Posted: 12/9/2008 4:58:26 PM EDT
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So we have been in our new (to us) house for about a week now and the other day my wife started calling me to come "look at this bug"...
The previous home owner just had the house sprayed last month, so I'm wondering what she could have found. What do I see? A DAMN SCORPIAN (2-3 inches long) walking down the hallway towards my bedroom. I couldn't stomp the life out of that little bastard quick enough. Now I'm friggen paranoid that this house is full of the little bastards. Anything I can do to get rid of/or keep them out of my house? Gene |
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sorry to say it but i had no luck, my wife used to rent a house in the country before we were married, it was infested with them......we would find 2 or 3 every evening. whats really fun is when you roll over onto one in the middle of the night. i did that a couple times about three o clock in the am and let me tell you thats not the way i like to wake up.....we even had a professional pest controll company come out on a regular basis to spray, they would go away for a short time, and then right back. and yes before you ask, they will get into the bed, and your shoes and anything else that seems like a good place to hide.
you can try to put out traps made out of 3 liter bottles in the yard, cut the top off and invert it like a funnel. dig a hole and put the top level with the ground they walk along and fall in. not really an effective means of controll but it is kinda cool to see what you catch. |
Normally where there is one there is another. from my experience they love to get into your A/C vents and crawl around above you in your house. If you've ever been stung then you know it sucks...bad. Kinda like somebody injecting hot oil under your skin, however it passes after about 30 min. keep your yard clean, no dead brush piled up. don't go sticking you hands in dark places either just be conscious of your environment. There is no way to control them on the plus side they do kill and eat fire ants and cock roaches and spiders and other creepy crawlies. Congrats on your new roommates.
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I couldn't stomp the life out of that little bastard quick enough. Gene That scorpion had children.... a family.... neighbors..... friends.... he was loved, and well respected in his community. The other scorpions are gonna be totally pissed now, and they will get revenge..... it is only a matter of time until they get you "out of the way".... I would definitely consider investing in life insurance. Seriously though.... that sounds awful. I have heard they are tough to get rid of. Have you considered ammonia and moth balls? Put them all the way around your house.... you cut off their resupply and reinforcements. Then, begin a massacre of all those caught within the ring. Go after 'em Genghis Khan style. Encircle them, then destroy everything in your path. Have you considered mouse traps? Tune them up to be sensitive.... scorpions 2-3 inches long can set off a delicate trap. Figure out where they like to live, and make those places not suitable for life. If they live in a brush pile.... burn it to the ground, if they try to crawl out finish them with a boot. You must think creatively. This works for skunks, rats, and yellow jackets.... don't know about scorpions.... worth a try. |
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I had this problem at my ranch, my buddy is an exterminator and brought out some BIFEN from Lesco (lesco.com) and sprayed it at 1oz. per gal. Wow I found dead scorpions and roaches and others dead. He comes out and sprays 1 time per year and never again. He said you can buy this for personal use at the above. But I have just paid him as he is an exterminator. I can tell you it works!
Disclaimer - Just giving my experience not making any kind of recommendations as I am not an exterminator. |
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I couldn't stomp the life out of that little bastard quick enough. Anything I can do to get rid of/or keep them out of my house? Whatever you do, don't stomp them in or around your house. When we found one in our house almost 5 years ago, we called an exterminator and he said that was one of two things you never do. Crushing them releases a pheromone that attracts more to that area. And if you do smash one, do not throw it in the garbage (the 2nd thing) - flush it away. He also told us that no poison would kill them because they don't clean themselves. He said the only option was to use glue traps. |
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I couldn't stomp the life out of that little bastard quick enough. Anything I can do to get rid of/or keep them out of my house? Whatever you do, don't stomp them in or around your house. When we found one in our house almost 5 years ago, we called an exterminator and he said that was one of two things you never do. Crushing them releases a pheromone that attracts more to that area. And if you do smash one, do not throw it in the garbage (the 2nd thing) - flush it away. He also told us that no poison would kill them because they don't clean themselves. He said the only option was to use glue traps. EXCELLENT IDEA!!!! 
Thank you. Gene |
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He also told us that no poison would kill them because they don't clean themselves. He said the only option was to use glue traps. Whatever the exterminator uses at one of my folk's houses north of Waco seems to kill them...we find them dead all over the place when we check on it after it's been sprayed (or whatever voodoo they do.) They also put out lots of glue traps and the ones that haven't quite expired yet limp their way onto them. I've never been stung and I still hate them. |
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Look for a product called Demon WP Any respectable feedstore will carry it (I work at one to pay for college). It's fantastic for scorpions, roaches, spiders, whatever.
You will thank me later. It works inside, or outside. Spray the baseboards, cracks, doorframes, a/c vents, where ever they might have a chance to come in. You'll find them dead. |
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Look for a product called Demon WP Any respectable feedstore will carry it (I work at one to pay for college). It's fantastic for scorpions, roaches, spiders, whatever. You will thank me later. It works inside, or outside. Spray the baseboards, cracks, doorframes, a/c vents, where ever they might have a chance to come in. You'll find them dead. We use Demon on roaches.... good stuff. |
When I was a little kid I woke up one morning, threw on my jeans and boots, stood up, and out of my pants came crawling a scorpion onto my stomach. I swatted him away but the fucker got me in the wrist. Hurt like hell, and scared the bejeezus out of me. For months I had to turn my jeans inside out before I would put them on. 
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From what I understand, it's harder to kill them than other pests because they ,like spiders, don't preen. You have to kill their food source which are crickets. get rid of them and you'll see less scorpions. At least thats what my exterminator says. Summer sucks here in the Texas hill country. Scorpions on the floors, brown recluse on the ceilings...
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This stuff claims to work for scorpions:
http://store.doyourownpestcontrol.com/PestControl/Product/Cyper_WP_1_Lb_I07402.html I treat my house with it. It definitely works for other pests. I just apply it myself about every three months. You have to use double the normal concentration for scorpions according to the instructions. |
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From what I understand, it's harder to kill them than other pests because they ,like spiders, don't preen. You have to kill their food source which are crickets. get rid of them and you'll see less scorpions. At least thats what my exterminator says. Summer sucks here in the Texas hill country. Scorpions on the floors, brown recluse on the ceilings... OK, thats a little harsh 
I am out in the hill country, we find the scorpions fairly regularly in the summer. No brown recluses seen yet, but now you give me something else to worry about. (previously I was more concerned with running into rattle snakes or copperheads.) Between the 4 of them, I would take the scorpion, been stung a couple of times and its basically like a wasp sting. We seem to find a lot in the bathtubs. Yeah, the do get into the bed and so we do a security sweep each night before bed. P.S. I just noticed that sitting here, you got me looking at the ceilings, thanks 
TO the OP: what part of Texas do you live? I never see scorpions this time of year. |
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If it makes you feel any better, we've had our house regularly sprayed for scorpions and other critters since we moved in a year ago. It was sprayed one day recently and THAT NIGHT I was up, it was about 2am, and I went in to use the bathroom outside my daughter's room. As I stand there'a'peein, I look down and MUTHAFCUKER, there is a Scorpion right there on the floor next to the toilet.. I captured him and let him suffer in my jar for about a week while we checked him out, oogled him, (probed him and tested mind reading devices on him - j/k) and looked him up on the Internet, and then we finally got rid of him.. CREEPY!!
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| The guy who owns our deer lease has a little ranch house, we always find dead scorpions there. I figured he always had some type of professional pest control spray the place. Lots of black widows too. He has a real outhouse out there. Always double check the seat for black widows. |
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Austin, a place where 50,000 collage girls return each fall. The center cloud of guitar slinger heaven. There are more live music joints in Austin than you can shake a pick at. On one hand you can water-ski in the icy cold Lake Austin, or sail the warm water on Lake Travis. Great water parks, beer gardens, best BBQ and longnecks, rattlesnake chili and beer festival, come to think of it most all activities require liquid because it's hot. Really hot. For six months out of the year. Ya get three months of fair weather wrapped around three months of bitter cold. In the summer your in water, or pouring it into your face.
Always wear shoes, everything on the ground is thorny. Turn on the lights to avoid the scorpions when you go to the bathroom at night. Don't leave shorts on the floor because of the black widows. Never make a cat door (don't ask). Try not to fall asleep in the grass, the fire ants take a few tourists every year. It's Red and Yellow Kill a Fellow for coral snakes, please don't hurt the king snakes as they eat the rattlers. Hornets don't lose their stinger and die when they attack, but they can smell fear a block away. The pretty red centipedes are not to be played with, and if your not the Crok Hunter, leave the tarantulas alone. Baking soda works for mosquito bites, but mosquitos love the smell of baking soda. Bats will not lay eggs in your date's hair, but they will make her mess up your Boxster seats. Oh and lastly, don't let your new fishin' buddies talk you into yelling "Gig 'Em!" in public. You'll find out why. |
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There is virtually no way to kill them completely. Most of the stuff that works for roaches won't phase them. The Demon/Cynoff WP is about as good as it gets. You will need to spray it about once a month during the summer and about every three months during the winter. It won't kill them instantly (seems to take 12-24 hours) but will make them "groggy" until they do die.
When I first built my house just outside of Austin, I was finding 3-5 scorpions a night. After 7 years of exterminating and trying every product available (at least that I can legally get my hands on), I new get 1 or 2 a week during the summer and fall and maybe 1-2 a month during the winter. Best of luck. |
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The guy who owns our deer lease has a little ranch house, we always find dead scorpions there. I figured he always had some type of professional pest control spray the place. Lots of black widows too. He has a real outhouse out there. Always double check the seat for black widows. At the Run-n-Gun in the sun, they have this outhouse. I have never seen so many Black Widows as there were in that thing. After I killed them I had to get a stick to throw the snake out. Then there was the Africanized bees nest a few yards away. Fun times. |
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From what I understand, it's harder to kill them than other pests because they ,like spiders, don't preen. You have to kill their food source which are crickets. get rid of them and you'll see less scorpions. At least thats what my exterminator says. Summer sucks here in the Texas hill country. Scorpions on the floors, brown recluse on the ceilings... Most Pest Control poisons are ingestion so if they dont preen then it wont get them. Got to kill the food supply. I did it for 4 months but learned a ton of stuff. |
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From what I understand, it's harder to kill them than other pests because they ,like spiders, don't preen. You have to kill their food source which are crickets. get rid of them and you'll see less scorpions. At least thats what my exterminator says. Summer sucks here in the Texas hill country. Scorpions on the floors, brown recluse on the ceilings... OK, thats a little harsh 
I am out in the hill country, we find the scorpions fairly regularly in the summer. No brown recluses seen yet, but now you give me something else to worry about. (previously I was more concerned with running into rattle snakes or copperheads.) Between the 4 of them, I would take the scorpion, been stung a couple of times and its basically like a wasp sting. We seem to find a lot in the bathtubs. Yeah, the do get into the bed and so we do a security sweep each night before bed. P.S. I just noticed that sitting here, you got me looking at the ceilings, thanks 
TO the OP: what part of Texas do you live? I never see scorpions this time of year. Just outside of Fort Worth, Newark. |
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Some types of scorps glow in florescent light. It's reallly pretty neat.
The only time I've been stung was by a bark scorp in the Grand Canyon. Amazing pain. A cross between touching an electric fence and Novocain numb. I could feel the poison move up my arm. I had residual effects for over a month. Given the choice between 1 bark scorp sting or sticking my hand in a jar full of yellow jackets, show me the jar. Sorry, no, I don't know any preventive techniques. 112 |
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From what I understand, it's harder to kill them than other pests because they ,like spiders, don't preen. You have to kill their food source which are crickets. get rid of them and you'll see less scorpions. At least thats what my exterminator says. Summer sucks here in the Texas hill country. Scorpions on the floors, brown recluse on the ceilings... OK, thats a little harsh
I am out in the hill country, we find the scorpions fairly regularly in the summer. No brown recluses seen yet, but now you give me something else to worry about. (previously I was more concerned with running into rattle snakes or copperheads.) Between the 4 of them, I would take the scorpion, been stung a couple of times and its basically like a wasp sting. We seem to find a lot in the bathtubs. Yeah, the do get into the bed and so we do a security sweep each night before bed. P.S. I just noticed that sitting here, you got me looking at the ceilings, thanks
TO the OP: what part of Texas do you live? I never see scorpions this time of year. Sorry about creepin' you out looking at ceilings  Whats even more fascinating is when you find a mommy scorpion with about a hundred babies on her back. Kinda creepy 
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The funny thing is, I got behind on my pest control several years ago, and missed about a year of spraying. I enjoy all the little critters like praying mantis & walking sticks, so I decided to stop spraying. Well after about 2 years of not spraying, we still had very few scorps. We also started to get a huge influx of geckos. So now we get about 20-30 geckos in the summer and maybe 2-3 scorps! They are eating plenty I don't kill anything, just relocate. In the past, I would normally relocate about 100 scorps every summer.
This may sound weird, but I can sense when a scorpion is around. I'll get a creepy feeling like one is eyeing me, and I'll look around & viola! Strange. |
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I copied the following from the TAMU (texas A&M) website on pesticides.
Scorpions are difficult to control with insecticides alone. Therefore, the first control strategy is to modify the area surrounding a house. Remove all trash, logs, boards, stones, bricks and other objects from around the home. Keep grass closely mowed near the home. Prune bushes and overhanging tree branches away from the house. Tree branches can provide a path to the roof for scorpions. Store garbage containers in a frame that allows them to rest above ground level. Never bring firewood inside the house unless it is placed directly on the fire. Install weather-stripping around loose fitting doors and windows. Plug weep holes in brick veneer homes with steel wool, pieces of nylon scouring pad or small squares of screen wire. Caulk around roof eaves, pipes and any other cracks into the home. Keep window screens in good repair. Make sure they fit tightly in the window frame. To control scorpions with chemicals, use insecticide products that contain any of the following: permethrin (Prelude®, Dragnet®); cyfluthrin (Tempo®); cypermethrin (Demon®); lambda-cyhalothrin (Demand CS®); deltamethrin (Suspend®); propoxur (Baygon®); diazinon; chlorpyrifos (Dursban®); malathion; synergized pyrethrins. I have a pesticide license and know the chemicals by their names, but I don't know what over the counter pesticides contain them. Home Depot, etc. would be able to tell you. Be sure to do the cleanup too, not just spray. Jim |
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I found out through a pesticide guy: If you want to find them - buy a black light - long type like flourescent (from Spencers in the mall) and use an extension cord. Use it to light up under counters etc... the little bastards glow under the light
Also beware of Black Widows and Brown Recluses in your area.. I used to live in Azle .. just south of you.. they are VERY dangerous |
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I've been stung more times than I can remember. Some A LOT worse than others.
Waking up to a sting is definetely a memorable experience. Your heart races as you frantically try to find him before he can hide. If you don't find him you can definetely forget about getting any more sleep that night. |
| Hey if no one has mentioned so far use a black light. They have a protien in their exoskelton that glows when you get close. They light up like the 4th of July. Go to a store like spencers and buy one with those long bulbs in a stand alone unit, not just a bulb at walmart because those aren't a real black light. It should cost about $20. Then get an electric cord, turn out all the lights and get to hunting. You need a good stick, not a shoe because there will be more than you expected if you do it at like 2 in the morning when they hunt. Also next warm night, whenever that is, go outside and do the same thing around the foundation, trees and don't forget the attic. Repeat as needed and you won't need chemicals. Believe me if its a true black light, you will never have problems with them again. I'm a biology major and it worked at my old house. Happy hunting. |
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Here's a Texas A&M Publication on Scorpions:
Scorpions Just click on "view PDF" |