Scorpion mobility

[JRobyn]

How can scorpions move about? Wife killed one in her bathroom sink last night. We cannot figure out how it got there. I don't recall ever seeing one NOT on the ground. Can they crawl up walls or swim through a sink trap?

 

[2LaneCruzer]

Scorpions move pretty much like any Arachnid; they live in the cracks and crevices, in dark and dank places and sometimes come out. I recall my Dad telling about one place they lived that had a lot of scorpions. He said that you had to turn your boots upside down in the morning to make sure you didn't put your foot down on one. They also placed each leg of the bed in a coffee can and added enough kerosene so that the little varmints wouldn't get into bed with you.

I have only seen maybe two scorpions in this house in the 44 years we have lived here...and I think one of them came in with a guitar amplifier that I brought in from a friend's house.

 

[dalroo]

Here in my part of Texas the most common type of scorpion is the bark scorpion. They climb as well as any spider. Up walls, into bath tubs, sinks, on the ceiling, everywhere you might see a spider. I see them, mostly at night, around my barn. They live in the trees and grassy areas, but they move around at night hunting, and usually it is the movement that catches my eye.

I am pretty serious about not getting stung AGAIN if I can avoid it, so I spray the perimeter of buildings regularly to keep them at bay. FYI - I have just used the Ortho Home Defense Max, which has worked, but a neighbor told me that Demon WP Insecticide will last much longer, so going to try it and see.

 

[CountryB]

I had one on the ceiling fan over the bed. Wife turned on fan when she came into room and it flung off onto my chest while I was laying in the bed with lights off. I instinctively flicked onto the floor - and was quite surprised when I saw what it was.

I also had one sitting on my shoulder from cutting the grass. It must have been in of the overhanging palmetto bushes or pines and jumped on me, when I get near the grass edge and need to lean to one side as I try to cut under the overhanging bushes.

Used to see a lot in the house when it was first built. Once we (wife) found one in the laundry hamper. Not as many now since the house is older.

 

[JRobyn]

OK, obviously they CAN climb like a spider. Odd. They seem a little chunky, unlike most spiders. I didn't think there'd be a high enough grip-to-weight ratio.

But thanks - we have been warned.

 

[oosik]

WHOOK - I don't like spiders. I think scorpions would drive me to drink. If we had scorpions here - my house & yard would smell like the inside of a jug of Ortho spray.

 

[Wagtail]

I've only ever seen one scorpion in my house since retiring here. It too was discovered in a sink, the kitchen one to be exact; tiny thing but definitely a scorpion. I gently removed it... from the world with a generous blast of bug-spray!

I then Googled 'Tasmanian scorpions' and found that, yes, they're native down here. I'd never seen one on the mainland in the Big Smokes.

 

[CCWKen]

It seems down here in South Texas nothing grows unless it has thorns, stingers or fangs. Scorpions will try to hide during the hot day. They hunt at night. You can hunt THEM at night also by using a black light. They glow when exposed to UV light. Texas is the center of the world for the Striped Bark Scorpion. I'm just glad they don't get bigger than about 2 1/2" long. Fiendish critters without a doubt but I'd prefer those over the Brown Recluse Spider that also likes damp and dark areas of the house and yard. They rank right up there with the Black Widow Spider for critical bite treatment.

 

[Tractor Seabee]

I grew up in the AZ Salt River Valley (Phoenix). We had several varieties and they were everywhere. Yes, they can climb just about any thing. Had to be careful at night to watch where you put your hands. I was leaning against a block wall and got stung on the finger, pulled my boots on one morning and got stung on the foot, slid my hand under the pillow on my bed and another sting on the arm and then stung again when one crawled up my leg, slapped at it, stung on the leg. Quite a learning experience but survived it. The little buggers 1/2" long are the woest venom. The big 4-6" long ones not so bad.

We collected them to sell to U of A for venom production to make anti-venom. Forget what they paid; but it kept us kids in candy and ice cream money. Sometimes in 2 hours in the evening we would get up to 100 of them; all sizes.

those little ones would make you sick for a couple days sometimes.

Ron

 

[Bird]

I was about 6 years old when one night something awoke me by stinging me. I thought a wasp must have gotten me, so I pulled the sheet up over my head, got stung on the hand which was outside the sheet, so I made sure I had that hand under the sheet, then got stung a third time, and realized that whatever it was stinging me was under that sheet with me. So that time I got out of bed yelling. Mother and Dad came rushing in, turned on the light, and there was a big scorpion on my pillow. That was just west of Ardmore, OK.

I guess that experience left me with a bit of a phobia where scorpions are concerned.

In 1972 we bought a new house in Carrollton, TX, in a development that had been cow pastures. We had 3 and 6 year old daughters at the time. And the first night in that new house I killed one scorpion on the floor and one on a wall. The very next day, I had professional exterminators out there, and never saw another scorpion.