Scorpions! Yikes!

[SassyLady]

Has anyone else ever actually gone hunting for scorpions? Well, for the last two nights we have been out hunting them. I never knew they glowed green under a black light. So, we wait until it's really dark and take our black light flashlights outside and walk the perimeter of the house. Last night we killed three, but two got away. Tonight we only got two and saw several but there were so far down in the cracks of our rock fence that we can't get to them. What is fascinating is that when you turn the black light off and hit them with a regular flashlight they are almost invisible.

I have been able to walk barefoot outside, day or night, for the last 20 years at my house in CA. Now, I can't walk outside at any time, day or night (rattlesnakes, scorpions, cactus spines blowing all over the yard). Tucson is definitely not paradise ... and I wonder how I'm going to be able to keep both places ... just not willing to let the house in CA go. Can hardly contemplate renting it out.

On the good side, the thunderstorms are awesome.

[logroller]

One of my professors studied scorpions and their fluorescence.
As scorpions are nocturnal hunters, it seems odd that they fluoresce (http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19526134.300-florescent-scorpion-toxin-lights-up-tumours.html) instead of camouflaging themselves. Carl Kloock (http://www.csub.edu/~ckloock/) of California State University in Bakersfield now thinks he has the explanation. The animals produce a limited amount of fluorescing pigment, which degrades as it fluoresces. So Kloock overexposed 15 scorpions to UV light (http://dx.doi.org/10.1636/Sh08-87.1) until their pigment was used up, and then compared their night-time behaviour with that of 15 untreated scorpions when exposed to a level of UV that mimicked the moon and stars. The fluorescent ones stuck to one small area, while the others wandered around at random (Journal of Arachnology, vol 38, p 441 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1636/B09-111.1)).
The crux, says Kloock, lies in what the animals can see. If, as seems probable, they can't see the UV component of starlight and moonlight, they would be unaware the night was bright enough to allow predators (http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn19791-zoologger-the-hardest-bat-in-the-world.html) to see them. They can, however, see green so can probably detect their own glow.http://www.newscientist.com/mobile/article/mg20827903.700-scorpions-glow-in-the-dark-to-detect-moonlight.html

Thunderstorms are way cool though. I went camping at the grand canyon during monsoon season a few years back. It would be the most beautiful clear day, then every afternoon, thunder lightning and torrential downpours-- it was awesome! Really kept the dust down in the campsite too.

[Abbey Marie]

If it were me, I'd keep the CA house. Not a fan of heat, and the CA house sounds dreamy.

[Toro]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0aZwkXxrHdc

[SassyLady]

If it were me, I'd keep the CA house. Not a fan of heat, and the CA house sounds dreamy.

If I could figure out how to get pictures off my phone I would post some of both houses. Both are extremely nice homes .... it's just the weather that concerns me. We are adding about 1,000 sq. ft to the AZ home.....adding on another master bedroom and office....will make the house about 3500 sq. ft. Also adding a 2000 sq. ft. garage to put all his toys in.

When I'm feeling better we are traveling to Fiji or Tahiti for a couple of months....maybe we can find a beach hut down there to run away to!

[Abbey Marie]

If I could figure out how to get pictures off my phone I would post some of both houses. Both are extremely nice homes .... it's just the weather that concerns me. We are adding about 1,000 sq. ft to the AZ home.....adding on another master bedroom and office....will make the house about 3500 sq. ft. Also adding a 2000 sq. ft. garage to put all his toys in.

When I'm feeling better we are traveling to Fiji or Tahiti for a couple of months....maybe we can find a beach hut down there to run away to!

Who's "we"? :cool:

[gabosaurus]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0aZwkXxrHdc

Dang, it is scary that someone else had the same first idea that I did. :laugh:

[logroller]

Who's "we"? :cool:
Her "friend";)

[Gaffer]

If I see a scorpion it only has a few seconds of life left. I will not tolerate them being around me. I hate those bastards.

[SassyLady]

My daughter and two grandkids have been stung .... they said like a bad bee sting. In fact, my grandson was stung three times....now he thinks he has super powers like Spiderman! :laugh:

I don't think it will kill me, but I don't want to find out how painful it is. Also afraid of what will happen if my mini-schnauzer gets stung. Doctor said to give liquid Benedryl. Doctor also recommended getting snake bite vaccine ... won't stop the poison, but gives more time to get to vet.

We sprayed all around the house and yard today. Was out tonight late, so didn't go looking. Will look tomorrow night. If they are still here, I'm calling an exterminator!

[SassyLady]

Who's "we"? :cool:

A friend who I've know for over 20 years. Good guy but who I've always thought of as a brother, so don't think that feeling will change. We get along really great .. we have no expectations of each other and he's pretty self-sufficient. My daughter and grandkids adore him. He's never been married and has no kids, so I think he's lonely and just wants a companion.....and I'm OK with that.

[Gaffer]

My daughter and two grandkids have been stung .... they said like a bad bee sting. In fact, my grandson was stung three times....now he thinks he has super powers like Spiderman! :laugh:

I don't think it will kill me, but I don't want to find out how painful it is. Also afraid of what will happen if my mini-schnauzer gets stung. Doctor said to give liquid Benedryl. Doctor also recommended getting snake bite vaccine ... won't stop the poison, but gives more time to get to vet.

We sprayed all around the house and yard today. Was out tonight late, so didn't go looking. Will look tomorrow night. If they are still here, I'm calling an exterminator!

The poison of scorpions is a nerve poison that feels like an electric shock is going through the area. Not deadly (unless allergic) but hurts like hell. I was stung on the ear and once on the finger. The only good scorpion is a dead scorpion. Good luck getting rid of them. Check in the house too. They like to hitch rides in things.

[SassyLady]

The poison of scorpions is a nerve poison that feels like an electric shock is going through the area. Not deadly (unless allergic) but hurts like hell. I was stung on the ear and once on the finger. The only good scorpion is a dead scorpion. Good luck getting rid of them. Check in the house too. They like to hitch rides in things.

Yes, we've found them in the house also. It's a whole different way of life here ...... we killed a rattlesnake in the driveway this evening, killed three more scorpions, shooed a wood spider out of my bedroom today and watched a tarantula scurrying under the patio table. In CA I can walk the entire 2 acres of my property in daylight or darkness barefoot ... now I'm afraid to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night!

We have also been watching/listening to another awesome monsoon storm tonight! It's like living in the middle of a huge, gigantic strobe light arena!

[crin63]

Me and the Mrs. rented a room at a B&B in Tombstone. Apparently the scorpions there come up through the shower drains because we found one in the bathroom. Yes, that little sucker died.

[Tyr-Ziu Saxnot]

Me and the Mrs. rented a room at a B&B in Tombstone. Apparently the scorpions there come up through the shower drains because we found one in the bathroom. Yes, that little sucker died.

I kill every spider that I see in or around my property. No scorpions but used to live next to a large pond and had to kill a couple poisonous snakes in my yard back then. I didnt harm them unless they were poisonous.
By the way, nice tagline and avatar.-:beer:--Tyr

[jimnyc]

I have/had some crazy cousins in Florida when I was growing up. We spent anywhere from 1 month to 6 weeks camping down there every year. My cousins were true rednecks and did some crazy shit. Anyway, we were walking across the street to the beach one day, and my cousin walked into the woods, barefoot and bare handed, and started tossing over stones and logs. He finally found what he was looking for, a scorpion, and caught it in a small jar. We were leaving soon and he did this so that my brother and I could bring the little bugger in for show an tell! The scary part was that he was dead serious and thought it normal, and couldn't understand when my Dad tossed the jar about 100 yards back into the woods!

(Was also the same trip where my Uncle caught a huge catfish in the Indian River. He couldn't get it off of the hook, so he gently placed it on the ground and stepped on it lightly to get the hook out. Well, the catfish stinger came up and went right through his sneaker and embedded itself into the bottom of his foot, inches in no less. They couldn't even get the shoe off! They eventually cut everything off, and the crazy cousins kinda ripped it out and then brought him to the hospital! LOL)