Five Scorpions. We are up to five now. My wife just killed one in the toilet.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

He was only about an inch long but apparently those are the worst. I think she is reconsidering her love of Tucson.

Hell, all we had in San Jose was Racoons, the occasional Opossum and the rare Black Widow. And earthquakes. We had earthquakes.

[Yavapai]

1. Heck, I thought the sidewinders ate those all up.

Heard the same thing, the big scorpions hurt really bad, but the small species can
be deadly.

Good luck and check your shoes in the morning...

[OffWithTheirHeads]

2. Soooo...I should get a pet sidewinder?

[Wait Wut]

3. !

:spray:

[KarenS]

4. yuck,,,,

and scary.

In Arizona it seems like you have scorpions or you don't. Sometimes you don't then the ground nearby gets disturbed (like a new building project) then you have them for awhile. Have you called an exterminator??

I've been in Arizona since 1971 (minus 7.5 years) and I don't think I've seen 5 total in all that time.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

7. Nope! No exterminator. My wife kills em. I'm into catch and release.

I've just kind of accepted the fact that I'm in their neighborhood as much as they are in mine.

Also, in the course of my life, I have kind of adopted the philosophy that I don't kill creatures unless I'm going to eat them or unless they plan to eat me. It's kind of a Buddhist thing that I developed when I was 12 and shot a Robin. I was initially elated that I had made my first kill but by the time I got home I was wondering what the fuck the point was. Now, at 60, I still don't harbor the illusion that my steak comes from farmer Safeway and, in fact, last weekend participated in a Dove hunt. I didn't shoot anything but clay pigeons but my compatriots managed to shoot three. My BIL prepared them for our labor day BBQ and they were over the top delicious. I would gladly do it again but spraying poison all around my house to kill creatures just because they are inconvenient is not something I am ready to pay for. I might feel differently if I accidentally find one in my shoe. Who knows.

[marybourg]

8. As long as you harbor prey (crickets, outdoor roaches,etc)

you'll have predators ( scorpions, black widows, etc).

[OffWithTheirHeads]

9. Are you implying that my grounds are less than stellar?

Aww hell, youre probably right. There are some amazing bugs around here at night. What I find interesting is that we seem to get different bugs every month. In March, we had so many fruit flys that I had to make little tinfoil hats for our wine glasses. Then, they went away. After that, there were these cockroach thingies but they went away. Now we have crickets and beetles. Wierd.

[PavePusher]

11. Insect/arachnid life is highly seasonal/weather conditional.

I find it weird that anyone doesn't know this...

[Kali]

5. meh, at least this didn't happen

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=105&topic_id=8978326

[OffWithTheirHeads]

6. Hmm. Do not perform your ablutions with the lights out.

If this is not an arguement for owning a flashlight, I have never seen one!

[ThoughtCriminal]

10. I had to keep a UV light by the bed

One odd thing about finding scorpions in the house - it was always suddenly hard to find anything effective for killing them when you spotted one. No heavy books or tools are ever close by (A magazine or slipper won't do the job!). And if you go looking for something, they disappear before you return - leaving you to wonder where it went.