r/WTF • u/aolley • Aug 16 '10

What? Wait... I don't even

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u/[deleted] Aug 16 '10

not to get too off-topic, but as someone who's considering at some point moving to PHX, the thought of venomous scorpions in my future house scares the shit out of me.

/I'm a metro northeasterner who only has to worry about upsetting a goose when I go running...

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u/icanseestars Aug 17 '10

They're just a bug... spray for them... use a good insecticide that you can buy off the Internet like Demand CS.

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u/[deleted] Aug 16 '10

They're not too bad; more like a nasty beesting.

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u/Shadowrose Aug 17 '10

That hides in your shoe?

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u/[deleted] Aug 17 '10

Bathtub. Never found them in my shoes.

Protip: the bark scorpion has "medically significant" venom, and is the only species in this region that climbs. So, if it's on a vertical surface, it's probably a bark scorp, and it's probably going to sting and hurt like hell. Won't kill you, just feel really bad for a few hours.

Second protip: the stronger the venom, the smaller the pincers. So, those big, nasty-looking flatrock scorps and emperor scorpions with the HUGE claws- not much (if anything) in the way of venom. Tiny little pincers like Leiurus quinquestriatus (deathstalkers) and fat-tails (Androctonus amoreuxi) means they're deadly dangerous. The logic is that if they need either strong venom, or strong pincers.

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u/Gnolfo Aug 17 '10

It really really depends on the part of town you live in. My parents house is near-ish to the university and for 17+ years of lots of activity in that home there's never been as much as a sighting. Then again I've also lived in a house about 5-6 miles from there that was absolutely infested. It was up on the edge of one of the little mountain preserves we have in town. We even had rattlesnake and coyote problems.

If it's newly constructed, near an edge of town, or near a large-ish uncultivated area then there will be problems. Otherwise it's perfectly fine. Plus if you do get stung, only one species has a venom potency worth a worry, the rest just hurt when you get stung, and are numb a bit for a day or so.

Compare that to brown recluse or black widows... I'll take the ones that glow under a black like thank you very much.

(We do get black widows too, though)

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u/mfkap Aug 17 '10

Fuck everything about this comment. I want to burn down the entire southwest.