We have all felt the pull of attraction. You see your dream car driving past you, and you can’t help but stare and wish you were the owner. Or, you visit a home and find the interior design and feng shui the owners have achieved stunning. Everyone has different things they find attractive, and when you encounter those items, you feel the desire.
Humans are not the only creatures who experience the pull of attraction. Scorpions also feel the same lure. If these stinging pests are on your property, you need from Green Home Pest Control. Our eco-minded, family-owned company has removed scorpions from Phoenix area homes for over a decade. When you partner with us, you can expect excellent customer service, flexibility with your schedule, and for your technician to be prompt.
Scorpions are on your Phoenix property because of attractants; understanding and identifying what attracts them is necessary to stop an infestation. If you want to end the scorpion invasion around your home, please keep reading to learn how to eradicate these problematic pests so you can enjoy a walk in the yard at night.
Understanding The Common Scorpion
Understanding begins with knowing its makeup, habits, and behaviors. Scorpions are not insects but are arachnids. Other infamous arachnids include spiders, mites, and ticks. A few features of arachnids are they have eight legs and a two-part body (cephalothorax and the abdomen); unlike insects, they do not have wings or antennae.
Scorpions have these arachnid elements but are set apart from other arachnids by a segmented, curved tail that ends with a stinger and a pair of pinchers at the front end of their body.
Compared to other arachnids, scorpions are giants with an average body length of 2 1/2 inches. The longest scorpion in the world is the 8 1/4 inch female rock scorpion in South Africa; of the four species of scorpions in Phoenix, the Arizona giant hairy scorpion, also known as the Arizona hairy scorpion or the desert hairy scorpion, has a 5-1/2-inch body length.
Since we have noted one of the scorpions in our area, these are the problematic scorpions for Phoenix residents:
- Arizona bark scorpion
- Arizona stripe tail scorpion
- Arizona giant hairy scorpion
- Yellow ground scorpion
Before we continue our discussion about scorpion habits and behaviors, let’s briefly examine these species.
The Arizona stripe tail scorpion has a slightly less than 3-inch light tan to brownish body with a dark brown line in its tail. Because it has a dark line on its body, many assume these are Arizona bark scorpions, but they have two lines, not one. Also, the Arizona bark scorpion has a bulkier tail and pedipalps. Regarding their habits, this species likes to burrow underneath objects.
If there is a scorpion that one could say is beneficial for a homeowner, the Arizona giant hairy scorpion would be the one. These large scorpions with brown bodies and yellow legs may be helpful to homeowners because they love to attack and eat Arizona bark scorpions, the most dangerous species in our area.
The yellow ground scorpion is not as common as the other species but is still in the Phoenix area. As their name implies, these scorpions have a less than 3-inch yellow body.
These three take a back seat to the notorious Arizona bark scorpion. Although it has the same 3-inch body as the yellow ground and Arizona stripe tail scorpions, it is distinguishable by two dark horizontal lines running the length of its yellow body. We will discuss in the next section what makes this scorpion species dangerous for Phoenix homeowners.
Many insects prefer damp areas, but scorpions are exclusively dry land creatures (which is why they are primarily in the southwestern part of the United States). Although they do not live in high-moisture areas, they still require water for survival. Thus, you will find them outside in burrows underneath rocks, logs, boards, rubbish, and air conditioner evaporators.
We all know that many spider species spin webs to capture prey, but their scorpion cousins use another method. Like most arachnids, scorpions do not have good eyesight, so they rely on ground vibrations to alert them of the presence of a future meal. When they sense nearby movement, they run, grab the prey with their pinchers (pedipalps), and sting it if it is too active or big. Once it has captured its victim, it uses its chelicerae or mouthparts to eat it.
Now that you know the habits, behaviors, and characteristics of scorpions in Phoenix, you need Green Home Pest Control to partner with you for scorpion control around your home. While there are things you can do to prevent a future infestation, you need one of our experienced technicians who can quickly end the current invasion on your property.
Health Risks Of Scorpion Infestations
As previously mentioned, a scorpion’s tail ends with a stinger that it uses to paralyze large or active victims. While scorpions listen for ground vibrations from potential victims in the dark so they can grab and eat them, that is not the case with humans. Scorpions attempt to flee from people and do not attack them.
Since scorpions run from people, why do people get stung by scorpions? Like spiders, who also attempt to flee from people, scorpions sting in self-defense when threatened or cornered. Because scorpions hide under logs, stones, debris, and lumber in the yard, they feel threatened when someone steps on or bumps into these objects. Inside a house, they may sting when someone kicks the pile of clothes where they hide or reaches into a corner to grab something.
All scorpions sting, but not all scorpion stings are equal. A sting from Arizona stripe tail, Arizona giant hairy, and yellow ground scorpions has a pain level similar to a wasp or bee sting. Unless a person has extreme allergy sensitivity, the venom causes swelling and numbness for about 24 hours. Wash the wound with soapy water and apply a cold compress. Those with sensitivities may require immediate medical attention due to anaphylactic shock.
On the other hand, an attack from an Arizona bark scorpion may be problematic for everyone due to the venom concentration they inject into their victims. An Arizona bark scorpion sting may trigger convulsions, breathing difficulties, abdominal cramps, vomiting, staggering, and illness for up to three days. If you are stung by a yellow, 3-inch scorpion with two dark stripes running down its body, seek immediate medical attention.
Green Home Pest Control provides to protect families from painful and potentially harmful scorpion stings. We want people in our community to live free from the fear of experiencing a scorpion sting while enjoying a walk in their yard.
Why And How Scorpions Find Their Way Inside
Why do ? Generally, scorpions are content to live outside in their burrows under rocks, stones, logs, and other items where they can get the moisture they need and capture passing insects and arachnids throughout the night. However, when a long dry spell occurs, or outdoor temperatures become too high, scorpions will try to enter nearby houses where they hope to find water and cooler air. Since cold weather makes scorpions slow, they typically do not access homes during cold winter months.
Another reason scorpions enter homes is when a disruption occurs to their habitat, which is often the situation with new home construction. It is worth noting that scorpions are creatures of habit, and if construction displaces them, they will attempt to return once the building stops. For this reason, many purchasers of new homes often encounter a scorpion problem because they now live in a former scorpion habitat, and the scorpions have returned to reclaim their land.
If your home is not new, but scorpions are invading, it could be due to fruit or palm trees on the property. These trees attract scorpions not because of their fruit but because they attract fruit-eating insects, which scorpions like to consume. Scorpions also find shelter under the loose bark of these types of trees.
When scorpions are on the property and food, water, or shelter are unavailable, they will try to enter the house. Weep holes are a common entry point for scorpions. These are the gaps at the base of the siding or stucco and the foundation. Bathroom vents and exhaust vents also provide access to the house for scorpions. Scorpions can climb, and they often scale walls and find cracks around window and door frames that they use to enter a home. Exterior doors without sweeps provide another way into your house.
When scorpions enter a house, they often gravitate to the crawl space, attic, and wall voids. During the peak summer season, when temperatures are the hottest, scorpions inside a home often move from the hot areas (attic and wall voids) to colder locations of the house with water sources (i.e., the kitchen and bathrooms), compounding the possibility of experiencing a sting by the occupants.
Arizona scorpions in the house are there because they need food, water, and shelter. Outside, they feed on spiders, crickets, cockroaches, centipedes, and other insects. When these insects and fellow arachnids enter a Phoenix house due to weather changes, scorpions often follow them since they are their food source. Does the presence of scorpions in your Phoenix home indicate cockroaches, spiders, and other pests are in your home too? Not necessarily. Scorpions can live for months without eating as long as there is a water source. So, they may enter homes searching for moisture due to an unseasonably long dry spell outdoors.
The best way to kill scorpions is to use Green Home Pest Control. When our trained technicians arrive to inspect your Phoenix property, we can determine entry points and take appropriate action to stop future infestations.
The Best Way To Get Rid Of Scorpions And Keep Them Away
Partnering with Green Home Pest Control is the best way to end a scorpion infestation. Our eradication process begins by sending a qualified, trained technician to inspect the interior and exterior of your home. We will search for entry points, attractants, and hot spots. Using the data we collect, we create a custom plan using integrated pest management (IPM) methods to ensure we not only end the current infestation but work to . Our scorpion removal products use EPA-approved microencapsulated technology that penetrates the hard exterior shell of scorpions.
Although a Green Home Pest Control technician will provide specific ideas for your situation, the following are general tips to deter scorpions from returning to your home after we complete the removal process:
- Remove wood scraps, stones, and other debris from the yard
- Pick up rotting fruit to reduce the insect population
- Prune tree branches and shrubs away from the house
- Supply drainage to ditches and low-lying areas
- Dehumidify the crawl space and basement
- Eliminate water-collecting items from the lawn
- Elevate wood piles and locate them 20 feet from the house
- Seal weep holes using caulk
- Close cracks larger than a sixteenth inch
- Cover vent openings with screens
- Fix holes in window and door screens
- Install door sweeps under exterior doors
- Repair leaky faucets, drains, and pipes in the house
- Keep indoor and outdoor trash containers closed
Remember, enter homes searching for food, water, and shelter. Applying these suggestions will remove those sources from your property and house.
We know some homeowners cannot perform every item on this checklist; therefore, we offer a scorpion sealing service. This service includes closing the cracks, holes, and gaps on the exterior using eco-friendly sealants to ensure scorpions cannot enter in the future. Remember, scorpions need only a sixteenth-inch opening to enter a home. Our experienced Green Home Pest Control technicians are experts at locating entry points into houses. Contact us today to learn about our residential and and request your free estimate. Green Home Pest Control is the top-rated, prompt, and professional solution to your scorpion problem.
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