Scorpions are a common home invader across the southwestern United States. North America boasts their native species of scorpion: the stripe tailed scorpion, the Arizona hairy scorpion, and the Arizona bark scorpion. Of these, only the hairy scorpion and the bark scorpion pose a threat to humans.

The Desert Hairy Scorpion

The Arizona hairy scorpion, or desert scorpion, is the largest North American scorpion at 5 to 7 inches in length. Despite their size these scorpions pose minimal threat. While their sting can cause pain and irritation at the sting site, their venom is weak. The Arizona bark scorpion, or bark scorpion, only grows to be up to 3 inches long but its venom causes an extremely painful sting. Cases of numbness and convulsion have also been reported.

How Scorpions Get In Your Home

Scorpions frequently enter homes seeking shelter from the heat and sun of their desert environments. Bark scorpions especially find it easy to enter homes through unsealed cracks in walls and foundations, as well as through unsecured doors and windows. Once inside of a home, scorpions will hide in dark spaces such as under furniture or boxes. Leaking faucets and other plumbing provides them with a water source. Scorpions eat insects, so a home with an ant or cockroach problem proves especially inviting for scorpions by providing a food source.

In order to prevent scorpions, the first step is to make sure that the home is properly sealed. While the occasional scorpion can hitch a ride on clothes or inside items such as containers, sealing a home ensures that outside scorpions have a harder time finding their way inside. In order to keep a home from becoming an inviting environment for scorpions, it should be kept clean. Dripping water should be cleaned and repaired and food and trash that can attract insects should be removed and secured. Clutter should be minimized to keep scorpions from finding easy hiding places. Items and clothing should also be checked before they are brought inside to keep stray scorpions from coming in by accident.

Hiring a Scorpion Exterminator

A licensed pest control professional can not only treat infestations, but they can treat the outside environment in order to make sure that scorpions stay as far from the house as possible. This professional can also examine a home to identify problem areas that may have been missed.

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