Scorpions

[texasjohn]

In this area, when a house if first built the new owners seem to find scorpions the first year or so.... fewer over time.

This was true for us some 30 years ago.... this was before fire ants arrived in the area. I have to report that it's been at least 5 years, maybe more, since I've seen one. Either in the house or outside....and, I used to frequently see them outside under rocks and in wood piles.

My private, unscientific opinion is that the fire ants decimated their population. I know they have removed quail from the area. They are a new omnivorous predator. Their numbers are significantly reduced because of the several years of drought, but are still in the area, sad to say.

 

[kossetx]

I wish that was the case. I've way to many of both, although fire ants are easier to find. Can't stand around too long in one place.

I got a remedy for fire ants though. Drink a six pack of lone star beer, wait a while then go out and pee on the fire ant mound. Doesn't do a darn thing to the ants, but it sure makes you feel better.

 

[Lacal]

We had an exterminator tell us that homes with scorpions are built on scorpion nest and will always have a problem. I use a black light to find them and even have a small blacklight on my key chain. This site may be helpful:

Safe controls for scorpions

 

[texasjohn]

Wouldn't you know it.... saw a scorpion today in the house...first one in YEARS....

 

[jinman]

My house has a large brick fireplace surrounded by cedar siding. The interface between the brick and siding is just not sealed well enough to keep out the scorpions. To make it worse, about 10' to the side of the fireplace is a garage door with a "on at dusk/off at dawn" light. Bugs are attracted to the light at night and then seek refuge in any crack and crevice they can find during the day. I'm having an outside/inside professional pest control treatment on Monday of next week. I'm also installing a light out 25' from my house on my well house to draw the critters away from the spot they've used to make entry. I'll turn off my garage light when I get the new one installed.

I killed a small scorpion on the wall and a large one walking across the rug in front of my fireplace just this week. We've also had a half dozen crickets in the house and some ants in our garage. I know I won't get them all, but maybe I can reduce their numbers significantly.

 

[RTII]

Pest control man came and went yesterday. His comment was that scorpions seem to be bad this year and not just at my house........... Anyway he put down an extra thick layer of his formula inside and outside the house and including the eves. A second type of barrier also as well as an ant control pellets. Also put down some sticky traps in strategic locations inside. He expects this to control them for at least 2 months and 3 or more if environmental conditions allow the formula to last. (Wind and Rain can dilute it's effects over time). He's contracted quarterly now and we'll see how it works out. Hope to see only dead ones for a while and then none for a lot longer.

 

[JDGREEN4ME]

And to think some people think cold weather is a bad thing, just glad we don't have to deal with those critters up here!

 

[texasjohn]

Well, scorpions hurt when they sting....to me, about as bad as a wasp, differs from person to person. Been hit about 20 times in my life. If you are allergic...bad news...as with any allergy.

Anecdotal medical story, sample size of one, which is how folk cures came about.

My mother at age 80, had a blood electrolyte imbalance, got to hospital in time but it caused loss of memory, confusion. Doctor's said that she would recover her memory, but would maybe take a year. Got her to my home where I could watch her. For a couple of months didn't see any memory or mental improvement.

She went to bed one night and in an hour I heard a YELP and SHOUT. Ran into the room and she had been stung twice by a scorpion on the leg. She was more animated than I had seen since the blood problem. Seeking to assess her state, I asked, "Did it hurt?"

She replied with a fire in her eye and a clarity that I had not seen in many months.....very much like her old self.:thumbsup:

From that moment, I saw significant, rapid and daily improvement in her mental state and she was her old self, to my eye, in a few weeks.

So, in my opinion, the shock of the sting, or maybe the venom itself, caused something chemically to happen in the brain which "got things going again."

She lived another 11 years and fully recovered her mental faculties.

So, you see, scorpions have their medicinal value, just like honey bees and leeches.

 

[Redneck_Randy]

I'm in Oklahoma and the Bark Scorpions we have here are harmless. The sting from a honey bee is worse.

Many times I have gone to put my pants on and had a scorpion in one my pants leg. I've been stung so many times over the years I have lost count. It is a funny show though seeing my jump out of my pants. LOL

Don't ever flush a scorpion down a toilet if you have a septic system, they will crawl back up the line and sting you know where.

 

[okclumberjack]

xxxxx