Not been stung by Scorpion or Tarantula but by most OTHER stinging critters. Worst in my book are Yellow Jackets as they come at you by numbers. They not only sting but bite at the same time with a bacteria that can get infected if in fall/summer as they feed on dead critters a lot.
few years back I got stung/attacked bad by walking the then yr old dog he has a good nose & sticks in anything that smells. So happened he stuck it into a ground nest of yellow jackets, they came after both of us bad.
It was Late July/Aug and I was in shorts no shirt at the farm. He ran toward me & on past bringing the swarm along
I got nailed on both elbows knees and sides of face/hands etc. Him his snout & ears were swelled up for 2 days. I took off running away up the creek him in tow. I stopped 50 yards away unfortunately right on top of a 2nd nest! I didn't know I was on a 2nd nest and was beating/killing them figuring there were stragglers latched on to us. He was yanking around while I'm trying to knock the )(&%# off his nose & ears & smash em. They were on ME & him while more are showing up! I ended up in agony for DAYS from that one with swollen joints & was close to hitting Doc for relief. Took a bunch of Antihistamines & pain killers/anti-inflammatory stuff with some help...
I think the poor dog was scared of me for days as I was smacking them off him and he is Yelping & Hopping all over getting stung stirring up more of the bees. It took me a few sec to figure more were showing up and looked around to see a ton come out of the 2nd hole at us. Off I ran dragging the dog by the leash towards the house. One thing is the smashed bees & stings leave a chemical trail for more of the yellow jackets to follow. So more bees smell the chemicals and chase / attack what ever the other bees are after... Honey Bees do similar but only sting 1 time & dont really bite you either.
Long story but funny one, bare in mind this all happened in course of about 3 minutes.. A bit of background first.
Back when I just moved into Edwards AFB in Southern Ca. I had been there 2 weeks but didnt have a room. Finally got assigned a room, it was the LAST DORM and the Ground Floor & LAST ROOM farthest away from everything. Great views and lots of wildlife all new stuff for a Ohio Boy never been out west or in a desert. Anyhow I had a BBQ grill (little charcoal type) setting on the outside gravel by some bushes away from the dorm & made lunch while moving stuff. By the time I got stuff out of storage it was getting dark and had most of my stuff setting half inside the room and half outside in the yard. I picked up something (forget what it was now) and a Black Widow Spider was setting on top 3" away from my face.
So I moved it over to a bush and kept working, I got all my stuff inside in a pile in middle of the room. The BBQ had been setting all day off to the side of the building with the lid at an angle on the gravel in the landscaping. I picked up the Lid and set it down in the gravel & took the wet ashes out to dump into the dumpster. I came back and picked up the lid, a BIG Scorpion fell out from under the lid and onto my bare foot. I kicked him off pretty quick and cut him in half with the lid. Well I put the BBQ away & headed into finish putting my stuff away. I opened one drawer to find another black widow spider. Squished that one & cleaned out the web. Opened the draw on the bottom which was full of sweaters from previous occupant. I reached into pull them out & just as I did something jumped onto the back my hand! (ME Screaming like a little girl) swinging my hand around jerking and stepping backwards falling over the pile of stuff in the middle of the room crashing back into the stuff. Well reactions are pretty quick when in a few minute times span you run into spiders and scorpions real fast time span. Needless to say I kind of felt bad for flinging the little Gecko into the ceiling at 800 mph. He seemed OK for wear as he took off under the cabinet almost as fast as I had launched him into the roof. I ended up catching a LOT of Black Widow Spiders and Geckos right around the corner but only saw 2 more scorpions (none the size of the first one) while exploring. Had a Road Runner and Coyotes right up to 30 feet from my dorm room over the next 2 years there too. Seen one or two rattlers while there none by the dorm room but on the roads or out at the flight line. The one BW spider I put into a 1 gallon wine bottle (was in room when I got there) and had it as a pet for the two years. Fed it housefly's and crickets (how I found other scorpions looking for crickets for the BW pet.) Fun time for sure lol
One of the weirdest things I found there was some bird dumped on hood of my car. I think I could have assembled two or 3 little lizard skeletons out of the pile
hehehe
Mark
