[texasflower]

This guy was building an addition to his house and the lumber came from Arizona. Apparently Texas scorpions are not poisonous, but Arizona scorpions are. At least that's what the insect expert at the hospital said.

He had taken off his pants and put them aside, while he did some work in his boxers. Later when he put the pants back on, he first felt the thing scurrying around and he began to panic, then he felt the bite.

His wife described him screaming, jumping around and getting all tangled up in the pants. It was hysterical.

By the time she finished the discussion, she and I were laughing so hard we were in tears.

Poor guy! At least he had a bit of a sense of humor about that part, so he didn't get mad at us laughing.

But he was in tears and felt faint. My crew was all female, but he wasn't the least bit shy about showing me his wound.

The poor thing cried until I gave him morphine. I felt so sorry for him, I wish I could have given him more.

[tortoise]

Apparently Texas scorpions are not poisonous, but Arizona scorpions are.

Arizona is unique in that it shares the same desert biome as Mexico and regions south rather than the usual American southwest desert biome, which contains a lot nastier critters than we normally have in the continental US, even apparently similar desert regions. As a result, there are species of snakes, spiders, scorpions, and other poisonous nasties local to Arizona that are substantially worse than what one normally expects in the US. I had a friend who almost lost a leg because he was bit by an Arizona recluse spider on the thigh.