Scorpions
If you’ve never seen a scorpion up close, our rising temperatures might cause that to change. The summer’s heat brings the scorpion population to life. As long as you’re aware of them, though, you shouldn’t be afraid. Here are a few tips to help make you aware of the types of scorpions in the desert, prevent infestation and more.
Types of Scorpions:
Giant Hairy — 2 to 4 inches long, dark brown, hairy, cannot climb vertical surfaces
Bark — less than 2 inches long, tan or brown color, smaller and more poisonous than other scorpion varieties, can climb vertical surfaces
Where Scorpions Live:
Scorpions like to live in humid areas of your home. For instance, foundations, wood piles, ground covering, wet paint or other liquids are especially appealing to scorpions. Take extra caution when working near such areas.
Ways to Prevent Scorpion Infestation:
Consider ground covering with plants that grow several inches off the ground (i.e. lantana).
Seal all cracks and seams near your baseboards, around pipes at sinks and faucets and in block walls.
Pick up wood piles and debris from your yard.
Spread food-grade diatomaceous earth and pyrethrum along areas you want to dust the products.
Put Tangle Foot (found at hardware stores) at the seam of your doorstops. The sticky material prevents scorpions from passing.
Use plants to encourage snakes, toads and lizards to live in your yard.
Use a safe, organic product to kill individual scorpions and cut down on the number of breeding scorpions in your area. I recommend using Orange Guard or Bioganic Pest Control. You’ll have to spray the product right on the scorpions in order to kill them, but these products certainly do the job.
Hunt down scorpions at night with a black light. Their bodies glow when a black light is shone on them and you can easily locate and dispose of the scorpions.
For Parents of Infants:
I recommend protecting your sleeping child by putting a glass jar under each leg of your child’s crib, as bark scorpions are unable to climb glass.