Arizona woodworking and scorpions

[Matt Przybylski]

Hello, I'm moving to Arizona in two weeks and will be eventually setting up shop in the garage. I've been doing some reading on scorpions and they like to sit in wood piles, apparently. I'm bringing lots of lumber with me and am a bit worried about this.

What do you AZ woodworkers do to combat this?

[Herb Smith]

Don't live in AZ any longer, but can tell you that scorpions aren't the only potential threat. You also need to be careful of the brown recluse and black widow spiders. Outdoors you can add a few more poisonous species to the list. The desert can be great in the winter, but seasoned Arizonans will tell you, don't put your fingers anywhere that you can't see. Good luck with your move.

[Ben Rivel]

Wear gloves and keep a short stick with you for smashing or flicking critters away.

[Andrew Hughes]

Aww just put those things on a stick and cook em up.

[mark kosse]

I have lots of em here in central tx. Never saw one I'm my milled lumber. Only in woodpiles of firewood outdoors. In 35 years I've only been stung once. It was like a wasp sting.

[John Blazy]

Get one of the new LED underwater dive lights, that are really low cost now days, that have a UV light built in, and you will discover that scorpions are one of the few land based critters that fluoresce under UV due to their green fluorescent proteins.
I was one of the early pioneers of biofluorescent night diving (DrDichro on youtube) when I had a custom made UV filter on my 1750 lumens HID light. It made corals light up like christmas trees underwater - literally. Anemones which are tan color all the sudden have glowing green/yellow tips on their tentacles and lettuce lea coral (brown in white light) suddenly explode with brilliant green. Occasionally you see red and orange fluorescence.

The movement sparked, and now many dive ops offer UV night dives because the availabity of low cost UV LED lights (my HID cost over 700), so you are sure to find many better options to see the scorpions at night. I just looked, and my light is a VastFire 4000 lumen light I paid 68 bucks for, but I just saw a few non-diving lights with more UV power for under 40 bucks.

You will have great fun finding those evil crabwasps from hell. Been stung once on a dive trip in FL, and it hardly hurt at all - must not have envenomated me very much.

[Jim Colombo]

I live in Arizona, have my "shop" in my garage and store my wood in my garage on racks. I have scorpions in my yard but rarely in the garage. DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT.

Jim

[Matt Przybylski]

Thanks for the replies.

Jim, do you spray anything? I have two young girls and a small dog so my worries extend even more because of them.

[Wes Ramsey]

Here in AR I haven't seen many scorpions, but spiders abound, especially brown recluses. I find them in my shop regularly and occasionally in my home office, which is a a separate section of my shop building. Sometimes I'll shuffle my feet under my desk and a couple minutes later I'll spot one climbing up the wall behind my monitor. Eek!

Over the spring I spent a lot of time cleaning the shop and getting things in order and I found that they much prefer a messy shop. I guess there just aren't as many friendly places to hide when it is clean. While the shop was clean, spiders were few and far between. I let it go over the summer and they moved back in so I'm on a mission to evict them again in the next couple of weeks.

I would assume scorpions behave similarly. Clean shop = fewer places to hide and less opportunities to find food. But it's a quandary - I've always heard you can't trust a man with a clean shop :p

[Lori Kleinberg]

My setup is similar to Jim Colombo. Have never been stung but they occasionally get in the shop/garage and even in the house, eek. Never reach blindly for something and shake out your shoes. They are usually out at night. You can find them with a black light. I have young grand daughters running around with no issues. Also have 6.5 lb yorkie, never an issue, but never leave small animals alone. Besides scorpions, I have had snakes, owls, bobcats, coyotes and even hawks eyeing my pets.

[Glenn de Souza]

Don't worry about it. I do not think you'll have an issue. Some neighborhoods have no scorpions, and the next street over can have them. Someone told me scorpions have been living in underground colonies since prehistoric times. Sometimes construction or pool excavation can disturb them. If you find them around your house, spray the entire exterior perimeter of the house, and yard wall with a product called CY-Kick. You can find it online. It's a professional grade pesticide. I don't like to use pesticides inside the house, but if you use this product around the exterior, it will repel scorpions and most other pests. Go heavier around doors and thresholds. If you do this treatment every 3 months in the summer and maybe once during the winter, I think it will resolve the problem, if you have one that is.

I had scorpions in my last neighborhood, but not in my current one.

Most desert creatures are very good at avoiding humans. They don't want to encounter you any more than you want to encounter them. Tell your kids to be attentive. If they step on one in bare feet, they will get stung. My kids have never been stung. I've been stung once in 38 years and like the other guy said, it was like a wasp sting.

I had a neighbor that was obsessed with scorpions. She bought one of those blacklight flashlights from the hardware store and would hunt around her yard at night like Charles Bronson in Death Wish where he was hunting criminals at night. She would catch them with this really long pair of tweezers. I never was quite sure what she would do with each night's haul. I should have told her about CY-Kick, but to tell you the truth I was a little intimidated by her once I saw the lengths she was willing to go in her war on the scorpions so I kept my distance too.

I think you already know this, but don't store your lumber outside in Arizona.

[Larry Edgerton]

Someone told me scorpions have been living in underground colonies since prehistoric times. Sometimes construction or pool excavation can disturb them.

There must be something to that. I built homes in Texas, and for 4 years there would be scorpions on the ceiling in the spring, and then they were gone. Thought it was strange.

[Matt Przybylski]

Thanks Glenn. I have read about Cy-Kick and have it on my Amazon wish list ready to be purchased for when we make it over there :)

[Jim Colombo]

Thanks for the replies.

Jim, do you spray anything? I have two young girls and a small dog so my worries extend even more because of them.

I don't spray, but I spread diatamacious (sp) earth (bought at pool supply stores) along the perimeter of my fence. They won't cross it so that keeps them out. I don't put it near the house because of my dogs. Since I had a lot of them I go out at night with a black light and kill all the ones I find.
I hadn't heard of Cy-Kick so I talked to my exterminator and he said he knew of nothing that would work on scorpions unless it is applied directly to the exoskeleton. However, I'm going to look into that stuff more.

[Matt Przybylski]

Since I had a lot of them I go out at night with a black light and kill all the ones I find.

How do you kill them? Can you just step on and squash them like spiders? Or is there a special way of killing these guys? What's the best way to pick one up (with what tooling, I'm def not trying to pick it up with my hands) if I find one in my shop in a place where I can't kill it easily?

[peter Joseph]

I kill spiders in my shop with a propane torch.
I leave the charred remains in place for 24 hours, just to send a message to the others.
Seems to be working thus far.

[Matt Przybylski]

I kill spiders in my shop with a propane torch.
I leave the charred remains in place for 24 hours, just to send a message to the others.
Seems to be working thus far.

A fine approach! I'm also looking for any serious answers :)

[Myk Rian]

Just like in Australia, everything in Arizona wants to kill you.
;)

[Erik Loza]

I've never lived in AZ but have been here in CenTX for over 12 years and also have family in Mexico that deals with scorpions all the time. Also, I was a biology student in college, so appreciate all the earth's creepy-crawlies.

Basically, you have nothing to worry about. Here in TX, the population density is a lot higher than you would ever see in the desert. It is generally untrue that scorpions exist in "hidden colonies". True, you might find groups of them sheltering in cool dark places such as caves, basements, etc. but it's not like that all come creeping out at night to do their bidding, LOL. A significant group would be maybe half a dozen individuals and you might see only one of two. My advice would be to just work smartly. Handle lumber with gloves and and just watch where you grab. Also, scorpions are there because of food (other insects). If you remove the food, they go someplace else. I don't personally spray for instects around the house but if you did, that would eliminate a lot of it right there. I'm around scorpions all the time and personally, much more worried getting mobbed by fire ants, a wasp sting, or brown recluse bite than a scorpion sting. Hope this helps,

Erik

[Matt Przybylski]

Thanks Erik. I will also have to worry about brown recluse and black widow bites now as well so that's a whole lotta fun! :)

[Erik Loza]

Thanks Erik. I will also have to worry about brown recluse and black widow bites now as well so that's a whole lotta fun! :)


345171

"Filmed on location in Arizona!"

[Glenn de Souza]

How do you kill them? Can you just step on and squash them like spiders? Or is there a special way of killing these guys? What's the best way to pick one up (with what tooling, I'm def not trying to pick it up with my hands) if I find one in my shop in a place where I can't kill it easily?

Matt,
Yes, just kill them like you would kill a spider or cricket. Step on it, smack it with a slipper or rolled up magazine. If you're in the shop, smack it with a piece of MDF or whatever is handy. They're not as indestructible as you might be led to believe. Exoskeleton or no exoskeleton, they're still just bugs (of the arachnid variety).

[phil harold]

diatomaceous earth sprinkled around in the wood pile will take care of spiders and scorpions

[Matt Przybylski]

diatomaceous earth sprinkled around in the wood pile will take care of spiders and scorpions

I've heard a few people say this so I researched DE. It seems that its a flour like substance and my question would be how often do you have to reapply it? Also it sounds like if it gets wet it becomes ineffective? Things like morning dew could cause it to be ineffective and I know AZ is dry but I imagine there is still dew in the early morning.

[Wes Ramsey]

I don't spray, but I spread diatamacious (sp) earth (bought at pool supply stores) along the perimeter of my fence. They won't cross it so that keeps them out. I don't put it near the house because of my dogs. Since I had a lot of them I go out at night with a black light and kill all the ones I find.
I hadn't heard of Cy-Kick so I talked to my exterminator and he said he knew of nothing that would work on scorpions unless it is applied directly to the exoskeleton. However, I'm going to look into that stuff more.

Diatoaceous earth is harmless to people and pets. It is not poisonous and you can in fact eat it, though I'm sure it has no nutritional value :rolleyes: Lots of gardeners use it to protect against all kinds of bugs. It has a high silica content so small critters get cut trying to crawl over it - at least that's how it was explained to me. One way or the other most small critters will avoid it. I don't know that it would hurt a scorpion, but they may choose to avoid it anyway. Rain or dew will not dissolve it, but it can wash it off grass blades and mix with soil making it less effective.

[Brice Rogers]

Matt, If you find them on a hard surface and are wearing shoes, just step on them.

If you find them on a soft surface like a carpet, just take a pair of scissors and cut them in half. After cut in two, they can't run and can't sting you. Then just pick up the pieces with a paper towel. We get them in our house on rare occasions and when I see one, I run for the scissors.

[Jim Colombo]

Matt,
I use the wire end of a fly swater and squash them. If I can't reach them with the fly swater I spray them with a product made be Terro called "Scorpion Killer". It works but it takes some time for them to die. I put the diatomaceous earth out in the springtime and it's good for the year.

Hope this helps,
Jim

[Dave Kelley]

Scorpions aren't in every neighborhood like what's been said before. Ask your new neighbors if they are in your neighborhood.

My my house was built in 83 and I don't have them but my land used to be cotton. Across the major road was citrus and they have scorpions. From what I've been told, cotton = no, citrus = yes

[Ole Anderson]

Another reason to live in Michigan...brown recluses are few and far between and our only poisonous snake, the massagua rattler, is very non-aggressive and sticks to wetland areas. I have never seen one in the wild. And of course, no scorpions.