Bark Scorpion Can Cause Death (Its Bark is Worse Than it's Bite?)

Yuma Sun ^ | April 7, 2009 | Chris McDaniel

[TADSLOS]

I’ve had numerous close calls over the years with these little bad asses, but no stings yet. I usually kill two or three every year in and around the house here in central Texas. Many years ago, I witnessed a buddy of mine getting stung by one as he leaned up against a pine tree. It went down his back under his OD t-shirt. By the time we ripped his shirt off and killed it, he had been stung 12 times. Two days later I was stripping off a set of funky,twelve day old jungle fatigues and found one tucked up under my shirt collar. No telling how long that little bastard had been there.

[Towed_Jumper]

“Maybe you should move your bed off their landing pad.”

he...he...he... /chuckle/ We ended up selling the house. In our new place (in the same town), we haven’t seen any scorpions in the house...mercifully.

[Centurion2000]

Nevertheless, my wife also got stung 13-times on her shoulder and back one night when another scorpion fell from the ceiling into our bed and somehow got inside her nightgown.

Canopy Bed .... must have item there apparently.

[JimSEA]

We also had to put mesh screening over all of our air ducts

Growing up in Superior, AZ, I can recall that baby's cribs were screened and the legs put in Coffee cans full of water. Centipedes and Black Widows added to the fun but Scorpions were the most common attackers.

That said, I was only bit 3 times in the 38 years before we moved to a colder part of the country. Living now in Southeast Asia part of the year, we have plenty of nasty bugs, including scorpions, poisonous spiders and loads of termites. It's like being back home in Arizona.

[MarkL]

In general, with scorpions, the smaller the pincers, the more powerful the venom in the sting. And like spiders, some species of scorpions are far more aggressive than others.

I remember seeing a large black scorpion with huge pincers once, and it was amazingly non-aggressive, and could be handled. I was told that the sting (even thought the thing about about 4” or 5” long) was about the same as a bee sting.

Finally, if you’re worried about stepping on one in the dark, carry a UV flashlight: They fluoresce.

Mark

[ravingnutter]

You probably need to spray around the foundation (1 foot up) and under the house if there is a crawl space. Spraying around the doors and windows helps too. Too bad they outlawed the sale of diazinon about 5 years ago, that stuff worked great when sprayed around the foundation. We stocked up when we found out they were taking it off the market, we finally ran out last year. Most places now recommend a product called Suspend SC to replace it, but I haven't tried it yet. Other suggestions:

Remove all objects from around the foundation of the house.

Prune overhanging tree branches away from the house.

Don’t store firewood inside the house and check for scorpions before bringing it inside.

Install weatherstripping around doors and windows.

Caulk around roof eaves, pipes, and any other cracks that might allow entrance.

Make sure window screens fit tightly in the window frame.

Fix any water leaks in the house and don't leave standing water (e.g. dog bowl) as they usually come in after water. With our drought here in Texas, I expect to see many scorpions this summer.

Good luck!

[JRios1968]

Yikes. I’d definitely rather find a California Barking Spider in my sleeping bag.

My wife is always complaining about those...especially after chili night.

[grey_whiskers]

As a former Phoenician, I can say on the basis of experience that they are dangerous. A guy in the cube next to me at work had to have his 2-year old hospitalized for convulsions following a bark scorption sting. He put diatomaceous earth all over the yard and at the ground-line of the house and the problem stopped. Short of this, the best treatment for bark scorpion infestations is a cat.

We would often come downstairs in the morning to find scorpion bits next to the cat's food dish.

Here in Minnesota, she prefers plastic grocery bags from target, or, preferably, rubber bands.

Cheers!

[moondoggie]

Thanks...I've read most of the tips you've posted and we've done most of those things.

I've long suspected firewood as the culprit as we do heat our home with wood.

And, I might have a slight disagreement about the water bowls or leaving standing water around because most of the scorpions we've found dead in the house had drowned in the dog's water dish.

I'd rather find them dead in the water than have to squish them. LOL