Living in the Southern Nevada desert climate can be a wonderful thing; our winters are exquisitely mild compared to the harsh conditions of many regions, our weather typically and predictably bright and sunny, and mosquitos and many other pesky species of creepy crawlies don't tend to thrive here due to the severe dryness. In fact, the lack of humidity can cause all sorts of issues for human visitors, too- which is why staying hydrated (along with lotion, chapstick, vaseline, etc) is so crucial to survival here. One thing that's decidedly not necessary for optimal living, however, are scorpions. These creepy little jerks like to proliferate out here, as the desert expanse is their home. The specimen above was found lurking in our sink upon returning home (sorry for the state of it!)... I actually made an audible squeak of surprise upon noticing his unwanted presence! It's hard to say whether bark scorpions, like that bad boy, originated in Southern Nevada or not and there are rumors about them being brought in through palm trees from Arizona... wherever they came from originally, it's sad to say they're here to stay. There are other species of scorpions that are, without a doubt, indigenous to the region and they also have a far less painful (or venomous) sting. There's an adage that says something like, "skinny pinchers, big sting". Needless to say, we absolutely did not want to have any sort of interaction with that little tail of his! We didn't want to just squash him, either, though, because scorpions eat a lot of other insects that would also be unwelcome visitors into our space. Circle of life and all that, right? Scorpions have their place in the ecosystem, we'd just prefer they go about fulfilling that purpose somewhere other than our living space, capiche? In the end, we opted to use chopsticks to grab him by the tail and thrust him into a tupperware with a lid quickly slapped over top for protection. Antho then proceeded to take him outside and set him free somewhere not-so-close to our front door, or our neighbor's. There's something so surreal about scorpions, a creature that seems like some mean-spirited creator went "How about a spider-lobster with a hornet's stinger on it's tail? Why? Because f**k humanity and all those weenie arachnophobes, that's why!"
Not cool, man, not cool at all. Did you know that scorpions, much like their spider cousins, are adept climbers? I didn't until I started doing research on what kind of monstrosity I'd found...
Luckily for us, it's actually recommended you use chopsticks as they give you a means to grasp the little stinger of evil without having to get your hands dangerously close. It's still quite nervewracking trying to wrangle the little beast, but in the end, we were successful. The background talking you'll be hearing in the video there (aside from our nervous noises) is from the Mysterious Universe podcast. I listen to it every night and let it run through old episodes... I always wake up to some story about Sasquatch or reincarnation stories, or other random topics. I've been a fan for ages, so it's a common thread in the background of our home.
Ugh.
I've been so anxious any time I feel a tickle on my foot since it happened...
At least we came out of this one alright, eh?
Things like this are hard to avoid when you live in the desert, as this was originally their home before houses and things were built up on top of it. Still, we're trying to be proactive in an effort to prevent any more unwanted houseguests!
Anyhow~
Sorry for any nightmares!
🕷
XOXO,
NAU
