Dangerous Insects May Be Traveling with You
This past weekend, while walking over to the TV to change the DVD or whatever, my daughter noticed a “weird looking bug” that she almost stepped on. She screamed (of course!) and called for me. As always, I grabbed my handy bug concoction and ran to the rescue. To my amazement, the “weird looking bug” was a scorpion and was hardly noticeable because it was the same color as my carpet, which is fashioned in muted shades of tan. I really need to change to hardwood! So, I drowned it in my bug concoction (I know by now, you’re wondering what this moonshine consists of – I’ll tell you later) and covered it so that it would not make an attempt to escape.
The next morning, when the lighting was better, I uncovered it to confirm my suspicion that it was indeed a scorpion. I had never seen one in person before so I did some research. I went to the wikipedia.com website and looked up scorpions and compared the photos on the site to the one I killed. I discovered that this particular breed is called the Arizona bark scorpion and is nobody’s friend.
Here is some information I pulled from the site:
The Arizona bark scorpion is a small light brown scorpion common to the southwest United States. The range of the scorpion is the Sonoran Desert, though less toxic relatives of the scorpion are located throughout the Southern US. An adult male can reach 8 cm in length (3.14 inches), while a female is slightly smaller, with a maximum length of 7 cm (2.75 inches).
The Bark Scorpion is the most venomous scorpion in North America, and in sufficient quantities its venom will cause severe pain (coupled with numbness and tingling) in adult humans, typically lasting between 24 to 72 hours. Temporary dysfunction in the area stung is common; e.g. a hand or possibly arm can be immobilized, or experience convulsions. Loss of breath may also occur for a short period of time. Due to the extreme pain induced, many victims describe sensations of electrical jolts after envenomation.
Fatalities from the venom are limited to small animals (including most pets), small children, and adults allergic to the venom. Extreme reaction to the venom is indicated by numbness, frothing at the mouth, paralysis, and convulsions. Two recorded fatalities have occurred in the state of Arizona since 1968. The number of victims stung each year in Arizona is estimated to be in the thousands. In Mexico, more than 100,000 are stung annually, and at its worst period, the Bark Scorpion claimed up to 800 lives annually during the 1980s.
Now, I suspect that this venomous critter took a free ride from Arizona with relatives of my neighbor, who happened to be visiting this past week. I doubt that it rode all that distance on the outside of the vehicle so it must have been in someone’s bag or some other packaging. Therefore, check those bags before packing!! Whenever I’m packing for a trip, I always inspect the bag by shaking it and beating it for spiders or anything else that may be nesting there. I then spray it with Lysol spray to cause discomfort to any bug that may have escaped my inspection. Once the Lysol has dried I check it again. (I may be bordering on paranoia, but I even check inside my car to be sure nothing has slithered its way inside. Call a shrink!) Never, ever leave an open bag on the driveway, in the grass, or on the porch! You may remember a recent news story about a man who had an open bag sitting on the porch in South Carolina and a small rattlesnake crawled inside. When he arrived to his home and opened it to unpack he was bitten, but fortunately recovered. I would hate to pull a clothing item out of my bag and put it on to discover that a scorpion is hiding inside. So just be very careful to check your bags and other packages when you travel. You only want to transport what you choose to and not some unwanted guest that chose to unknowingly hitch-hike a ride with you. It wouldn’t hurt to give your vehicle a thorough vacuuming to “suck” out any hidden guests from crevices.
So now you want to know what the bug concoction consists of. Well, you only need 3 household ingredients: ammonia, mouthwash, and dish soap. Use a spray bottle and fill it about 1/3 full of water, 1/3 full of mouthwash, add about a cup of ammonia and fill the rest of the way with dish soap. Tah dah! You now have a concoction that no bug can survive. Bugs can’t stand either of these ingredients whether used together or independently. And your floors, walls, and even your grass is in no danger from these ingredients.
