During my slumber last night

I once was awakened by a 'crawling' feeling on my calf. In my drowsy state I brushed at it with my other foot...Once it stung I knew immediately it was a scorpion.

I feel for you. That's not the best way to wake up. Around here, they're a little more painful than a wasp sting. And they do hang on a day or two.

PS - I was the last human that scorpion every attacked.

Dang Thangs.

It seems like when ever I see a scorpion, it has it's tail up and claws out.
Ornery little creatures. They just can't wait to latch on and plant their stinger in you.

I have had them drop off on me while asleep and sting me also and was stung several times while I grew up in Ft.Worth (they remind me of a wasp sting). Scorpions will come inside the house when the weather gets hot and dry like it is now. Just be sure you spray the inside of your house before you spray the outside or you may drive them inside. Teach the family to shake out their clothes and shoes and things like bath towels before they put them on or use them and don't blindly hop into the bath tub before checking it out. If you are in scorpion country, you're going to get stung some, but you can cut down on how many times it happens if you are cautious.

Between West Texas, The Panhandle and Western Oklahoma, I lived in "Scorpion & Tarantula Territory" most of my younger years and several years since. My mother used to go through the house and catch scorpions with a pair of pliers before everyone else got up.
I learned at about 4 to dump my shoes every morning before putting them on.

I have yet to be stung by a scorpion (Bees and wasps are a different matter) or bitten by a tarantula. Either I was quicker than you or luckier or both.B-)

Thanks, guys, for making Wisconsin winters seem more tolerable. I appreciate that.

I always was impressed by this picture (not mine)

I'm going to start catching them and releasing them by all of the corners we set for guard duty!

I'll swap ya. 10,000 chiggers for a dozen scorpions.

I have never heard of a good scorpion encounter.

The most memorable was the Boy Scout weekend hike and camp to Lake Quitman.

We started out at Wood County Coop, the site of our Scout Den, hiked thru town and 7mi later arrived at the west end of the dam.

We had to clear our encampment and at first turn of the rake we discovered we were outnumbered by scorpions.

They move very fast for such little critters and they swarmed us.

Only a few guys were bitten, the ones with shorts.

We made a quick retreat and moved a quarter mile north to a sandbar.

Later that year a slow burn was made of the dam area and the scorpion problem was no more.

This heat has probably moved them indoors. They can flatten out and slip thru the slimmest crack or put it in high gear and scamper in before the door can close.

I have been hunting scorpions at night with a UV flashlight. Not in the house but in the yard and along the edge of the woods. I killed 9 last night. My record is 22 in one night. Last Saturday night I was hunting scorpions and one of my dogs got bit by a copperhead. He was already on antibiotics from a copperhead bite 3 days earlier. Both times he was around a scrap iron pile that has grown up with brush.

Sunday morning me and the wife burned off the brush and run two copperheads out. My wife turned an old metal chair upside down and using the seat as a pan, poured diesel in it and set it on fire. We then held the snakes over the fire until they quit squirming. Revenge is sweet.

Back to the scorpion hunting, this light is my favorite so far:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001Q73A58/ref=pe_175190_21431760_M2C_ST1_3p_dp_1

Scorpions glow a bright lime green under a blacklight (UV light). At night in short grass you can spot them 20 feet away easily. They seem to come out more on dry moonlit nights. After a rain or on a night with a heavy dew, you won't find many.

James

I raised my children (now 40 and 36) in a rather wooded area with lots of 'vermin and crawlies' always present. When the kids would worry about scorpions I used to tell them, "Don't worry, the copperheads usually eat 'em all up."

That's a fat one. Almost looks like a Vinegaroon except for the whip.

thanks for the link for the LED blacklight - we still use the 6" flourescent bulb battery-powered type, have never looked for a newer version. 35 years in Arizona, never been bitten yet, but have killed a few in our home. only a matter of time and forgetting to check my shoes I suppose.

and yet ANOTHER reason you will probably never see my fat arse in Tejas, amigo.

😉

One time I was walking through the woods with an old party chief, who was bald, and I turned around to say something to him, and I look at his head, and I'm like "Holy S--t, there's a scorpion on your head!". And he brushes it quickly off his head. It never stung him and we don't know where it landed, but I still don't think he believed me and thought I was messing with him.

When I was living in the Republic of Panama years ago, I once found one in my shoe, but killed it before I got stung.

A buddy of mine grew up in India. He was stung by one when he was about 6 years old and wound up in a hospital for a couple of weeks! I guess they're a lot nastier over there.

I have never seen one in Louisiana. Wonder if it's too wet for them?

We do have small scorpions in SE Tennessee that I rarely see. They are very small, half inch to maybe a couple of inches tops. Usually find them when turning over rocks. Never heard of anyone being stung by one and few here, besides surveyors, ever see them.

One of the reasons I love AK. All you have to worry about is getting eaten by a wolf or bear or stomped by a moose. Have yet to have to shake my shoes out to be sure there's no bears in there! 😀

-JD-

That is true, but we got the Brown Recluse spider.

I have already killed 6 in the house this year. The joys of living in a 100+ yo elevated wooden house.