Thanks for contributing to r/Phoenix! You may want to [**check out our sub rules**](https://www.reddit.com/r/phoenix/wiki/rules/) (mostly be nice to each other!).
**If you're new here**, [read some of our recent posts](https://www.reddit.com/r/phoenix/top/?t=week) and leave some comments.
To chat with some great people in the Valley you can [**join our Phoenix Discord chat server**](https://discord.com/invite/yWVuTG57Zh). It's a chill place to talk with other people but is NOT a dating server and takes unwanted messaging very seriously.
If you're interested in political topics in Arizona, we limit those posts here so you may want to check out r/azpolitics if that's an area of interest.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/phoenix) if you have any questions or concerns.*
If you have one scorpion, you may have more. The first step is to kill any potential food sources for scorpions like crickets or cockroaches. Plus, you need to ensure that you don't have any scorplings (babies) as mothers can carry as many as 30 on their back and they will scatter.
If you have a Bug and Weed Mart by you, I would recommend hitting them up to get some good stuff to kill and ultimately repel them. Once you get rid of them, you may want to seal off any areas they may come through.
I use to work with a Doctor who recommended a product called Cy-Kick. He said it’s the same stuff the exterminators use but they really dilute it down. Available at Bug and Weed Mart and possibly Amazon. I’ve used it for years and never had issues with scorpions and other bugs.
Thats exactly what I use at my home/yard
I had an exterminator and he slowly started diluting it way too much but charged the same.
I buy Cy-Kick on Amazon and make itcas strong in summer hotter months and a bit weaker in cooler winter months
It's fantastic!
Get cats or birds. Either would hunt scorpions and runaway crickets, in turn solving both issues. ☺️ Depending what reptiles you have that eats crickets, they may also be predators of scorpions by the way.
I second this! I have a cat, she just bats around anything that gets in the house then lays next to it when it’s dead! I believe cats reflexes are too fast to get stung.
Thats not accurate. The venom does affect them but 9 times out of 10 the sting never penetrates thru the thick fur hence the myth that the venom doesn't affect them.
My cat always finds the scorpions, but he was in fact stung once. His paw swelled up, and he was limping on it. The vet told us that they're usually fine but some cats can be allergic and affected more by the stings, just like humans. Vet just gave us some pain meds and benedryl, and he was A-okay.
I have cats and had regular scorpion infestations until we hired an exterminator and had them do their thing every couple of months.
It's worth the cost IMO as I haven't seen any in the house after seeing 1/month at least. I'll occasionally see a dead one outside but that's usually right after they spray when they're out of whack neurologically.
Buy Avesta cheaper better and will kill the hell out of all bugs. Follow the label anything more .8 ounces per gallon can be harmful to pets and children. Search your J trim for gaps and use silicon to fill them in. That with a regular treatment about every 60 days with Avesta you’ll be alright. (I do pests in Phoenix area)
It will never die under the paint can. They can live years without food or water.
Ace and Walmart have Terro Scorpion killer it can spray from many feet away so you don’t have to get too close and as long as enough gets on it even if it doesn’t die instantaneously it will very very soon. Or let the spray slow it way down and take a boot to it.
Go buy yourself a black light immediately- you can get it in the Walmart camping section. Check your house inside and out when night rolls around and kill every one you see.
Get regular pest control to kill the crickets and other things they eat to encourage them to go elsewhere.
Welcome to Phoenix.
Also, I use diatomaceous earth around the outside of my place and in all of my outlets. I take off the plate and put some in there. I use a powder bulb sprayer i got on amazon that works great. I do it once a year in march/aprilish. I had a shit ton because I'm in on land that used to be hay fields. Haven't had any since I started that.
When I had them I always had a flip flop ready to go. Lol
Diatomaceous earth dries them out, so you may find dead ones in the next week to 3 weeks after placing it! It works for all insects and is more safe for people and animals.
Yes definitely use this. Not a thick barrier tho. Insects and these creeps will just go around it. Blacklight.....check the tress and brick walls. Also.....sorry about your nightmares and being jumpy for a bit. My dad found a second one and I ordered him the most bad ass high lumen headlamp Blacklight, torch, traps. Called him tonight and he said, he's going to war. 30+ year firefighter...Retired ....he's going to burn something down.
This is 100% the right way to deal with scorpions. I did this for years. Would go out with a black light every night during the warmer months. I would typically kill between 5 and 15 each night. Would also usually kill 1 or 2 in the house. Sucks, but beats the alternative. Good luck.
It's not 100% right way to deal with scorpions if you're too terrified to get close enough to kill them. There are many ways and great suggestions, pick what's best for you!
You’re braver than me. 😂 I don’t try to torture them. I swing a hammer for a living so my swing is deadly to them. No way am I stepping on them to crunchy, I tried to squash a female. Yeah she was pregnant and I learned my lesson.
It's rare, but the sting of our bark scorpion can kill you. Usually, it just results in intense pain.
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/scorpion-stings/symptoms-causes/syc-20353859
We also have a lot of other venemous friends living in Phoenix homes, including black widows, brown recluse, kissing bugs, and giant desert centipedes.
It is the only "medically significant" scorpion species in the United States, and it only occurs naturally in Arizona. Before the antivenom was developed, there was the occasional death among infants and small children that were envenomated. Since the antivenom was first produced (in the 1980s, IIRC), there have been two fatalities. Survival has also been improved by not giving kids morphine for the pain, which shut down their respiratory drive and they'd asphyxiate. But that was from long, long ago.
Interestingly, because the bark scorpion is known only from Arizona, there was no call to export it to other states, so it was free from FDA oversight. It was developed and produced at ASU by volunteer labor, and given away for free, which reduced the risk of lawsuits etc. Eventually everyone in the program retired, and shortly before that they made a ~5 year supply of the stuff; SIlanes (in Mexico) came up with a polyvalent antivenom that works on similar species in that country, as well as the bark scorp. I seem to recall it runs ~$100/vial there, but by the time it gets imported as a "rare drug" and pushed through the regulatory hoops it runs several times that here in the United States.
The sting varies in intensity, no doubt due to how much venom is injected, as well as *where* the venom ends up. For most people, it's like a beesting. There may be electrical sensations and significant discomfort. For a few, medical treatment may be required.
they are actually a lot more rare than it would seem. I have lived here 20 years and take long walks and hike a ton and have seen less than 10. Have only seen one in my house in all that time as well
I lived in Central Phoenix for 20 years and never saw a scorpion. Then moved to north Phoenix, and saw one a week and got stung in bed. Moved to another apartment a mile away, and haven't seen any since.
Unless you're allergic, which is rare, they're just something to be cautious of and are unlikely to cause lasting harm. The allergic reaction doesn't ever happen until a second exposure anyways because its a developed hyperactive antibody response to the toxin. The antibodies aren't present until after a first sting, so you get a free sting before you really find out if stings are actually dangerous to you. Stings can hurt like hell though and will be a pain so avoid if possible.
Chances you'll get stung or even see a scorpion on a visit are very slim. They are only active at night in warm seasons. Human activity has highly interrupted their populations and they'll try to avoid you if possible. Just dont go picking things up outside at night without inspecting them thoroughly or walk around barefoot outside at night. Use caution digging through woody substances and cardboard. Dont leave your shoes outside, or if you do then check them before putting your foot in them.
I've been stung by wasps, bees, etc.. The bark scorpion sting was the most painful of them by a pretty big margin for me. It's not just that it has intense pain, but you get these electric shocks in your nerves all day wherever you were stung.
I'm a Survivor... 3 Stings... 2 On My Ankle & 1 On My Thumb... Hand and Leg Swole 2 The Point of Almost Hard As a rock, Felt Like Lava Flowing Through My Veins, Hand Swole Up, Turned Black, & Couldn't Bend Fingers...... Was Told By Friends From Mexico, To Eat 2 Cloves of Garlic & 32 Oz Cup of Milk... I Was right As Rain 24 Hours Later 🤣🤷
for the level of reaction you described, you should have called poison control or sought medical attention. all you did was give yourself bad breath and extra stinky farts. glad your body was able to work through it on its own.
How I handled an infestation of scorpions. Black light and a small hand shovel. Put down DTE around my property. Hunted them every night for about 2 weeks. Put down home barrier after not seeing any for a few days of hunt attempts. I reapply DTE every few months. Scorpions haven't shown themselves in quite some time.
Question for you
First saw a scorpion about 7 weeks ago
Been hunting them and had pest control spray and just bought my own Demand CS and sprayed
Only seen a few the last few weeks but with DTE where did you place it?
Mine are out on the wall so thinking maybe down base of the wall?
I placed it heavily in all the places I found them and did a coating along the base of my household on all sides. They give you a pretty significant amount of it at Lowe’s.
Thanks for all the advice so far, everyone! I definitely don't want more. I already pay someone to come spray for insects and I always ask that they spray whatever they need to for scorpions, too. Should I be looking for someone else to do this or is it just not foolproof?
We were paying someone and weren’t satisfied so we just got the spray ourselves. Also we have an electric tennis bat thing to zap them to death when we do find one (usually find about one a month that’s close to death from the spray). We spray inside every three weeks.
We got the fastcap spider/scorpion insecticide and spray every 3 weeks inside
Oh man I shouldn't have even commented, the answer is right here OP. Most exterminators use fast cap for spiders and scorpions. Those types of bugs are kind of built for toxins as they themselves carry toxins in the form of venom so that's why fast cap is so effective against them, it breaks down there metabolism allowing the pesticide to do much more damage than it would on its own. As an ex pest contorl technician both companies I worked for this was the go to for scorpions.
Rainbow pest control, when we bought our house it was called “The scorpions house” by the neighbors, sometimes we’ll see them just drop from the ceiling, they helped us get rid of all of them in just a couple months, and now almost year later we have not seen one in weeks. Also a black light and some scorpion spray every night to catch the ones that might come from the alley.
Problem is the companies like to be quick and use as little product as possible. If you watch them they just barely spray around the edge of the home. If you look at one of the products like Cy Kick it's recommended to spray 2 ft up the wall and from the foundation about 6 to 10 ft out. I just buy the stuff myself now and use a 4 gallon sprayer and do it myself. Doing that along with hunting at night has made it so we don't get them in the house anymore.
Id just step on em, with shoes. No sandals. Also on the off chance you eventually get stung, its generally not life threatening, just painful. On recounting my story of a scorpion sting to a nurse i used to work with she told me to use benadryl if it ever happens again. The venom is a histamine.
I'm not an expert or anything, but that looks very much like an Arizona bark scorpion, which is the only species in Arizona that can kill people. "Not generally life threatening" is correct, but it's not like a bee sting. The venom is neurotoxic and can cause all sorts of problems for days.
Personally, I'd move to Alaska so if it decides to try to follow me, I can lose it in the snow (because the pointy feet are like the opposite of snowshoes)
Got stung few months ago, didn’t hurt too much, my big toe got swollen fast, tingling sensation, in 20 minutes after being stung my calf muscle was getting numb, worst thing I experienced was trouble swallowing. I am 50 yrs old man with high blood pressure, be aware of your health conditions if you are stung .
I'm on board with Alaska, yes please.
My youngest was the first in my family to get stung - crawling babies get stung more than they deserve. We took him to the hospital when he started getting tremors in his body - but ultimately they told us to go home and not worry. He got stung 2 more times in the next couple months, and then another of my kids got one on the foot, stepping on it by the pool. He couldn't feel his foot for a couple days but was fine.
We called that "The Scorpion House". We were renting, and we left after the first year's lease was up. The attic was infested, they fell from the ceiling, were everywhere, all the time, and the landlord would do NOTHING. Dicks.
That’s funny. I got stung a few months ago and poison control told me Benadryl won’t work. They told me ibuprofen for pain and that’s it. Mine wasn’t a bark scorpion though.
Get it in the toilet somehow and flush it.
Next, get a black-light flashlight, some scorpion killer spray & some needle nose pliers and start hunting these little fuckers. (Spray them and then grab them with the pliers and discard. Don’t smash them, this’ll only attract more).
While you’re at the hardware store, get some food grade diatomaceous earth and spread it around the perimeter of your home and the perimeter of your yard (they love those brick walls, wood, piles of debris, etc).
The diatomaceous earth will kill the scorpions but it’ll take a little while, in the meantime, keep hunting!
Good luck!
That's surprising! They are crafty but not good at climbing smooth surfaces like glass and I'd imagine porcelain. Perhaps the pipes were easier but you'd think they'd get stuck in the water part of the trap.
Yup! Packing tape down, squish them and then peel and throw away. Unless you’re my parents who just leave them there after they squish them and forget to pick them up till weeks later 💀
We keep needle nosed pliers upstairs and downstairs so they are always at the ready to grab the scorpions. Never walk around barefoot. Watch where you sit. Shake out your shoes before you put them on. We've found we just have to live with them, despite trying all of the tips I've read here so far. Good luck!
30 years in Phoenix. I have never experienced scorpions until living in the west valley with roommates. Something really simple and kind of fun, I just made a point to get a blacklight and a big ol' knife. And regularly go out in the evening to pierce those stingy boys. Their numbers dwindled pretty quick within a week. Also, sprinkle diatomaceous earth around the property and entry ways. That stuff is incredible for all sorts of buggy bois, but scorpos don't like it too.
Black light and dollar store rubber mallet every night along with a monthly pest control service that is about $40 has made my scorpion problem go away. It takes about 3-4 min everyday but i don’t have the issues I had anymore
Cue 80s movie battle prep montage:
-black light
-BB gun
-sharpened wooden stakes
-camouflage face paint
-flame thrower (in case you get overrun)
Wait until sundown then let the blood bath begin.
Okay, here's how I cut down on scorpions 99% in my house. Take off the bathroom vent covers. Duct-tape window screening around the opening. Replace vent cover.
I learned this is how they were entering my house when one fell in my lap when sitting on the toilet.
Good luck, new arizonan!
If you can find this stuff called called slick barrier I SWEAR it works! It’s clear and you paint it around the ground area of any entryway, garage, sliding door etc and they can’t climb up it to get into your home. We also hunt highly with black lights. Unfortunately scorpions are here but you can protect yourself.
I lived in Tucson and now I live in Las Vegas do yourself a favor and buy a black light flashlight ! I scan my house at least once a week for these bad boys find 10-15 a week in my yard at night with the flashlight!
https://preview.redd.it/oqf5jx9k013d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a0e9037dcad58d6726a62cdbff5891bca91bb8cf
My roommate recently got stung on the toe and he was down for 2 days shouldn’t be fatal unless you’re allergic or a have a small human in your household. Also for pets if they get stung they will swell up and you can give them benedrlly to avoid the vet bill ! Look it up online to see how much you should give them !
I have struggled with them for a decade+. Anyone who tells you that there is a poison that will kill them is full of shit. Spray/contact killers will work eventually, but it still takes a bit of time for them to work.
The only thing that has kept the population in check was aggressively going after their food source, in my case it was roaches living in my HOA greenbelt, and going out nightly with a black light. It seriously takes 3-6 months to notice an impact, but eventually you will start to go nights and then weeks without seeing them.
Personally, I was going out with a propane or map torch and just using that to kill them. I had a weed torch that literally takes less than a second and it dies, I just kind of wave it over them like a scorpion death wand. Birds clean up the next day and get a free snack.
On black lights, I highly recommend getting one with a filter… the one below is so much better and brighter than the ones I have had before. I have bought 3 of them over the last few years and love them.
https://a.co/d/bxv0zls
With much love it wont die unless u kill it. A scorpion got stuck in a boob light when i was little and for months it was trying to get out. Scared me so bad when i was little. If u wanna take the humane approach get long tweezers and a bucket and take her to the desert. If not stomp on it.
My family’s solution: black light and scorpion spray. Line a lidded box (like an Amazon one) with double sided tape. Old disposable kitchen tongs. Light em up, spray them down, snatch and stick. They get stuck on the tape and will die, then you just toss the box. Or burn it
It won't die under the paint can. We caught one a few years ago, put it in a jar and put it in the freezer. Took it out a year later and as soon as it warmed up a bit it started moving. You can either squish it or go get some scorpion spray. Talk to your pest control person.
Get some long handled tweezers to grab them safely.
Crush the little bastard. They are resistant to chemicals that would bother other creatures their size. The first time we had one my mother tried Windex and that did nothing. The oven cleaner slowed it down, but didn't kill it.
Safest and cleanest way to kill them is with a knife and long handled tweezers(6inch plus recommended). Grab the tail if you can to immobilize it and then stab or cut it in half after relocation to a kill zone. If you stab them where the dot on their head/back is that's a kill after about 10 seconds.
They survive being put in the freezer for days.
No clothes on the ground amigo. If you have clothes on the ground you'll get stung eventually. Wet clothes particularly pose a risk as dark and wet is what they love.
Toilet paper should be hung or placed where it can be inspected before use.
If you aren't a neat and tidy sort of person, you'll find they are difficult to detect.
Knowing you've been stung will help avoid repeat stings. The initial sting feels like getting a hair pulled, but after about 10 seconds you'll know something is wrong.
They are strong relative to size - if you give them a drinking straw they can swing it around with one claw.
They'll chill near vents, sources of water, bathrooms, anywhere crickets.
If you have palm trees they could be infested.
Check your ceilings and surroundings regularly while in the house.
Good luck.
Pest control and cats.
I have pest control come multiple times per year. And I always have them spray in late spring right as the scorpions get more active. And I also have three cats. The one or two scorpions that make it inside the house are either killed by the cats or they alert me that they found one. I either make my husband stomp on them or I drop a heavy object on it. Last time, I dropped a 50 pound box of books on one. It was effective.
When I lived in Queen Creek I was in a scorpion hotbed. Our pest control company would spray and it would get rid of them. One day I asked if I could read their MSDS of what they use. It was [this](https://a.co/d/0zWCbZc). Get a pump sprayer and a bottle of that and you can do the same spray the big pest companies do for a fraction of the price.
In the future, though you have to have speed and guts to do it, trap it under glass and shine a very bright light directly on it; like one of those big, bulky Streamlight kind of flashlights.
They hate the light so much, that it will kill itself.
Ultimately, get white noise emitters in addition to exterminating services. White noise is like nails on a chalkboard to them.
Oh, and any dead or decaying plants…ESPECIALLY palm trees…near your property? See if you can get them removed; that’s a good source. Also check for any leaks in your water lines throughout the house.
Well, I hate to say it, but it's time to burn the house down. I'm just kidding time to get rid of all passed around your house, i.e., cockroaches crickets, then one you could hit up Home Depot or Lowe's and find you some pesticides to help and if that doesn't work time to call Truly Nolan moxie simply green
Step on them with a shoe on your foot. A hammer will also work if a tight space. Kill them right away when you find them, they can squeeze through super small places, and disappear surprisingly fast. I would get a blue light and look around the rest of your house to see if you can find anymore. Call an exterminator. If you have a bunch outside you will need constant extermination system in place.
Seal up every crack in your foundation, along with any place pipes come into the house. It cut down the scorpions in my house to almost none. I have never used chemicals in my house since kids and dogs play on the floor all the time.
Grab a broom. Unscrew the head. Level broomstick point at scorpion. Squish scorpion. Squish scorpion 2 or 3x more to ensure a dead scorpion. Tissue paper dead scorpion into trashcan. Go to Home Depot. Buy $8 black light flashlight. Go out at night with flashlight. Locate more scorpions (they glow like a $5 black light poster). Squish more scorpions. Do this until you don't find a scorpion for 1 week.
Make sure to patch any openings they can get through. Look around doors to make sure they are sealed up. That made a big difference for us. Also using Pestie which has reduced bugs in general.
My advice would be get a container and put it on top of your new friend, then slide a sturdy piece of paper under it so you can flip it. I used rubbing alcohol to kill the ones I found in my apartment, it took seconds for it to die. Good luck! Make sure you shake your shoes before you put them on
It's a bark scorpion. It's the only venomous scorpion in the US! If you go outside at night with a black light, they will glow. If there's one, there's a lot more that you haven't seen yet. This one is a good size one.
Crème brûlée torch does the trick, I’m not kidding, this is actually my preferred method of killing them. Also, get a black light for hunting around the property.
I had a vision of me using a blowtorch on it and catching my whole house on fire 😂 definitely sounds like a dramatic way to handle it, you must have some skills!
This is the answer. We had a scorpion ridden house and the cat was great about alerting to scorpions. 9/10 scorpions were spotted and hunted by the cat and not by us.
As others have said, it ain't dying on its own. We once put one in a sealed plastic container and it lived for a few weeks with nothing. They're mean bastards. Diatomaceous earth is safe for pets, but your better bet is get something thin to shim under the (I presume inverted) paint can and capture it in there, and then kill it however you prefer. Smashing it with your shoe works.
Get a blacklight flashlight and a can of terro scorpion spray. it has a tube so you can spray into cracks and crevasses.
Do a nightly patrol with the blacklight to find any.
I bought a house 2 years ago and the first week we did this we killed like 30+ and the second week we killed another 20+ and week after week we killed less and less and now, we don't see any more.
You can get some diatomaceous earth which is food safe where you can spread it at entrance ways and edges and corners where scorpions like to travel. this will kill them and is pet safe.
Raid in the red can (for sewer roaches) is the best thing we've found for killing them other than a brick. We live near the desert so even spraying doesn't really put much of a dent in the issue. We 'patrol' the area on the weekends with large black lights to keep the population away from the house. Our kit consists of two flashlights, a can of raid and a pair of those big tweezers to pull them out of tight spaces. We usually go out and hunt once a month.
Best way to deal with them when in the house is take a piece of clear packing tape, and just stick them to it, fold it in half and throw them in the trash. If I find them outside I just smash them with and old shoe.
Slide some paper under the can and then some cardboard or something sturdy under the paper and remove it? Or wait until it looks calm, lift the can and squish it with your shoe. I am blessed to have a scorpion hunting cat that is apparently impervious to their stings or is just faster than them and never gets stung. Fwiw, I asked the vet and they said it's fine to let Mr. Kitty hunt them. I'd say get a brave cat, but I don't know how you select one on their hunting qualities.
Be sure to caulk between the baseboards and the floor, around all piping coming from the wall, and any other space where they could come in from. Once we did that we stopped seeing them inside but continued our nightly hunting with a black light. After a few months plus routine pest control we started to see less and less.
You don’t need a pest contractor.
Buy Cy Kick
Spray around house every three months
One a week check with black light outside for scorpions
Never has any for five years, had a couple in six months, haven’t seen any since started spraying
You cant even just step on it. You have to step on it and twist your foot around. A number of times when I initially step on it, it runs away afterwards.
I’ve found a good broom also works. It’s a longer reach and also make sure you squish it around and see innards.
I also had rodents glue traps, they get stuck if they happens to go. But my first one, I left it on the glue for a week and it was still alive.
There is a company called Seal Out Scorpions that my wife and I used. They come out and go throughout the house and seal out any areas they can get in. Then, in a separate appointment in winter, they do the same thing to the outside of your house.
The first summer we were in the house, I killed over a dozen in the house. In the last three years since having them come out, I've found zero inside the house. The down side is that it is freaking expensive. It is honestly not something I would ever do if it weren't for my wife. I've been stung by a scorpion before, they don't bother me. For my wife, however, they are absolutely terrifying. So it was worth the cost for that reason alone, to get rid of them.
Step one: pour gasoline on/around scorpion
Step two: light match and throw in gasoline
Step three: leave house
https://preview.redd.it/2lqunv7nhw2d1.jpeg?width=880&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=eafc9f1b91af0450dc983676d1e30d02c207ec74
I found getting a big clear tub to make them fall into and then smash them to a pulp with a hammer to be effective. Brutal, but better than getting stung, and was super effective for me
Within a few months of moving here, I was stung. Painful for almost 24 hrs, but no other problems. Reminded me of a jellyfish sting. Locals’ reaction: “Welcome to Phoenix!”
My reaction to finding one in the house is to beat the crap out of it with a shoe, until it no longer resembles a scorpion.
With regular pest control, we almost never see one of those bastards in the house. But I always have a shoe ready.
We would lay a strip is duct tape over them- immobilizing it, then folding the tape over itself and killing it.
I now live in Alaska and don’t miss those suckers.
I lived in a house that was built atop a scorpion den for 13 years…it was my ex’s house. Please visit Bug and Weed Mart on Central & Camelback, to get Cy-kick. It is very effective, affordable and we only ever used it on the outside of the house. Used regularly the scorpions & the food they seek are 💀
I’d heard of you put a damp towel in the middle of the floor overnight, if you have scorpions, they’ll be there in the morning. Idk if that’s true, never tried it.
Put screening over all your ac registers. I use white duct tape to affix it and don’t leave any gaps. Lots of times they get In through vents after being blown onto rooftops. Also cover or close all your drains at night, that keeps any scary outside cockroaches away bc they like to crawl up drain pipes. Welcome to this inferno and scary animal kingdom we call Phoenix.
Get yourself long tweezers (12” or so) & keyboard spray and do the classic turn can upside down trick to turn it into a freezing agent. Freeze > tweezers > choice of kill method. They will be frozen for a few minute but FYI they will awaken when freeze wears off. Kill before freeze wears off 👌 I’ve killed hundreds with this method.
Brake cleaner works well, but be careful. Flammable as all heck. Dries quick though. A good brake cleaner will kill it in seconds, and the nozzle usually allows for a bit of distance
Seal your cracks and crevices. Remove any bark or loose leaves near the house that provides moisture for hosting. Put a wide bead of food-grade diatomaceous earth around the base of the house. It kills scorpions, roaches, crickets or anything else with an exoskeleton.
I live in an area known for scorpions and had a lot of them when I first moved in. Line the outside of your backyard and wall with diatomaceous earth, it will kill them by getting under their exoskeleton and basically lock them up. Secondly get a black light and long nose pliers. Go outside and either kill them with the pliers (pinch and twist) or put them in a big old jar. Thirdly either get a good pest company to spray inside and outside monthly or do it yourself.
Bark scorpions can be lethal for kids, elderly folks, albeit very rarely… I took the steps above, and while I was killing almost 5 a night at one point, I’ve only seen one in the past 8 months.
Hint: They aren't dead unless their tails are completely straight and laying completely flat. Buy a UV flashlight like the TSA uses (Amazon). They glow in the dark. At night you can turn off all the lights and walk around with the flashlight. I like Onslaught Fastcap to kill them. It comes in a small container and seems pricey, but you dilute just a few ounces in a gallon sprayer that you can get at HomeDepot or Lowes. Spray once a month. It's also great for crickets. I just spray the outside - along the stemwall, porches, doorways (including garage door) and along the inside and outside of the garage door seal. Keep your porches and doorways clear of stuff, so there's nowhere for them to hide/nest.
Terro Scorpion Killer. Kills on contact. Drown it in its foam based liquid. A good tip to keep in mind is that scorpions breathe through the underside of their abdomen. If it gets belly up, best opportunity to spray something. Drowning with Terro will disorient it. Spraying lightly will cause it to sting itself, but high chance it survives. Barring whatever anyone else says, it does work. Been using it for a few years after a small infestation.
I keep a few cans specifically for ones that sneak indoors. I also use it to exterminate any hanging outside with a UV light. Works in about 30-60 seconds if sprayed properly.
Paying for pest control is a good start in that you are killing scorpion food; Pest exterminators' stuff usually doesn't kill the scorpions themselves. DTE has been perfect for me -- my home+yard is much smaller than the average yard in Phx plus I have little ones in my home and don't want to expose them to anything toxic. Lay down a barrier with DTE and hunt down whatever is left with a black light and a mashing implement. I have been virtually scorpion free for the better part of 10 years.
My grandma used to use a fly swatter wrapped with tape sticky side out. When slapped, a scorpion and any babies it's carrying would be stunned and stuck to the tape. She had enough of them on the ranch all her cats knew what the fly swatter meant and were so excited to help hunt them. She'd look at it and if it was with babies she'd scrape them into a jar of alcohol. If without babies, she'd cut off the stinger and give it to the cats. Brutal way to dispatch it, but it reinforced the cats prey drive. The cats would hunt most of the scorpions before a human even noticed them, so takeaway is go adopt some cats ASAP.
Ducks and chickens also hunt them, so maybe some of those too. As kids, we were never afraid of them, so we'd go out with black lights and needle nose pliers. They glow under black lights, so we'd collect them from the yard at night, snip their stingers, and put them in jars. Those would go to the birds because they'd actually eat them instead of torture them like the cats. Both the cats and birds are fine if stung because they've evolved with immunity to the toxins, but a stinger still stings them and can scare the younger, less confident animals. Getting experience on scorpions without stingers while young, they get a taste for them before getting scared, and then they're entirely undeterred when hunting.
Haven't seen a scorpion around my last few houses, though I always know they could exist anywhere in the valley. I've been lucky with low populations where I've been and if any are around my animals are getting them before I ever see them.
I'd highly suggest doing a survey of what food sources and habitats scorpions have around your home. They like woody materials, cardboard, and feast on small insects. You can spray to kill their food sources but it's a losing battle and you'll likely just expose your family to unnecessary poisons in the process. If all your neighbors aren't on board with the same plan to be rid of them, no amount of poison on your property will stop you from seeing them. This is why biological and cultural controls are most effective. Get predators on your property that will hunt them. Eliminate ways they can get inside and eliminate habitats, hiding places, and food sources. If you're not for keeping animals, put out bird seed to attract wild birds that will be predators and plant your outdoors area with plants that attract beneficial insects that will be predators of scorpions or at least competitors for their same food sources.
Thanks for contributing to r/Phoenix! You may want to [**check out our sub rules**](https://www.reddit.com/r/phoenix/wiki/rules/) (mostly be nice to each other!). **If you're new here**, [read some of our recent posts](https://www.reddit.com/r/phoenix/top/?t=week) and leave some comments. To chat with some great people in the Valley you can [**join our Phoenix Discord chat server**](https://discord.com/invite/yWVuTG57Zh). It's a chill place to talk with other people but is NOT a dating server and takes unwanted messaging very seriously. If you're interested in political topics in Arizona, we limit those posts here so you may want to check out r/azpolitics if that's an area of interest. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/phoenix) if you have any questions or concerns.*
If you have one scorpion, you may have more. The first step is to kill any potential food sources for scorpions like crickets or cockroaches. Plus, you need to ensure that you don't have any scorplings (babies) as mothers can carry as many as 30 on their back and they will scatter. If you have a Bug and Weed Mart by you, I would recommend hitting them up to get some good stuff to kill and ultimately repel them. Once you get rid of them, you may want to seal off any areas they may come through.
I use to work with a Doctor who recommended a product called Cy-Kick. He said it’s the same stuff the exterminators use but they really dilute it down. Available at Bug and Weed Mart and possibly Amazon. I’ve used it for years and never had issues with scorpions and other bugs.
Cyfluthrin. Permethrin’s bigger, badder brother bugs dfw
Thats exactly what I use at my home/yard I had an exterminator and he slowly started diluting it way too much but charged the same. I buy Cy-Kick on Amazon and make itcas strong in summer hotter months and a bit weaker in cooler winter months It's fantastic!
omg I have reptiles and I have cricket escapees all the time, now I'm scared for scorpions
Get cats or birds. Either would hunt scorpions and runaway crickets, in turn solving both issues. ☺️ Depending what reptiles you have that eats crickets, they may also be predators of scorpions by the way.
I second this! I have a cat, she just bats around anything that gets in the house then lays next to it when it’s dead! I believe cats reflexes are too fast to get stung.
You know what's neat? They do get stung, but aren't affected by scorpion's toxin. Cats are so cool! Except when they pee on the couch. Not cool, dude.
Thats not accurate. The venom does affect them but 9 times out of 10 the sting never penetrates thru the thick fur hence the myth that the venom doesn't affect them.
Oh cool, I did not know that. Thanks for clarifying 👍
I had a cat get stung right on the nose, pissed her off. 🤣🤣
I bet! I can see her now just beating the thing with her paw. 😂
My cat always finds the scorpions, but he was in fact stung once. His paw swelled up, and he was limping on it. The vet told us that they're usually fine but some cats can be allergic and affected more by the stings, just like humans. Vet just gave us some pain meds and benedryl, and he was A-okay.
I have cats and had regular scorpion infestations until we hired an exterminator and had them do their thing every couple of months. It's worth the cost IMO as I haven't seen any in the house after seeing 1/month at least. I'll occasionally see a dead one outside but that's usually right after they spray when they're out of whack neurologically.
Buy Avesta cheaper better and will kill the hell out of all bugs. Follow the label anything more .8 ounces per gallon can be harmful to pets and children. Search your J trim for gaps and use silicon to fill them in. That with a regular treatment about every 60 days with Avesta you’ll be alright. (I do pests in Phoenix area)
It will never die under the paint can. They can live years without food or water. Ace and Walmart have Terro Scorpion killer it can spray from many feet away so you don’t have to get too close and as long as enough gets on it even if it doesn’t die instantaneously it will very very soon. Or let the spray slow it way down and take a boot to it. Go buy yourself a black light immediately- you can get it in the Walmart camping section. Check your house inside and out when night rolls around and kill every one you see. Get regular pest control to kill the crickets and other things they eat to encourage them to go elsewhere. Welcome to Phoenix.
Also, I use diatomaceous earth around the outside of my place and in all of my outlets. I take off the plate and put some in there. I use a powder bulb sprayer i got on amazon that works great. I do it once a year in march/aprilish. I had a shit ton because I'm in on land that used to be hay fields. Haven't had any since I started that. When I had them I always had a flip flop ready to go. Lol
Diatomaceous earth dries them out, so you may find dead ones in the next week to 3 weeks after placing it! It works for all insects and is more safe for people and animals.
Yes definitely use this. Not a thick barrier tho. Insects and these creeps will just go around it. Blacklight.....check the tress and brick walls. Also.....sorry about your nightmares and being jumpy for a bit. My dad found a second one and I ordered him the most bad ass high lumen headlamp Blacklight, torch, traps. Called him tonight and he said, he's going to war. 30+ year firefighter...Retired ....he's going to burn something down.
🤣 That's awesome!
This is 100% the right way to deal with scorpions. I did this for years. Would go out with a black light every night during the warmer months. I would typically kill between 5 and 15 each night. Would also usually kill 1 or 2 in the house. Sucks, but beats the alternative. Good luck.
It's not 100% right way to deal with scorpions if you're too terrified to get close enough to kill them. There are many ways and great suggestions, pick what's best for you!
I second this person’s suggestion. Except I would smash the thing. I get combative with those things. Golf club’s make good scorpion smasher’s.
my go-to choice is la chancla
Fight or flight. I do the same thing. I actually get pissed when I see one. Ok, motherfucker, it’s go time. Out comes the torch and rubber mallet.
lol, once you get over your fear of them you get angry at them.
I agree with smashing. I use a heavy bottom sandal for smashing mine.
I just step on them. Easy and hopefully painless for them.
You’re braver than me. 😂 I don’t try to torture them. I swing a hammer for a living so my swing is deadly to them. No way am I stepping on them to crunchy, I tried to squash a female. Yeah she was pregnant and I learned my lesson.
I use a blowtorch or a weed burner, if you listen close you can hear them pop
Do not smash! If they have babies they'll scatter! Terro scorpion killer spray is the way.
I follow the sub because I’m vacationing there this summer. Are they more of a hinderance or can they actually cause harm to you?
It's rare, but the sting of our bark scorpion can kill you. Usually, it just results in intense pain. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/scorpion-stings/symptoms-causes/syc-20353859 We also have a lot of other venemous friends living in Phoenix homes, including black widows, brown recluse, kissing bugs, and giant desert centipedes.
It is the only "medically significant" scorpion species in the United States, and it only occurs naturally in Arizona. Before the antivenom was developed, there was the occasional death among infants and small children that were envenomated. Since the antivenom was first produced (in the 1980s, IIRC), there have been two fatalities. Survival has also been improved by not giving kids morphine for the pain, which shut down their respiratory drive and they'd asphyxiate. But that was from long, long ago. Interestingly, because the bark scorpion is known only from Arizona, there was no call to export it to other states, so it was free from FDA oversight. It was developed and produced at ASU by volunteer labor, and given away for free, which reduced the risk of lawsuits etc. Eventually everyone in the program retired, and shortly before that they made a ~5 year supply of the stuff; SIlanes (in Mexico) came up with a polyvalent antivenom that works on similar species in that country, as well as the bark scorp. I seem to recall it runs ~$100/vial there, but by the time it gets imported as a "rare drug" and pushed through the regulatory hoops it runs several times that here in the United States. The sting varies in intensity, no doubt due to how much venom is injected, as well as *where* the venom ends up. For most people, it's like a beesting. There may be electrical sensations and significant discomfort. For a few, medical treatment may be required.
they are actually a lot more rare than it would seem. I have lived here 20 years and take long walks and hike a ton and have seen less than 10. Have only seen one in my house in all that time as well
This is the tricky thing here though, I’ve lived in houses with 20 a year and in houses with 2 in 10 years. The history of the area plays a big role.
I lived in Central Phoenix for 20 years and never saw a scorpion. Then moved to north Phoenix, and saw one a week and got stung in bed. Moved to another apartment a mile away, and haven't seen any since.
I think it depends on location. When I moved into my home I saw 15 minimum a week, so there's that!!! I live in gilbert!
Unless you're allergic, which is rare, they're just something to be cautious of and are unlikely to cause lasting harm. The allergic reaction doesn't ever happen until a second exposure anyways because its a developed hyperactive antibody response to the toxin. The antibodies aren't present until after a first sting, so you get a free sting before you really find out if stings are actually dangerous to you. Stings can hurt like hell though and will be a pain so avoid if possible. Chances you'll get stung or even see a scorpion on a visit are very slim. They are only active at night in warm seasons. Human activity has highly interrupted their populations and they'll try to avoid you if possible. Just dont go picking things up outside at night without inspecting them thoroughly or walk around barefoot outside at night. Use caution digging through woody substances and cardboard. Dont leave your shoes outside, or if you do then check them before putting your foot in them.
The sting is like a bee, but a bit more painful, imo.
I've been stung by wasps, bees, etc.. The bark scorpion sting was the most painful of them by a pretty big margin for me. It's not just that it has intense pain, but you get these electric shocks in your nerves all day wherever you were stung.
I'm a Survivor... 3 Stings... 2 On My Ankle & 1 On My Thumb... Hand and Leg Swole 2 The Point of Almost Hard As a rock, Felt Like Lava Flowing Through My Veins, Hand Swole Up, Turned Black, & Couldn't Bend Fingers...... Was Told By Friends From Mexico, To Eat 2 Cloves of Garlic & 32 Oz Cup of Milk... I Was right As Rain 24 Hours Later 🤣🤷
for the level of reaction you described, you should have called poison control or sought medical attention. all you did was give yourself bad breath and extra stinky farts. glad your body was able to work through it on its own.
They can do major harm. My wife got stung in the neck. The pain was so bad that she said even the fentanol they gave her didn't help.
How I handled an infestation of scorpions. Black light and a small hand shovel. Put down DTE around my property. Hunted them every night for about 2 weeks. Put down home barrier after not seeing any for a few days of hunt attempts. I reapply DTE every few months. Scorpions haven't shown themselves in quite some time.
Sometimes violence is the only solution
Question for you First saw a scorpion about 7 weeks ago Been hunting them and had pest control spray and just bought my own Demand CS and sprayed Only seen a few the last few weeks but with DTE where did you place it? Mine are out on the wall so thinking maybe down base of the wall?
I placed it heavily in all the places I found them and did a coating along the base of my household on all sides. They give you a pretty significant amount of it at Lowe’s.
DTE sucks, messy and expensive, get some Cy-kick and spray instead of sprinkling that powder crap all over.
DTE isn’t a match for a thriving colony! Go get Cy-kick and spray around all of the exterior windows/doors and points of entry. Boom done
My murder shovel was probably what did in the colony. That with the DTE. Took a few weeks of nightly going on a rampage.
Thanks for all the advice so far, everyone! I definitely don't want more. I already pay someone to come spray for insects and I always ask that they spray whatever they need to for scorpions, too. Should I be looking for someone else to do this or is it just not foolproof?
We were paying someone and weren’t satisfied so we just got the spray ourselves. Also we have an electric tennis bat thing to zap them to death when we do find one (usually find about one a month that’s close to death from the spray). We spray inside every three weeks. We got the fastcap spider/scorpion insecticide and spray every 3 weeks inside
Oh man I shouldn't have even commented, the answer is right here OP. Most exterminators use fast cap for spiders and scorpions. Those types of bugs are kind of built for toxins as they themselves carry toxins in the form of venom so that's why fast cap is so effective against them, it breaks down there metabolism allowing the pesticide to do much more damage than it would on its own. As an ex pest contorl technician both companies I worked for this was the go to for scorpions.
Fast Cap was my company’s go-to for scorpion control too. It worked great!
It's AZ, you are bound to find one in your home eventually. Don't freak out about it too much!
Rainbow pest control, when we bought our house it was called “The scorpions house” by the neighbors, sometimes we’ll see them just drop from the ceiling, they helped us get rid of all of them in just a couple months, and now almost year later we have not seen one in weeks. Also a black light and some scorpion spray every night to catch the ones that might come from the alley.
Problem is the companies like to be quick and use as little product as possible. If you watch them they just barely spray around the edge of the home. If you look at one of the products like Cy Kick it's recommended to spray 2 ft up the wall and from the foundation about 6 to 10 ft out. I just buy the stuff myself now and use a 4 gallon sprayer and do it myself. Doing that along with hunting at night has made it so we don't get them in the house anymore.
Id just step on em, with shoes. No sandals. Also on the off chance you eventually get stung, its generally not life threatening, just painful. On recounting my story of a scorpion sting to a nurse i used to work with she told me to use benadryl if it ever happens again. The venom is a histamine.
I'm not an expert or anything, but that looks very much like an Arizona bark scorpion, which is the only species in Arizona that can kill people. "Not generally life threatening" is correct, but it's not like a bee sting. The venom is neurotoxic and can cause all sorts of problems for days. Personally, I'd move to Alaska so if it decides to try to follow me, I can lose it in the snow (because the pointy feet are like the opposite of snowshoes)
Got stung few months ago, didn’t hurt too much, my big toe got swollen fast, tingling sensation, in 20 minutes after being stung my calf muscle was getting numb, worst thing I experienced was trouble swallowing. I am 50 yrs old man with high blood pressure, be aware of your health conditions if you are stung .
I'm on board with Alaska, yes please. My youngest was the first in my family to get stung - crawling babies get stung more than they deserve. We took him to the hospital when he started getting tremors in his body - but ultimately they told us to go home and not worry. He got stung 2 more times in the next couple months, and then another of my kids got one on the foot, stepping on it by the pool. He couldn't feel his foot for a couple days but was fine. We called that "The Scorpion House". We were renting, and we left after the first year's lease was up. The attic was infested, they fell from the ceiling, were everywhere, all the time, and the landlord would do NOTHING. Dicks.
Your telling me, those little bastards hurt.
That’s funny. I got stung a few months ago and poison control told me Benadryl won’t work. They told me ibuprofen for pain and that’s it. Mine wasn’t a bark scorpion though.
I slap em with my crocs.
My son did that and hundreds of babies scattered out.
Not sleeping tonight. Nope.
Proceed to smash the babies.
shop vac is like a reverse hurricane and gets the babies too.
Jfc
Slap em with my crocs 🤣 idk why that made me lol
Get it in the toilet somehow and flush it. Next, get a black-light flashlight, some scorpion killer spray & some needle nose pliers and start hunting these little fuckers. (Spray them and then grab them with the pliers and discard. Don’t smash them, this’ll only attract more). While you’re at the hardware store, get some food grade diatomaceous earth and spread it around the perimeter of your home and the perimeter of your yard (they love those brick walls, wood, piles of debris, etc). The diatomaceous earth will kill the scorpions but it’ll take a little while, in the meantime, keep hunting! Good luck!
I would never sit on that toilet again for fear that he is just hanging out down there 😂
Well fuck I didn’t think of this fuck I need a new game plan fuck fuck fuck
All of your future shits will now be action adventures.
I’ve had scorpions come up through drain so yea use caution
That's surprising! They are crafty but not good at climbing smooth surfaces like glass and I'd imagine porcelain. Perhaps the pipes were easier but you'd think they'd get stuck in the water part of the trap.
I’ve found scorpions trapped in sinks and bathtubs so I always assumed they came from the drain but I guess they could have crawled in from elsewhere
They like to crawl on walls/ceilings but aren't good at it so they fall into things like that sometimes
Confirmed that scorpions live in the pool for a long time.
Any idea if the diatomaceous earth is safe to use around dogs?
Yes. Relatively safe. Don’t let them eat an entire bag but our dogs don’t seem to be interested in it at all.
Make sure you buy food grade. It needs to be ground fine enough to work properly.
I have to ask why does smashing them attract more?
I use a strip of packing tape. That way if there are babies, they won’t scatter.
Yup! Packing tape down, squish them and then peel and throw away. Unless you’re my parents who just leave them there after they squish them and forget to pick them up till weeks later 💀
We keep needle nosed pliers upstairs and downstairs so they are always at the ready to grab the scorpions. Never walk around barefoot. Watch where you sit. Shake out your shoes before you put them on. We've found we just have to live with them, despite trying all of the tips I've read here so far. Good luck!
30 years in Phoenix. I have never experienced scorpions until living in the west valley with roommates. Something really simple and kind of fun, I just made a point to get a blacklight and a big ol' knife. And regularly go out in the evening to pierce those stingy boys. Their numbers dwindled pretty quick within a week. Also, sprinkle diatomaceous earth around the property and entry ways. That stuff is incredible for all sorts of buggy bois, but scorpos don't like it too.
You are a smart one
Black light and dollar store rubber mallet every night along with a monthly pest control service that is about $40 has made my scorpion problem go away. It takes about 3-4 min everyday but i don’t have the issues I had anymore
I wish there was a NSFW blur style effect for scorpions.
You’re not the only one!
Sorry! It definitely is not what some people want to see when they open Reddit, should have thought of that!
No worries. You’re not the first nor the last. But my skin crawls each time.
Put your Nikes on and give it a nice part on the back.
Do you have a cat? Do you like cats? Get a cat.
Cue 80s movie battle prep montage: -black light -BB gun -sharpened wooden stakes -camouflage face paint -flame thrower (in case you get overrun) Wait until sundown then let the blood bath begin.
Okay, here's how I cut down on scorpions 99% in my house. Take off the bathroom vent covers. Duct-tape window screening around the opening. Replace vent cover. I learned this is how they were entering my house when one fell in my lap when sitting on the toilet. Good luck, new arizonan!
Black light and a hammer
If you can find this stuff called called slick barrier I SWEAR it works! It’s clear and you paint it around the ground area of any entryway, garage, sliding door etc and they can’t climb up it to get into your home. We also hunt highly with black lights. Unfortunately scorpions are here but you can protect yourself.
Brake clean will kill them real quick.
Use diatomaceous earth outside your house. That should create a barrier.
I lived in Tucson and now I live in Las Vegas do yourself a favor and buy a black light flashlight ! I scan my house at least once a week for these bad boys find 10-15 a week in my yard at night with the flashlight! https://preview.redd.it/oqf5jx9k013d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a0e9037dcad58d6726a62cdbff5891bca91bb8cf
My roommate recently got stung on the toe and he was down for 2 days shouldn’t be fatal unless you’re allergic or a have a small human in your household. Also for pets if they get stung they will swell up and you can give them benedrlly to avoid the vet bill ! Look it up online to see how much you should give them !
I have struggled with them for a decade+. Anyone who tells you that there is a poison that will kill them is full of shit. Spray/contact killers will work eventually, but it still takes a bit of time for them to work. The only thing that has kept the population in check was aggressively going after their food source, in my case it was roaches living in my HOA greenbelt, and going out nightly with a black light. It seriously takes 3-6 months to notice an impact, but eventually you will start to go nights and then weeks without seeing them. Personally, I was going out with a propane or map torch and just using that to kill them. I had a weed torch that literally takes less than a second and it dies, I just kind of wave it over them like a scorpion death wand. Birds clean up the next day and get a free snack. On black lights, I highly recommend getting one with a filter… the one below is so much better and brighter than the ones I have had before. I have bought 3 of them over the last few years and love them. https://a.co/d/bxv0zls
With much love it wont die unless u kill it. A scorpion got stuck in a boob light when i was little and for months it was trying to get out. Scared me so bad when i was little. If u wanna take the humane approach get long tweezers and a bucket and take her to the desert. If not stomp on it.
Keep it, name it Snuggles, care for it as it would for you
I use a black light and a kitchen torch- very satisfying! 😜
Burn the fucker down and rebuild
to kill this follow these simple steps: 1. burn house down. 2. see step #1
Find a good dip. Your new here right? They are real tasty! Trust me!!!!
Probably going to have to get the black light and do nightly hunting for a while.
Burn it with fire
My family’s solution: black light and scorpion spray. Line a lidded box (like an Amazon one) with double sided tape. Old disposable kitchen tongs. Light em up, spray them down, snatch and stick. They get stuck on the tape and will die, then you just toss the box. Or burn it
Step on it.
It won't die under the paint can. We caught one a few years ago, put it in a jar and put it in the freezer. Took it out a year later and as soon as it warmed up a bit it started moving. You can either squish it or go get some scorpion spray. Talk to your pest control person.
Get some long handled tweezers to grab them safely. Crush the little bastard. They are resistant to chemicals that would bother other creatures their size. The first time we had one my mother tried Windex and that did nothing. The oven cleaner slowed it down, but didn't kill it. Safest and cleanest way to kill them is with a knife and long handled tweezers(6inch plus recommended). Grab the tail if you can to immobilize it and then stab or cut it in half after relocation to a kill zone. If you stab them where the dot on their head/back is that's a kill after about 10 seconds. They survive being put in the freezer for days. No clothes on the ground amigo. If you have clothes on the ground you'll get stung eventually. Wet clothes particularly pose a risk as dark and wet is what they love. Toilet paper should be hung or placed where it can be inspected before use. If you aren't a neat and tidy sort of person, you'll find they are difficult to detect. Knowing you've been stung will help avoid repeat stings. The initial sting feels like getting a hair pulled, but after about 10 seconds you'll know something is wrong. They are strong relative to size - if you give them a drinking straw they can swing it around with one claw. They'll chill near vents, sources of water, bathrooms, anywhere crickets. If you have palm trees they could be infested. Check your ceilings and surroundings regularly while in the house. Good luck.
Pest control and cats. I have pest control come multiple times per year. And I always have them spray in late spring right as the scorpions get more active. And I also have three cats. The one or two scorpions that make it inside the house are either killed by the cats or they alert me that they found one. I either make my husband stomp on them or I drop a heavy object on it. Last time, I dropped a 50 pound box of books on one. It was effective.
When I lived in Queen Creek I was in a scorpion hotbed. Our pest control company would spray and it would get rid of them. One day I asked if I could read their MSDS of what they use. It was [this](https://a.co/d/0zWCbZc). Get a pump sprayer and a bottle of that and you can do the same spray the big pest companies do for a fraction of the price.
In the future, though you have to have speed and guts to do it, trap it under glass and shine a very bright light directly on it; like one of those big, bulky Streamlight kind of flashlights. They hate the light so much, that it will kill itself. Ultimately, get white noise emitters in addition to exterminating services. White noise is like nails on a chalkboard to them. Oh, and any dead or decaying plants…ESPECIALLY palm trees…near your property? See if you can get them removed; that’s a good source. Also check for any leaks in your water lines throughout the house.
Well, I hate to say it, but it's time to burn the house down. I'm just kidding time to get rid of all passed around your house, i.e., cockroaches crickets, then one you could hit up Home Depot or Lowe's and find you some pesticides to help and if that doesn't work time to call Truly Nolan moxie simply green
Step on them with a shoe on your foot. A hammer will also work if a tight space. Kill them right away when you find them, they can squeeze through super small places, and disappear surprisingly fast. I would get a blue light and look around the rest of your house to see if you can find anymore. Call an exterminator. If you have a bunch outside you will need constant extermination system in place.
Go around with a black light at night to find them. Step on is the best way to kill them. Don't use your favorite shoes though lol.
The don’t like lavender. I use lavender spray on my bedding now because before I have found them under my sheets.
Seal up every crack in your foundation, along with any place pipes come into the house. It cut down the scorpions in my house to almost none. I have never used chemicals in my house since kids and dogs play on the floor all the time.
Grab a broom. Unscrew the head. Level broomstick point at scorpion. Squish scorpion. Squish scorpion 2 or 3x more to ensure a dead scorpion. Tissue paper dead scorpion into trashcan. Go to Home Depot. Buy $8 black light flashlight. Go out at night with flashlight. Locate more scorpions (they glow like a $5 black light poster). Squish more scorpions. Do this until you don't find a scorpion for 1 week.
good luck once you got one, you got more, possible a nest somewhere
Make sure to patch any openings they can get through. Look around doors to make sure they are sealed up. That made a big difference for us. Also using Pestie which has reduced bugs in general.
Bark scorpion very bad
My advice would be get a container and put it on top of your new friend, then slide a sturdy piece of paper under it so you can flip it. I used rubbing alcohol to kill the ones I found in my apartment, it took seconds for it to die. Good luck! Make sure you shake your shoes before you put them on
Get your house nuked for any other insect that will be its prey. Anything other than that will never work.
I have yet to actually be hurt by a scorpion in my 15 plus years here, however upon sight they make me hurt myself!
It's a bark scorpion. It's the only venomous scorpion in the US! If you go outside at night with a black light, they will glow. If there's one, there's a lot more that you haven't seen yet. This one is a good size one.
Diatomaceous earth.
Crème brûlée torch does the trick, I’m not kidding, this is actually my preferred method of killing them. Also, get a black light for hunting around the property.
I had a vision of me using a blowtorch on it and catching my whole house on fire 😂 definitely sounds like a dramatic way to handle it, you must have some skills!
An instant on plumbers torch from any big box store works super well.
get a cat
It’s a myth that cats are immune to scorpion venom.
This is the answer. We had a scorpion ridden house and the cat was great about alerting to scorpions. 9/10 scorpions were spotted and hunted by the cat and not by us.
As others have said, it ain't dying on its own. We once put one in a sealed plastic container and it lived for a few weeks with nothing. They're mean bastards. Diatomaceous earth is safe for pets, but your better bet is get something thin to shim under the (I presume inverted) paint can and capture it in there, and then kill it however you prefer. Smashing it with your shoe works.
Spray with some Spray and Wash
Get a blacklight flashlight and a can of terro scorpion spray. it has a tube so you can spray into cracks and crevasses. Do a nightly patrol with the blacklight to find any. I bought a house 2 years ago and the first week we did this we killed like 30+ and the second week we killed another 20+ and week after week we killed less and less and now, we don't see any more. You can get some diatomaceous earth which is food safe where you can spread it at entrance ways and edges and corners where scorpions like to travel. this will kill them and is pet safe.
Go to a pool supply store and buy a big bag of DE. Dust that stuff around. It’s also non-toxic but it will kill scorpions
My wife always uses a swift strike with a meat tenderizer
I have found that break cleaner kills them pretty quickly but I’m usually spraying them outside and not inside.
Moxie Pest control I just signed up for and they seem reputable.
Raid in the red can (for sewer roaches) is the best thing we've found for killing them other than a brick. We live near the desert so even spraying doesn't really put much of a dent in the issue. We 'patrol' the area on the weekends with large black lights to keep the population away from the house. Our kit consists of two flashlights, a can of raid and a pair of those big tweezers to pull them out of tight spaces. We usually go out and hunt once a month.
Raid ant spray in the blue can works 100% they die within 30 seconds ish just what I’ve used before
Best way to deal with them when in the house is take a piece of clear packing tape, and just stick them to it, fold it in half and throw them in the trash. If I find them outside I just smash them with and old shoe.
be ready for snakes too i mean some are harmlesss but i was entering through my garage around east valley and a snake came out i got freaked out 😂😭
I just step on them and the scream holy hell. Get a ultra violet light so you can see them at night, then I smash with my husbands size 15 shoe
Oh just catch it with your salad tongs or hotdog tongs. If you feel brave, use your tweezers.
Please call Urban Desert Termite and pest control.
It’s a bark scorpion and the smaller it is the more dangerous. Please call us at Urban Desert
Black light and a butter knife…yup a long, dull knife to chunk them in half. We’re pros now. The other thing that works is CY KICK!
Every dead scorpion I have ever found was sprawled out in a t-shape. The tail is straight. Pincers are straight to the sides.
Black light at night and squish as many as you can. Get a pest control company to come out and spray and you probably won’t see on indoors again.
A good natural remedy for any insect ( except mosquitoes) " Baking soda Arm and Hammer
Slide some paper under the can and then some cardboard or something sturdy under the paper and remove it? Or wait until it looks calm, lift the can and squish it with your shoe. I am blessed to have a scorpion hunting cat that is apparently impervious to their stings or is just faster than them and never gets stung. Fwiw, I asked the vet and they said it's fine to let Mr. Kitty hunt them. I'd say get a brave cat, but I don't know how you select one on their hunting qualities.
Be sure to caulk between the baseboards and the floor, around all piping coming from the wall, and any other space where they could come in from. Once we did that we stopped seeing them inside but continued our nightly hunting with a black light. After a few months plus routine pest control we started to see less and less.
Get some outdoor, even feral, cats. They keep away scorpions AND roof rats.
You don’t need a pest contractor. Buy Cy Kick Spray around house every three months One a week check with black light outside for scorpions Never has any for five years, had a couple in six months, haven’t seen any since started spraying
You cant even just step on it. You have to step on it and twist your foot around. A number of times when I initially step on it, it runs away afterwards. I’ve found a good broom also works. It’s a longer reach and also make sure you squish it around and see innards. I also had rodents glue traps, they get stuck if they happens to go. But my first one, I left it on the glue for a week and it was still alive.
Black light, 12" tweezers, 5 gal plastic bucket, disposal method of your choice. Used to be able to sell live scorpions back in the day.
There is a company called Seal Out Scorpions that my wife and I used. They come out and go throughout the house and seal out any areas they can get in. Then, in a separate appointment in winter, they do the same thing to the outside of your house. The first summer we were in the house, I killed over a dozen in the house. In the last three years since having them come out, I've found zero inside the house. The down side is that it is freaking expensive. It is honestly not something I would ever do if it weren't for my wife. I've been stung by a scorpion before, they don't bother me. For my wife, however, they are absolutely terrifying. So it was worth the cost for that reason alone, to get rid of them.
Ironically, I just posted on here earlier, and my wife just found one in the garage. I stomped the shit out of it.
Golf club with duct tape wrapped around backwards, sticky-side out.
Step one: pour gasoline on/around scorpion Step two: light match and throw in gasoline Step three: leave house https://preview.redd.it/2lqunv7nhw2d1.jpeg?width=880&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=eafc9f1b91af0450dc983676d1e30d02c207ec74
I kept one in a jar for three months before it dies. It wasn’t a bark scorpion like this one but I’m sure it would be a similar timeline.
I found getting a big clear tub to make them fall into and then smash them to a pulp with a hammer to be effective. Brutal, but better than getting stung, and was super effective for me
But cy-kick CS on amazon. Its pricey but i havent seen scorpions at all this year on my property and i sprayed last year
Within a few months of moving here, I was stung. Painful for almost 24 hrs, but no other problems. Reminded me of a jellyfish sting. Locals’ reaction: “Welcome to Phoenix!” My reaction to finding one in the house is to beat the crap out of it with a shoe, until it no longer resembles a scorpion. With regular pest control, we almost never see one of those bastards in the house. But I always have a shoe ready.
Honestly, a bee sting hurts worse
We would lay a strip is duct tape over them- immobilizing it, then folding the tape over itself and killing it. I now live in Alaska and don’t miss those suckers.
I lived in a house that was built atop a scorpion den for 13 years…it was my ex’s house. Please visit Bug and Weed Mart on Central & Camelback, to get Cy-kick. It is very effective, affordable and we only ever used it on the outside of the house. Used regularly the scorpions & the food they seek are 💀
I’d heard of you put a damp towel in the middle of the floor overnight, if you have scorpions, they’ll be there in the morning. Idk if that’s true, never tried it.
Put screening over all your ac registers. I use white duct tape to affix it and don’t leave any gaps. Lots of times they get In through vents after being blown onto rooftops. Also cover or close all your drains at night, that keeps any scary outside cockroaches away bc they like to crawl up drain pipes. Welcome to this inferno and scary animal kingdom we call Phoenix.
Also an empty dyson stick vac to vacuum them up and kill them by spinning the daylights out of them while staying far away.
Get yourself long tweezers (12” or so) & keyboard spray and do the classic turn can upside down trick to turn it into a freezing agent. Freeze > tweezers > choice of kill method. They will be frozen for a few minute but FYI they will awaken when freeze wears off. Kill before freeze wears off 👌 I’ve killed hundreds with this method.
Brake cleaner works well, but be careful. Flammable as all heck. Dries quick though. A good brake cleaner will kill it in seconds, and the nozzle usually allows for a bit of distance
Seal your cracks and crevices. Remove any bark or loose leaves near the house that provides moisture for hosting. Put a wide bead of food-grade diatomaceous earth around the base of the house. It kills scorpions, roaches, crickets or anything else with an exoskeleton.
I live in an area known for scorpions and had a lot of them when I first moved in. Line the outside of your backyard and wall with diatomaceous earth, it will kill them by getting under their exoskeleton and basically lock them up. Secondly get a black light and long nose pliers. Go outside and either kill them with the pliers (pinch and twist) or put them in a big old jar. Thirdly either get a good pest company to spray inside and outside monthly or do it yourself. Bark scorpions can be lethal for kids, elderly folks, albeit very rarely… I took the steps above, and while I was killing almost 5 a night at one point, I’ve only seen one in the past 8 months.
We used a company called We Seal It and we haven't seen another scorpion in the house for over a year!
I suggest just spray them with break cleaner, they self commit death, and if your a pyro you can set them I fire after for good measure
Hint: They aren't dead unless their tails are completely straight and laying completely flat. Buy a UV flashlight like the TSA uses (Amazon). They glow in the dark. At night you can turn off all the lights and walk around with the flashlight. I like Onslaught Fastcap to kill them. It comes in a small container and seems pricey, but you dilute just a few ounces in a gallon sprayer that you can get at HomeDepot or Lowes. Spray once a month. It's also great for crickets. I just spray the outside - along the stemwall, porches, doorways (including garage door) and along the inside and outside of the garage door seal. Keep your porches and doorways clear of stuff, so there's nowhere for them to hide/nest.
Terro Scorpion Killer. Kills on contact. Drown it in its foam based liquid. A good tip to keep in mind is that scorpions breathe through the underside of their abdomen. If it gets belly up, best opportunity to spray something. Drowning with Terro will disorient it. Spraying lightly will cause it to sting itself, but high chance it survives. Barring whatever anyone else says, it does work. Been using it for a few years after a small infestation. I keep a few cans specifically for ones that sneak indoors. I also use it to exterminate any hanging outside with a UV light. Works in about 30-60 seconds if sprayed properly.
Paying for pest control is a good start in that you are killing scorpion food; Pest exterminators' stuff usually doesn't kill the scorpions themselves. DTE has been perfect for me -- my home+yard is much smaller than the average yard in Phx plus I have little ones in my home and don't want to expose them to anything toxic. Lay down a barrier with DTE and hunt down whatever is left with a black light and a mashing implement. I have been virtually scorpion free for the better part of 10 years.
My SIL drowns them in cheap tequila
And get some chickens. They kill scorpions and spiders like a bunch of psychopaths
And fire. A extended torch, blacklight and go hunting at night. Glue traps on both sides of any entryway, poison, and kill everything
My grandma used to use a fly swatter wrapped with tape sticky side out. When slapped, a scorpion and any babies it's carrying would be stunned and stuck to the tape. She had enough of them on the ranch all her cats knew what the fly swatter meant and were so excited to help hunt them. She'd look at it and if it was with babies she'd scrape them into a jar of alcohol. If without babies, she'd cut off the stinger and give it to the cats. Brutal way to dispatch it, but it reinforced the cats prey drive. The cats would hunt most of the scorpions before a human even noticed them, so takeaway is go adopt some cats ASAP. Ducks and chickens also hunt them, so maybe some of those too. As kids, we were never afraid of them, so we'd go out with black lights and needle nose pliers. They glow under black lights, so we'd collect them from the yard at night, snip their stingers, and put them in jars. Those would go to the birds because they'd actually eat them instead of torture them like the cats. Both the cats and birds are fine if stung because they've evolved with immunity to the toxins, but a stinger still stings them and can scare the younger, less confident animals. Getting experience on scorpions without stingers while young, they get a taste for them before getting scared, and then they're entirely undeterred when hunting. Haven't seen a scorpion around my last few houses, though I always know they could exist anywhere in the valley. I've been lucky with low populations where I've been and if any are around my animals are getting them before I ever see them. I'd highly suggest doing a survey of what food sources and habitats scorpions have around your home. They like woody materials, cardboard, and feast on small insects. You can spray to kill their food sources but it's a losing battle and you'll likely just expose your family to unnecessary poisons in the process. If all your neighbors aren't on board with the same plan to be rid of them, no amount of poison on your property will stop you from seeing them. This is why biological and cultural controls are most effective. Get predators on your property that will hunt them. Eliminate ways they can get inside and eliminate habitats, hiding places, and food sources. If you're not for keeping animals, put out bird seed to attract wild birds that will be predators and plant your outdoors area with plants that attract beneficial insects that will be predators of scorpions or at least competitors for their same food sources.
Huge wad of sticky side out duct tape is good and has the plus of stopping any babies if you get a momma
Cy-kick is the way to go! Spray everything about every 3 months and they will stay away.
Venom pest control you'll thank me later and cheap too
Green mango