I
live in the Arizona desert north of Phoenix and we have an abundance of
scorpions. I liken them to roaches—they’re everywhere, impervious to
environment changes, and plain creepy to witness.
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| Bark Scorpion |
There
are many types in the area but the most common is the Bark Scorpion, which is
poisonous but luckily the sting only causes great discomfort. They inhabit our
garage and at times our house, and come in all sizes, from as small as a
fingernail to 4-5 inches long. Two effective means of attempting to control the
population are the pest guy and sticky pads placed in strategic locations (door
thresholds and along walls). Still, we encounter them, with high volume in the
hot summer months.
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| A sticky pad inside our house. |
One
afternoon I retrieved the mail and sat again in my car when a scorpion scurried
from the letters and onto my lap. Much screaming and hyperventilating ensued,
resulting in a squished scorpion. One ran between my feet while I stood in the
laundry room in an attempt to escape my chocolate labs. I found a big one in my
daughter’s hamper (which she never used again). One got his tail stuck on a
sticky pad under my son’s dresser and was slowly making his way into the room,
dragging the sticky pad behind him. One morning I entered the laundry room to
discover a sticky pad that had migrated to the center of the floor. Two
creatures were immobile upon it—a scorpion and the bull snake that was
obviously chasing it. Clearly the steel wool we’d stuffed into cabinet crevices
wasn’t doing its job to deter critters from entering the house. But probably the
most shocking incident was the scorpion that went on vacation with us to
California. He wasn’t discovered until we returned home, hanging out in the
middle of our suitcase full of clothes. We speculate he’d hitched a ride on a
pair of my husband’s shoes, which sat in a grocery bag inside the luggage
during our two-day visit to Monterey.
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| Scorpions can have many young and will carry them on their back. |
I’ve
never been stung but suspect my husband (and possibly one of our dogs) has, as
evidenced by a strange sore on his hand (and near the dog’s eye) that oozed pus
for several days. He eventually recovered, as did the dog.
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| A giant desert hairy scorpion I saw while hiking near my house. He was dead when I found him. They aren't very poisonous. |
I
wouldn’t say I’ve gotten used to them, but I’ve certainly learned to live with
the creatures.
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