Scorpions

[RTII]

We completed construction and moved into our new house in early February. We started seeing scorpions on average maybe once every 2 weeks in the house. This last week we've killed 5. The house is fairly large and the scorpions aren't localized. They have been found in every room.

Does anyone have any ideas as to how best to rid the house of them as well as keep them from returning?

 

[weldingisfun]

Get rid of their food. They eat spiders mostly. Bet you have seen lots of them too.
Keep in mind, the scorpions were there before your house. It will take a while till you get them under control. We built our place seven years ago, come October, and we kill on average 3 - 4 each week. We also have our place treated every 90 days. Guess scorpions are just one of the perks of living in God's Country, i.e., Texas.:laughing:

 

[jinman]

My house is 8 years old and I still get scorpions. Some years I see more than others with several each month during the summer. This year I found one on a stairway and another struggling to get out of a bathroom sink. We spray around the baseboards inside our house with insecticide and also use Ortho Max outdoors around the perimeter of our house. We buy the large pump up container or pour it into a regular garden pump-up sprayer. We've reduced the number of scorpions, but we haven't stopped them completely. I don't think we ever will. Lots of times, the ones we find seem to be dying from the insecticide and not very lively.

Scorpions are attracted to bugs at outside lights and around foundations. Crickets are one of their favorite meals. During the daytime, the scorpions will get out of direct sunlight by crawling into spaces under the siding or into weepholes in brick. Once inside the walls, they make nests and proceed to enter your house. Doors that don't have a complete seal at the bottom make it easy for them to enter the house. I used to have an inside rug in my walkout basement that I checked every week for scorpions because they would come in around the door and crawl under the rug to hide.

I think you might find an exterminator who will tell you they can reduce the number of scorpions, but the best solution I have found is to always look where I'm stepping and be alert for them. I just don't think you will ever get rid of them totally if you live in the country. Once they are inside your walls, I think you'd have to burn your house down to get them all. Just make your house as tight as possible, spray the perimeter, and don't leave porch lights on at night. If you have to have a light, put it on a pole or building away from your house.

 

[RTII]

Seems like not much to do except kill' em when you see 'em. Lots of spiders and crickets around so controling their food supply is probably not going to be worth the effort and a losing battle anyway. Thing is, if that's their food supply, it's mostly outside and not many spiders and no crickets in the house. Guess they like the airconditioning in this heat.

I don't mind dealing with them as and when. Just don't want to lean against one on the couch or in bed one night...........

 

[jinman]

I've seen them as tiny as 1/4" long crawling up my bathroom wall. That small makes it nearly impossible to keep them out. My neighbors used to see them crawling across their ceiling in the middle of the night and couldn't sleep for worry of them falling into the bed. Their house was built on a rocky slope and open at the bottom. She put bowls of mothballs under the house and that seemed to repel or kill them off. I figure the smell must have been worse than the danger of being stung.

 

[BleedGreen]

My understanding (after living in AZ for many years) is that if scorpions are there when you build, they will always be there. Scorpions have been around for over 400 million years and if they are in your area, they are there to stay. There are a multitude of control products and information available online - just dont expect to rid yourself of them entirely. My parents still live in AZ, in a natural desert area north of Scottsdale. All house lots in the area are at least 1 acre. While my parents very rarely see a scorpion (usually after a monsoon or other storm - I think the wind moves them around?) one of the next door neighbors has them constantly, the people across the street have them as regular visitors and the other next door neighbors hardly ever have them. Again, mostly anecdotal information, but I believe it to be true - at least it makes sense to me! Good Luck and always check in your shoes before you put them on!!!

 

[brin]

I was stung by a Scorpion once...right on the top of my foot...It was the most painful sting I have ever experienced...much worse than a Bee or Yellow Jacket..the top of my foot swelled up like 1/2 of an orange and the pain and swelling lasted for 5 or 6 hours and then the pain left and swelling subsided but don't get bit if you can help it...By the way that was only the 3rd or 4th scorpion I had ever seen on the farm and that one was in my shop...I have not seen any since and that has been years ago.

 

[LMTC]

No scorpions here, but spiders are an ongoing issue. Yellow jackets also try to nest for winter along the eaves or in the attic. Since we started spraying the exterior perimeter of the house at the base and at the eave, including app. 2' of ground around it and about the same under (we're on a crawlspace), we could count on one hand the # of spiders in a year, and the yellow jackets go elsewhere. We spray twice each season (but we have winter, so you may need to spray more), once in May and again in October. We are using Bifen IT, get it from the same supplier on ebay that I buy Razor (generic roundup) and other things....best price I've ever found. Easy to use, and it is listed for scorpions too.

Lots of vendors, but if you want a link to the fellow we've bought from for 4 years now, PM or email me.

 

[RTII]

We are using Bifen IT, get it from the same supplier on ebay that I buy Razor (generic roundup) and other things....best price I've ever found. Easy to use, and it is listed for scorpions too.

Lots of vendors, but if you want a link to the fellow we've bought from for 4 years now, PM or email me.

LMTC,

Thanks, I'll look up the bifen IT and give it a try.

 

[LMTC]

Demon(cypermethrin) & Bifen IT(bifenthrin) cover similar critters. Bifen IT is a generic Talstar One, it is liquid and sprays at 1-2 oz per gallon of water. I buy a 3/4 gallon jug for $48 including shipping, lasts me and one neighbor about 2 years. He bought the last one, I bought the one we just got. 5 gallons of mix will do my perimeter, including eaves and a strip of ground below the house on all sides. Never used Demon, but the residual on bifenthrin is app. 6 months per the licensed exterminator we had out 5 years ago, and our experience bears that out. After he told me what they use, I just bought it.

 

[ragkar]

I'm told that scorpions are florescent under ultraviolet light. That makes finding them easier. I'd suggest
Amazon.com: Streamlight 51010 Twin-Task 3C 9-Inch UV Flashlight, Black: Home Improvement

I have this flashlight and I use it for dog urine.

 

[kossetx]

I don't have an answer, but this has been the year of the scorpion around my place. I have never seen so many. Maybe next year will be better for you.

MP

 

[Bird]

I was 6 or 7 years old when a scorpion got in bed with me one night. He got me 3 times before I got out of that bed, yelling as loud as I could. My parents came running in the room and killed the scorpion on my pillow. So I've always hated those things, but fortunately, seldom see any. We moved into a brand new house in a new development in September, 1972, and hadn't been there a week, until I killed 2 one night in the house. I called a professional exterminator the next morning and I've never seen one in any of my houses since.

 

[Sidwuffler]

Recently found 2 dead scorpions ,one in the bathroom and in my home office, both dead. We have the house treated by a professional exterminator every 4 months and I back up by spraying around the outside/inside myself with Bengal mixture after we have had rain.

I also have one of the Ultra Vilolet flashlights for indoors. The only live one I have found was last week in my attached garage on the wall late at night. When I turned on the lights the little stinger was on the wall by the garage door.I knocked him onto the floor and terminated it with my boot.:thumbsup:

Last Friday I went and purchased 2 packets of the sticky boards and placed them around the house . Today we found a small scorpion stuck on the sticky board nearest the Patio windows. I also bomb the attic every few weeks to keep the spider population down.

Scorpion Glue Boards - Default Store View

I think its just an ongoing battle against these elusive critters.

 

[dcyrilc]

We don't have wild loose scoprions here in Western Washington, but back in May when we went camping in Eastern Washington, my daughter found and caught one. We brought it home and put it in a terarium.


A few weeks ago, it had 11 babies (each about 1/4" long). Now we have an even dozen.:laughing:

No pix of the babies yet, but they've built themselves a cave system in the gravel. Really kind of interesting. I'll have to get more pix.

 

[jinman]

A few weeks ago, it had 11 babies (each about 1/4" long). Now we have an even dozen.:laughing:

Cyril, what do you feed them? I'm pretty sure that pet stores don't carry scorpion food.

 

[CrownHawg]

Purina Scorpion chow?

 

[Pilot]

We don't think of western Oregon and Washington as scorpion country, but I saw one in the woods on a down Doug fir log in the late '70's. It's the only one I have seen on the west side; it blended in with the tree bark and I almost sat on it.

 

[OKnewguy]

doityourselfpestcontrol.com is where I get my stuff. I by the container of cynoff. In our past house, we did not have them at first, but then they cleared the lot next to us, and we had tons. I had the house sprayed and then started researching. DIYpest is great, you can get most of the stuff that the real guys use and it is CHEAP! The cynoff cost less then $50 and last us 3 years or so, I usually spray 2 to 3 times a year, and it works great.
BTW, that website is great, you pick your pest, and they give you all the options. I might have been turned on to them by tbn it think.
Dave

 

[dcyrilc]

Cyril, what do you feed them? I'm pretty sure that pet stores don't carry scorpion food.

Sure they do...
...baby crickets!:thumbsup:


Trying to get a pic in focus of the little scorpions was tough.


Finally got one in focus.:thumbsup:


As soon as the flash went off, he zipped into their cave. Man those little ones are fast.