LVCARDFREAK

Not the 80's hair band. The little buggers that seem to be creaping into my house!

I ahve lived in Vegas for 8 years and in my current house for 3 years and I have never seen a scorpion once. Last week we found 2 live ones crawling on our floor and one was at least 2 1/2 inches long.

The bad part about is they were crawling around where my toddler son plays and it freaked me out. I know they aren't deadly persae, but I don't want him to take a sting....

Anyway, I call my pest control guy and he comes out and basically says there is nothing he can do about it. He sprayed all around but said Scorpions, like spiders arent effected by the spray unless you get them directly. He said you just have to live with them and once they fid there is no food around they will move on...thats not good enough for me

Does anyone know a way to get rid of theses things? or repel them or anything that might be helpful? I haven't seen one since last week, but I live in fear that one will stnig my son...any suggestions??

krepitch

I've heard that you can see them with black lights, but I'm not sure if that's true. It might make you feel a little better to scan your son's room with one at night.

Also, I've heard that if you can get some alcohol on them, they sting themselves to death. Doesn't sound like it would be true, but it might be fun to try.

82CardsGrad

Moved here to Scottsdale 6 years ago. Had my house built and for the first 3-4 years, we had our share of Scorpions! We have always been told that there is absolutely nothing you can do to directly rid yourself of Scorpions, aside from killing off their major food source - crickets. We began roughly 4 years ago getting our home treated for crickets - every 3 months... I am happy to report that while we still see a stray one perhaps once or twice a year, it has decreased substantially!!

krepitch

Whoa...check this out.

Regular Light


Black Light

bankybruce

Get 2 kittens, they are not affected by scorpions and they hunt them.

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Chris_Sanders

Yep. Get a cat and be scorpion free. It's really cool if you see the cat battling one. I watched my cat kick the crap out of one.

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jw7

LV, I live on a hillside in an area very prone to scorpions. I used to have a problem with them.

The others are right. You cannot spray for them directly, you have to destroy the "food paths" or the bugs they feed on so they go to your neighbor's house and not yours.

The chemical your exterminator uses makes a big difference. I had a Mom & Pop exterminator service when I first moved into my house and had scorpions. They switched me to a chemical called "Knox-Out" (microencapsulated diazinon) which instantly fixed it.

Unfortunately, the guy retired and sold out to Terminix. I don't know what Terminix used but it didn't work. The scorps came back. I think I had seven in the house one summer.

I switched to a local company called "Foothills Pest Control", and whatever they are using seems to do the trick. No scorpions inside for the last two years.

Additionally, some companies offer house sealing services to keep them out. Here is one example in Phoenix: Seal Out Scorpions

I also keep an old golf putter in the house to smash them. Works pretty well, but fortunately I have not had to use it lately.

Good luck!

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Red Dawn

Not much to add here except that I have noticed that we see more scorpions when there is grading, dirt moving, and development occuring in the immediate area. Also, the black light really does work for spotting them at night.

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40yearfan

I used to spray a mixture of malathion and diazinon at my house in Tempe and never had a problem with scorpions or any other crawly thing for that matter. They stopped making diazinon (thanks to the environmentalists) and now I can find nothing near as effective as it was.

nothin' but net

I moved to a small house that was so bad we were seeing 4-5 a day in the house. We got the same speech from the pest guy. With a little additional info.

1. You need to get rid of places where they can live close to your house. Big junk piles, bushes, stacks of firewood etc... This moves their habitat farther from your house and lessens the risk of one wandering into your house.

2. Sealing the house is a good idea.

3. Check the kids rooms every night with a black light. Also, put your kids bedposts in glass jars or wrap duct tape, sticky side out, on the legs of the bed. Keep blankets on the bed instead of hanging half way off. I used the duct tape and didn't think about it much. When we moved out of that house there were 6 scorpions stuck to the tape.

4. Go out at night with the blacklight. Walk around your house looking on outer walls, cracks in concrete, woodpiles etc... Over the three summers, my nightly search and destroy missions netted about 1500 scorpions outside my house. Many of those were within 15 feet of my house. I began catching them and putting them in a large rubbermaid tub. Several different times I had over 200 running around. They were quite interesting to watch. (I realize that makes me weird) If you are trying to catch them, I recommend something with a very long handle.

5. If you have the "cottage cheese" ceiling, I heard they can climb across the ceiling and drop down on your bed.

Unfortunately, if they are the bark scorpions, they are quite venemous. I never took a strike, but came close a few times.

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jefftheshark

LV-

I live in Vegas too, and about 2 years ago our house became overrun with the little bastards. From what I understand, they are coming in with the landscaping rock from the pits around Lone Mountain. As our neighbors converted from grass to desert, they came in force. I spoke with several pest control companies, and anyone that tells you they can take care of the problem is lying.

We did the following and finally got the problem under control.

1) Seal every crack! We used over 100 tubes of caulk at the baseboards and exterior plate & at every window and door. We had to repaint the house when we were done because the house was literally white. While we were doing this I saw one crawl through a crack smaller than the width of a dime. No crack seems to be too small for them. Seal every attic ventelation vent on the roof with a fine mesh screen.

2) Renovate the yard. Remove every bush within 6 foot of your house. Scorpions live in palm trees, so make sure they are trimmed and away from the house. No lumber, workshop projects, garden implements, etc. in this 6' area. No tree branches overhanginging the roof.

3) Pick up the house. This is really tough with small kids, but no clothes, shoes, toys, computers etc. on the floor, ever. My 7 year old took off his school shoes and discovered a scorpion in them less than 10 minutes later. They are attracted to moisture, and shoes are a perfect haven. Most stings occur when people put on shoes & clothing, so shake everything out when putting them on. My neighbor was stung by one when changing the sheets on the bed. We moved all the furniture away from the walls and removed the dust ruffles (Okay, I'm married-they weren't my choice). Seal every entry point in the ceiling & walls with clear silicon (lights, outlets & smoke detectors).

4) Go hunting! Go to the Bass Pro Shop and get the largest portable black light they stock. They glow in the UV light and at first you'll be amazed at how many you'll find. Whack 'em with a 12" or so 2x4.

5) Turn on the bathroom lights at night. I got up once in the middle of the night and there was one sitting on the seat. They really like bathrooms and they can swim. If you leave shampoo bottles on the rim of the tub, look under them when you pick them up as I've found several there. After you are sure they can't get into the house, have your attic bombed.

6) If you have done a good job sealing the house, the ones left inside will not be able to leave. Since a scorpion can live up to one year without eating, the problem might appear to be resolved, but sometime around the 8th to 10th month they will come out looking for food. Kill them and you are probably done, except for the occasional one that comes in when the kids leave a door open and unattended.

Hope this helps and good luck!

The Shark

LVCARDFREAK

Thanks guys...

A little more info. Our house is almost 10 years old so I don't think they "sprung up" recently. I checked neighbors etc for and landscaping or construction to see if they were rattled out of their homes-nothing.

The onyl thing I can think of is that this summer has been a very bad roach summer up here in Vegas and I have seen a ton more desert roaches out on my patio in years past and in fact after he sprayed the other night there were tons of dead ones. I dont have any crickets around my house at all.

Wonder if they are attracted out because they have such a beavy (sp) of food around?

I asked the exterminator about the breed of scorpion and he said they arent deadly or anything but they can pack a wallop with their sting. I don't know if I buy that with a toddler though

jw7

Interestingly, the bark scorpion is one of the most common in the Phoenix area. They also are the only species of scorpion that can climb on walls and ceilings.

They can get into your house with any opening the size that would allow a credit card through.

I've smashed a couple that were halfway up the wall.

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nothin' but net

my weapon of choice was the long metal rod from my daughter's blues clues umbrella. I could stab with that in tight places. Another thing to beware of is bathroom towels. They can get on those. If you are hunting them and see one that has dark spots on it, that is because there are babies on her. We caught one with 27 on it one time.

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-Amare Stoudemire

thirty-two

omg that is so freaking nasty

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