 in one night (not in the house but around the perimeter and in the alley behind us).

Makes ya nervous to walk around at night. They're not super dangerous. When they sting ya it just burns, throbs, then eventually causes numbness. It took 12 hours for it to wear off completely. It's very irritating and makes it hard to put a shoe on for a while.

Must be the weather or something. It was a really wet/rainy winter. Maybe that's what brings em out? Scott's right about the cricket thing. We used to have tons of em........now you never hear em chirping. The bug man we hired two years ago said the best thing you can do to get rid of them (scorpions) is to eliminate their food source, cuz there aint much that'll kill em.

This stuff really works. Kills em on contact. It just takes one short shot. Takes about 30-45 seconds to kill them and ya get to watch em suffer until then. It really works. I highly recommend it. Get it at Lowes, Home Depot etc. This stuff and a black light (scorpion light) is good for lots of payback. They really squirm when it gets on em. Should've taken a photo of all my kills.

(doctor evil laugh) Hooo aaah hooo aaaah.......



Arizona bark scorpions are small but.......

The bark scorpion is the most venomous scorpion in North America, and its venom can cause severe pain (coupled with numbness and tingling) in adult humans, typically lasting between 24 to 72 hours. Temporary dysfunction in the area stung is common; e.g. a hand or possibly arm can be immobilized or experience convulsions. It also may cause the loss of breath for a short period of time. Due to the extreme pain induced, many victims describe sensations of electrical jolts after envenomation.

Fatalities from scorpion envenomation in the USA are rare and are limited to small animals (including small pets), small children, and adults with compromised immune systems. Extreme reaction to the venom is indicated by numbness, frothing at the mouth, paralysis, and a neuromotor syndrome that may be confused with a seizure and that may make breathing difficult, particularly for small children. Two recorded fatalities have occurred in the state of Arizona since 1968; the number of victims stung each year in Arizona is estimated to be in the thousands. In Mexico, more than 100,000 people are stung annually, and during a peak period in the 1980s, the bark scorpion claimed up to 800 lives there.[2]

[rickyboy]

Originally Posted by ringadingh

I'm glad we don't have them here.

I'm with you there Steve...but you have black flies that are big enough to f@#k the hummingbirds don't you??? The black flies will take a chunk out of you !!! That I know from experience.

Life is perfect here on the "wet coast".... not much flies or crawls around here because it's raining most of the time.

[Old Bear]

Originally Posted by Kawhead

I felt something like a Cow Killer ant like I stepped on when I was a kid. My eye still well up when I think about it.
When you've been stung by that bstrd, you been stung!

Dang, Kawhead, that explains a lot! Musta been the venom went to your head!
and YUP, glad it wern't me!

[Old Bear]

That does it, I ain't EVER going to AZ! All I got to worry about around here are diseased mosquitoes - poison spiders - copperheads - cottonmouths - rabid skunks - occasional wolf - rare bear - and now let's ALL chime in together, the distracted cager!

[cactusjack]

I went out Saturday and bought a UV flashlight (28 LED model, spared no expense ) and have been checking the house at night, haven't seen one yet. I tested the light on the one in the picture in the first post. (He's resting peacefully in a baggie at the bottom of a trash can) He lit up a bright yellow/green when hit with the UV light. When my son is home, I'll send him outside with the light to hunt for them, he likes to dispose of scorpions.

I didn't mind them so much when I'd see them in the garage, but once they invaded my home, the war was on. My son's girlfriend got stung by one in our hallway a couple of weeks ago. I told her not to walk around without shoes on. So far, she's ignored my advice.

Oh yeah, we also have these: Vinegaroon
although I have yet to see one. They are pretty harmless but look mean as all hell.

[waterman]

Originally Posted by rickyboy

I'm with you there Steve...but you have black flies that are big enough to f@#k the hummingbirds don't you??? The black flies will take a chunk out of you !!! That I know from experience.

Life is perfect here on the "wet coast".... not much flies or crawls around here because it's raining most of the time.

Well, at least until you fall into the ocean or you have the great tsunami that washes you out to sea.

[danimal2]

Scorpions and Black Widows are nothing. These are the guys you really need to watch out for. Brown Recluse. I've seen 6 of these in one night over by the Colorado River. Small but nasty. The attached photos are of course, worse case scenarios of bites that got infected.



If left untreated........

[cactusjack]

Ask Mitch about the brown recluse. He got bit by one a couple years back.

[Top Cat]

Those spiders are in Colorado
Feelin real good about the National now

[ringadingh]

Originally Posted by rickyboy

I'm with you there Steve...but you have black flies that are big enough to f@#k the hummingbirds don't you??? The black flies will take a chunk out of you !!! That I know from experience.

Life is perfect here on the "wet coast".... not much flies or crawls around here because it's raining most of the time.

Yep, we have the black flies and mosquitos but they are not that bad were I am, whwn I first moved to Newmarket in the early 80's you couldn't sit outside after dinner because of the bugs. Now you don't see too many.
I have found two black widow spiders the past few years though, I think one was in a box from the grocery store, and the other in some old lumber.