Keep Scorpion Stings at Bay With These Tips
It’s that time of year in blazing hot south Arizona where scorpions come out to play. Bleh! This is our first summer in Phoenix, and we’ve already been formally introduced to a poisonous bark scorpion. Unfortunately, the experience was too up close and personal for my taste, leaving my husband with a scorpion sting.
It started last night. We found a bark scorpion in our bed at 1:00am when it stung my husband. That nasty creature was less than a foot away from my small dog and a couple of feet from me. The bark scorpion obviously strolled right past a snoring Rottweiler while it headed straight for our bed. My husband jumped out of bed claiming a scorpion stung his thigh, which caused me to stand and scream in the bathtub with both dogs until he found it. I’m surprised the police weren’t called.
My hubby is okay and I’ve resisted the urge to burn the house down, and yes I haven’t slept since. Fortunately, deep breaths, bright lights, a frantic voicemail to my pest control guy and a Xanax decreased my sudden thoughts of things crawling all over my body and face.
How do we protect ourselves and our dogs from scorpion stings?
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How to Prevent Scorpions From Stinging Your Dog
Scorpions are nocturnal; they search for food and water at night. It seems scorpions live everywhere too. While most scorpion stings feel like broken glass in your skin, they’re not poisonous except for the bark scorpion. Apparently, June through August is prime scorpion time, and we had our formal introduction in July.
Seal Cracks and Gaps
The best way to keep your dog safe from scorpion stings is to keep your dog inside and scorpions outside. Small cracks in your home and gaps in weather stripping near doors and windows are beacons to scorpions. To check for gaps and cracks, have someone shine a flashlight along your windows and doors at night while another person stands outside t0 look for light peeking through. Scorpions are able to flatten themselves like a credit card, so seal any and all cracks and gaps tightly.
Hunt Them at Night
Bug sprays and powders won’t affect a scorpion. If they do, it would take 7 to 14 days for it to penetrate their extremely durable exoskeleton. Now, sprays and powders will keep other pests away that scorpions love to munch on. Some of our neighbors hunt scorpions at night with black lights and a shoe because scorpions shine brightly under black light. Around 10:00pm, we usually hear gleeful “I got ’em” comments coming from several homes in the neighborhood. Many neighbors and pest control companies swear this is an effective way to prevent scorpion stings. Maybe I need a black light and one of my old shoes too.
Hire a Pest Control Company
We do have a pest control company that sprays regularly. They’ve walked our property before showing us cracks and gaps that need to be sealed. Although, somehow, a scorpion still got into our home. While I totally believe in natural products and living a chemical-free life, I made an exception for the pest control company. After chatting with our holistic veterinarian, she recommended pest control chemicals if we’re dealing with bark scorpions. Another reason I hired a bug guy is because bark scorpions can scale walls and walk along ceilings. They can go anywhere they want to basically.
What to Do if a Scorpion Stings Your Dog
When dogs are stung by scorpions (or wasps and bees for that matter), your dog will likely yelp, whine, paw or rub at the sting site. Scorpion stings hurt. Many years ago, my dog was stung by a scorpion in our Texas home. He yelped and began limping immediately. Fortunately, I saw the scorpion scurry away. However, I managed to kill the scorpion, put it in a plastic bag, and bring it and my dog to our vet’s office immediately. I say that I’m thankful for seeing the scorpion because I was able to rule out what actually caused the sting.
If a bark scorpion stings your dog or cat, bring your pet to a veterinarian immediately. She’ll likely inject a Benadryl-like medication into your pet. If a scorpion stings your dog overnight, call your veterinary emergency clinic immediately. She’ll likely ask you to bring your pet in for an injection too.
From chatting with our vet, we learned that not only can bark scorpion stings cause pain, but the sting site can also become quickly infected. When my husband was stung by a bark scorpion, the pain lasted for more than 12 hours. He was nauseous for a couple of days, but luckily the sting site didn’t become infected.
For other types of scorpion stings, watch your pet closely for the next 4 hours. Most large dogs recover well from scorpion bites, but reactions are more common with small dogs and cats. If your dog or cat has trouble breathing, struggles to stand up, can’t walk properly or looks distressed in any way, get your pet to your vet immediately.
Good luck out there, and I hope you never see a scorpion. As for me, I need to call my bug man again. I need reassurance after writing this article (scratch, scratch).
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