Everyone loves the summer. One of the seasonal perks is that you can wear looser clothing and give your skin a break from being covered up all fall and winter. Unfortunately, the summer is also filled with pests—like mosquitoes—ready and waiting to make you their next meal. Seeing pesky insects outside your home during the summer can be upsetting because it takes away from your ability to relax by your pool, on your deck, or patio.

Since we’re committed to making the outdoors fun, we’re going to explain how to get rid of summer bugs in your house and share insight into how you can manage these summer pests so you can take back your outdoor spaces. We’ll get started with a quick review of the most annoying summer pests.

Mosquitoes: When it comes to summer pests, mosquitoes are the belle of the ball. These annoying pests buzz around our ears, jab us, then bodies, looking for the perfect place to bite. Once they get their stinger into you, it leaves an itchy bite that gets slightly raised the more you scratch it. Mosquitoes love areas with standing water because it allows them to lay their eggs comfortably.

Flies: There’s nothing quite as annoying as flies that crash your outdoor activities. Flies are pros at wreaking havoc at any backyard event. If the constant buzzing isn’t enough to drive you crazy, the thought that they can also transmit harmful diseases, will put you right over the edge. Keeping them at bay and away from food and drinks is a full-time job.

Fire Ants: While not quite as annoying or mobile as mosquitoes and flies, ants can be a huge summertime problem. Ants come in a variety of shapes and sizes. And while most are harmless (sans the fire ant), you still don’t want them around your home or backyard activities. Ants are masters at getting into seemingly impossible crevices within your home, which can cause structural damage.

Wasps: and Hornets: A painful sting makes wasps and hornets some of the most dangerous summer pests you can encounter outdoors.Their activity usually heightens during mid to late summer, when the weather in most areas is warmer. If you encounter a hive in your yard, it’s best to seek professional help, as they can quickly become aggravated and aggressive.

Ticks: Ticks are stealthy pests that lurk in the shadows, literally. They are much more subtle in their approach to humans and pets. Rather than flying around (which they can’t do), they wait for just the right time to latch on to a host for a free meal. Unfortunately, ticks are not just a summertime problem anymore. Depending on where you live, ticks can be present all year long. In some cases, these blood sucking parasites can leave with more than just a red welt. Some ticks can transmit bloodborne diseases that cause serious illness.

Fleas: While most people think fleas are only found on our furry friends, the truth is, fleas can infest carpeting and furnishings too. And like the other pests we mentioned, they can also carry diseases that cause illnesses in humans and pets. Fleas also have the ability to lay large numbers of eggs, which enables them to multiply rapidly.

Termites: While ants and fleas are no picnic, termites are a whole different level of pests —ones you definitely don’t want in or around your home. While many termites feed off of wood, some have evolved to consume concrete. So whether you live in a wood or CBS construction home, an infestation could mean trouble for your property. If you think you have termites, get professional help immediately.

As you can tell, there is no shortage of annoying pests to contend with during the summer months. But what’s the best way to manage these summer pests?

How Can You Manage the Most Common Summer Pests?

How to keep bugs out of the house in summer starts with a proactive approach. The important thing to note here is don’t wait until you have a pests problem to act, take the necessary steps now. When it comes to pests, taking preventive measures now can help you avoid bigger headaches later. Here are some of the things you can do to ensure your home remains free of insects, such as:

Seal up Any Holes or Gaps

If there are any gaps or holes around your home, you can be sure insects will find them and invite themselves in. Failing to seal these entryways is like laying out the welcome mat for pests. Eventually, they will make themselves comfortable in your home. Inspect your home for potential areas where insects may enter and use suitable material to seal them. Our professional team of pest inspection pros can help here too.

Close Doors and Windows When Not in Use

Sometimes, during warmer weather, we may keep our doors and windows open to increase ventilation. However, this is another open invitation for insects of summer to come in and find a cozy spot. If you want to keep your doors and windows open, install screens that effectively keep pests out.

Keep Your Home Clean

Once pests enter your home, they begin looking for food and shelter. An uncovered trash can or food left on a counter is like ringing the dinner bell for insects. Flies, in particular, love food crumbs and will buzz around your house, looking for every scrap they can find. To combat this, immediately clean up crumbs and don’t leave garbage cans uncovered.. If things have already gotten out of hand, call in the local pros for help.

Keep Your Yard Groomed

When you don’t keep your yard groomed, it’s an open invitation for insects of summer to come and hang out. As mentioned, mosquitoes love standing water because it’s the ideal place for them to lay their eggs. And overgrown grass is where ticks love to hide. Inspect your yard periodically for signs of insect infestation, eliminate any areas with standing water, keep your lawn at a manageable height (about 3 to 5 inches).

Conduct Tick Checks

Ticks are masters of disguise, which is why they often go undetected. What looks like a speck of dirt could be a tick. Since you can’t feel a tick bite, always check yourself, children, and pets for ticks after being outside for an extended period. If possible, perform a tick check before anyone enters the house. And be sure to follow these 7 Tips for Preventing Ticks In Your Yard. If you do find a tick on you, a family member or pet, follow these instructions on What to Do If a Tick Head Is Stuck in Your Skin.

Inspect Wood Structures

As mentioned, termites love eating wood, it’s also a great hiding place for many other insects, so inspect any wooden structures for signs of insects. Look for signs of deterioration, peeling paint, holes, or other damage to the wood. If you store firewood, always inspect it before bringing it into your home.

Protect Your Home From Summer Pests With Mosquito Joe®

Warm weather and the outdoors go together like peanut butter and jelly. However, managing the insects of summer can be a challenging task for any family, especially when you’re not equipped to deal with them. Taking a proactive approach to pest control is a great first step towards keeping them away from your outdoor activities.

If you need additional help, Mosquito Joe offers an extensive range of pests control services, including perimeter pest control, to help keep summer pests away. And as part of the Neighborly family of home service brands, all our work is backed by the Neighborly Done Right Promise™, which guarantees your satisfaction. So, don’t let summer pests ruin your summertime, request a free quote today!

Bzzzz — Ow! That is the soundtrack to living with insects that sting. But stinging insects are just defending their nests, albeit vigorously. They attack anyone threatening their nests, sometimes singly and sometimes in groups. Some sting once and then die, while others are equipped to sting over and over again.

Still, flying insects that sting are far easier to avoid than the bugs that bite. We’re just a nuisance to them. Mosquitoes, fleas, and ticks are looking for a blood meal, and we’re on the menu.

Flying Insects That Sting: Bees, Wasps, and Hornets

Bees, wasps, and hornets are the most common insects that sting.

Bees

In the wide world of bees, only the beloved honey bee stings once and dies. Its stingers are barbed, embedding in the skin when it stings. When it flies away, the stinger, venom sac, and related tissues are torn from the bee, which then dies. Other bees, like the bumble bee, have smooth stingers they can use repeatedly. Bees are naturally shy, typically stinging only when their nest is threatened or the bee is stepped on. You can identify a honey bee sting by the stinger left in the wound.

Wasps

Another insect that stings is the wasp. Like bees, wasps are often striped with yellow and black, but unlike fuzzy little bees, their bodies and stingers are smooth. They typically nest in sheltered spaces like trees, under roofs, or underground and will repeatedly sting, defending their nests in swarms if they feel threatened. Wasps also use their stingers to immobilize other insects they prey on, like caterpillars, beetle larvae, and flies.

Hornets

Hornets are among the largest, most aggressive flying insects that sting. They are a larger type of wasp that build big, rounded nests of paper pulp by chewing wood and mixing it with their saliva. They nest in tall trees, under roods, and in eves, aggressively defending their young in large, angry swarms. Like wasps, hornets can repeatedly sting to catch large insects like grasshoppers, beetles, and other wasps and bees for food.

Other Bugs That Sting to Watch Out For

There are some pretty creepy insects out there, like the Tarantula Hawk wasps, which pack a powerful punch when they sting people. Some, like the scorpion fly, certainly look like they could. But beyond bees, wasps, and hornets, the bugs that sting are ants.

Ants

Two types of true ants (not to be confused with “velvet ants” that are actually wasps) living in the United States employ painful stings to protect their nests and bring down prey. Fire ants are active throughout the southern states from Florida to California. Harvester ants thrive in the arid regions of the southwest, including Texas, Arizona, and California.

Signs of Infestation

Finding a few bees, wasps, hornets, or ants on your property is not a cause for concern. However, when you see many of the same insects, especially if they all seem to go to and from the same location, then you have a problem. You do not want any of these insects that sting nesting on your property.

A line of ants heading toward a food source almost certainly means they are taking the food back to a nest. Fire ants build nests from mounded soil, often in the lawn. Harvester ants build soil mound nests with a flattened top, surrounded by small pebbles and debris.

Wasps and hornets build large nests from papery wood pulp, often in trees or under the eves of your home.

Staying Safe: Prevention Tips

While most insect stings are merely painful, those who are allergic to them can suffer anaphylactic shock from getting stung. And those who are not allergic can become so after being stung several times. So, now that you know which insects sting, how can you protect yourself and your pets?

Clothing & Scents

Insects that sting are often attracted to bright colors and dark shades, so wear light white or beige clothing. Since loose clothing can envelop and trap an insect near your body, select fitted pieces. It’s best to wear long pants and sleeves where there are many stinging insects. Avoid sweet or floral scents, which can attract unwanted attention from insects, and be mindful that sweet foods can do the same. Consider using an insect repellent. Products containing DEET, picaridin, lemon oil, or eucalyptus oil can provide protection.

Nest Awareness

The best way to avoid being stung is to leave the nest alone. Keep pets and small children well away from insect nests. Some nests are built in the open, while others are well hidden. If you see insects repeatedly returning to the same spot, they are likely visiting a nest.

Removing a wasp nest or a large ant nest on your own is dicey. It’s best to call the pros to remove established nests to avoid getting hurt and to keep from harming other wildlife. Trust the experts at Mosquito Joe® to get rid of insects that sting and set up their homes on your property. We provide comprehensive pest control services tailored to your specific needs. The Neighborly Done Right Promise™ and our Mosquito Joe Satisfaction Guarantee back all our work, ensuring outstanding quality.

What to Do If You’re Stung

If you get stung by an insect, it is critical to remain calm and leave the area if there are other stinging insects around. Then, take the following first aid steps immediately.

Basic First Aid

First aid following an insect sting must be prompt to minimize the reaction:

1. Remove the stinger if it remains in the wound.
2. Clean the area with soap and water.
3. If stung on an extremity, elevate the leg or arm.
4. Apply ice or a cold pack for 10 to 20 minutes each hour to reduce swelling.
5. Apply hydrocortisone cream, calamine lotion, or baking soda paste.
6. Watch for signs of an allergic reaction, including trouble breathing or swallowing, swelling of the lips, eyelids, or throat, rapid pulse, dizziness, or a severe rash.

Get emergency medical assistance if any of these symptoms occur.

If the person stung is known to be allergic to stings, immediately administer the epinephrine pen if they have one. Get to the emergency room even if the person seems to be improving. Anaphylaxis can recur or worsen.

Insects that sting are no joke. Even if you weren’t allergic as a little kid, you can develop an allergy to stings, and anaphylaxis is deadly. If you have a nest or infestation on your property, don’t hesitate to contact Mosquito Joe. Request a free quote today for a pest inspection on your property.

There they are again — those strange scratching and skittering sounds that might be coming from the wall. Surely, it’s not what you dread most — a rodent infestation (ugh!). Unfortunately, mice, rats, and other rodents do move into buildings, seeking warmth, food, and shelter. While winter’s cold is a primary force driving these critters indoors, storms, rain, and drought can do so, too. Before you panic over the sounds, look for other signs of a rodent infestation. Rest assured, if you need rodent control, Mosquito Joe® will handle it for you.

Droppings

If you discover dark gray, brown, or black pellets that look like grains of wild rice scattered in a drawer, on the breadboard, or in your cupboards, those are likely rodent droppings. (Cockroach droppings look similar.) Droppings left near a food source are often the first signs of a rodent infestation people encounter in their homes.

Gnaw Marks

Mice and rats chew through cereal and cracker boxes in search of food. If you find bite marks on cardboard boxes or plastic bags, it’s a good indication that you may have rodents in the house. The larger the tooth marks, the bigger the beast that left them.

Chewed Wires or Materials

Rodents chew on everything. Once they are in your home, they continue chewing — on the baseboards, drywall, doors, electrical cords, ledges, and anything that gets them closer to food.

Urine Stains

Urine stains are another common sign of a rodent infestation. The urine may be soaked up by cardboard, paper towels, and other absorbent materials. In that case, you’ll just see the stain left behind. You may also notice a dirty smudge or smear along your baseboards. These are urine stains tracked by tiny feet as they move about your home.

Nesting Materials

If you discover shredded paper, paper towels, fabric, or other small bits of soft material gathered or in a pile, you have found a rodent’s nesting materials. While they sometimes nest for comfort, the most common reason they nest is because they are planning a family.

Scratching or Scurrying Sounds

Back to the unexplained sounds: Gnawing can sound like scratching, and rodents make scurrying, scuttling sounds as they race across the floor, along the baseboards, or within walls. Chances are you are hearing rodents if you’re also hearing high-pitched squeaking.

Pets Acting Strangely

Sometimes, the first indication of mice or rats in the house is the reaction of your cat or dog. If you notice your pets acting strangely, scratching at a wall, or gravitating toward one specific room, look for other signs of rodent activity.

Strange Smells

Strange smells like stale ammonia are another sign of a rat infestation, as they are indicative of rodent urine and droppings. A potent smell reminiscent of rotting cabbage is another odor associated with mice and rats. It is the smell of a dead, decaying rodent. (Blech!)

Live or Dead Rodents

If you spot a rodent in your home, living or dead, there’s a good chance you have more. They are social creatures and reproduce quickly.

Why Is Identifying Signs of a Rodent Infestation Important?

While some people would shriek in fright at the very notion of a rodent in the house, others take a live-and-let-live approach. That can be a fine attitude with wildlife outdoors, but you really must avoid a rodent infestation in your home. Protecting your family’s health and preventing property damage are the best reasons to watch for signs of a rodent infestation.

Rodents are known to carry many diseases, including several that can spread to people directly and indirectly. Diseases like Hantavirus, Tularemia, and Monkeypox are spread directly through contact with an infected animal, such as eating contaminated food, touching their urine or feces, or getting bitten or scratched. Other diseases like Plague, Lyme disease, and Colorado tick fever are contracted indirectly by beIfflea, tick, or mosquito that previously bit an infected rodent.

In addition to carrying disease, rodents cause tremendous property damage. Americans splash out hundreds of millions of dollars repairing property damaged by rodent infestations every year. Most insurance companies do not cover the damage rodents do to HVAC equipment, electrical wiring, roofing, flooring, walls, baseboards, or furniture.

How to Prevent Rodent Infestation

The very best rodent control is rodent prevention. The goal is twofold:

• Stop attracting rodents to your home and property, and
• Deny them entry to your home.

What attracts rodents, pets, or any wildlife to your property are the things they need to survive. Food, water, warmth, shelter, and propagation support are the resources they are hunting. If your property provides what they need, they’ll move in, which brings them closer to your home. If rodents take up residence in your garden, they’ll come into your home the next time they cannot meet their needs outdoors. There are several steps to effectively prevent a rodent infestation:

• Seal up entry points to your home.
• Install screens on chimneys and vents.
• Keep all food and food waste cleaned up and sealed away.
• Store firewood properly.
• Trim shrubs and trees.
• Keep the yard tidy and clean.
• Eliminate leaky fixtures.
• Use natural deterrents.
• Hire professional residential pest control.

Why Hiring a Professional Rodent Control Is Better Than DIY

Preventing a rodent infestation is where homeowners should focus their efforts. If you catch a single mouse investigating the premises, DIY efforts may be all that’s needed. But once the mouse’s friends and relatives have moved in, the situation quickly spirals out of control. Often, it’s difficult to find or reach the heart of the colony, leaving your best efforts just nibbling at the edges of the problem. A female mouse gives birth to a litter of five to six babies between five and ten times a year. This rapid birth rate plus the rodents’ extraordinary survival skills make professional rodent control a better bet than DIY strategies.

Worried About Rodents In Your Home or Business? Call Mosquito Joe!

When you see signs of a rodent infestation on your property, call the pest control experts at Mosquito Joe. Our comprehensive pest control services include keeping rodents out of your home or business. We evaluate your property to locate nesting sites and runways the rodents repeatedly use to get to their food sources. We treat these locations and form a barrier around your structures to keep the critters outside.

Trust Mosquito Joe to protect your family and property. All our work is backed by the Neighborly Done Right Promise™ and the Mosquito Joe Guarantee because the job’s not done until it’s done right.

Request a free quote today, and look forward to a rodent-free tomorrow — with Mosquito Joe!

Insects are incredibly diverse in form, behavior, and food sources. Those we consider pests feed on our plants, our animals, and even ourselves. Our activity impacts these insect populations and behaviors enormously. There is little overlap between the worst winter insects in urban areas and those in rural locations. Suburban pests are particularly interesting because they must contend with influences from both our urban and rural settings. Let’s take a look at these critters, as well as urban pests and rural farm insects, to see our influence at work.

Winter Insects in Rural Areas

Winter insects live in conditions as close to their natural habitat as can be found among humans. Their populations and behaviors are the least affected by us.

Asian Multicolored Lady Beetles

These ladybug look-alikes are not badly behaved. In fact, they devour aphids and other garden pests. But they also out-compete native ladybugs, endangering their survival. They hibernate in winter, finding shelter in small crevices, under bark, and in barn siding.

Wood-Boring Beetles

Larger and hungrier than termites, wood-boring beetles feast on wood furniture, support joists, and decorative wood inside homes. The females of these winter pests overwinter by laying cold-resistant eggs on wood.

Brown Marmorated Stink Bug (BMSB)

These rural farm insects do tremendous crop damage across the country. They seek out warm, sheltered locations in attics, barns, sheds, basements, and behind baseboards to overwinter. They also hide in wood piles and hay bales for warmth.

Aphids and other Houseplant Pests

Aphids and other soft-bodied houseplant pests typically survive the winter by laying their eggs in the warm, moist soil of our plants. The hatchlings awake hungry, sucking the moisture and nutrients from the plants.

Bees

There are more than 20,000 bee species in the world, and they are certainly not pests. These hardworking insects pollinate the plants that animals and humans rely on. These winter insects huddle together in their hives, eating honey, shivering, and vibrating their wings to stay warm.

Winter Insects in Suburban Areas

Suburban pests inhabit territory that retains many aspects of their natural habitat, with open fields, parks, and varied landscapes. But they are also affected by considerable construction and human habitation.

Ticks and Fleas

These winter pests harass and harm our livestock, our pets, and sometimes even us. Ticks enter a form of dormancy known as diapause to ride out the cold. Fleas, however, come right indoors where it’s warm, and they have a ready source of blood available.

Termites

Termites burrow deep into wood or soil to survive frigid winters. Where the temps remain more moderate, they continue to eat and lay eggs right through winter. However, winter swarms typically occur just in the warmest regions of Florida.

Bed Bugs

These nasty winter insects are bloodsuckers like fleas and ticks, but they prefer feeding on human blood. The more people who live close together, the worse the bed bugs will be, so this is definitely a suburban or urban pest. While they can be found in rural areas, the greater populations and mobility in suburbs and cities create an ideal habitat for them.

Boxelder Bugs

The biggest problem with boxelder bugs is the way they overwinter. They seek out the warmth in houses and other buildings, sometimes in very large numbers. They are suburban pests due to more homes providing the essential winter shelter.

Snow Fleas

“Snow fleas” are not fleas at all. They don’t feed on blood or even bite. But they jump around like fleas and are easy to see on the snow, hence their name. Snow fleas benefit the ecosystem by feeding on decaying plant matter and fungi, turning it into nutritious soil. These winter bugs actually produce a type of antifreeze that keeps them active year-round.

Winter Insects in Urban Areas

Like suburban pests and rural farm insects, urban pests are more common where their needs for food, shelter, and reproductive needs are best met. Urban insects are those that benefit the most from human habitation.

Ticks and Fleas

Ticks and fleas feed on the blood of their hosts, whether they’re wildlife, livestock, pets, or people. Naturally, they thrive where more of their prey congregate, making them our top urban pests. While ticks hibernate and fleas slow down a bit in cold weather, fleas that overwinter indoors continue to plague our pets in winter.

Termites

While winter termite swarms occur only in the very warmest regions of the country, elsewhere, termites remain actively eating and breeding throughout the winter. They are protected from winter’s chill by the buildings that they eat.

Bed Bugs

Bed bugs are truly urban pests. Contrary to misconceptions, bed bugs are not a sign of poor hygiene but of our mobility and socializing. Bed bugs hitch rides from one person to another, so where more people gather, these critters play.

Ants

Ants have adapted to make an excellent living off of humans living in cities. They clean up our spilled food and have developed an exceptional heat tolerance, making them ideally suited as urban insects.

Spiders

Spiders aren’t really pests; we’re just extremely uncomfortable in their presence. They’re happy to spin their webs and feast on the insects they catch. They thrive in cities where the artificial lighting draws in insects in throngs.

How Urbanization and Human Activities Impacts Winter Insects

When humans live in vast, sprawling cities, we have an enormous impact on the environment. We affect the lives of urban insects in several ways:

• Those who feed on our blood or those of our pets enjoy the bounty of having their prey gathered so close together.
• Other urban pests thrive off our food waste.
• Our artificial lighting attracts many insects that others feed on.

Our cities, with their endless expanses of concrete and asphalt, create urban heat islands far warmer than the areas surrounding them. This temperature difference can attract pests from surrounding areas and support them through the winter.

Keep the Winter Insects Away

Trust your local Mosquito Joe® to take urban pests and winter insects out of your way. Our comprehensive pest control services include residential and commercial pest control. We’re making the outdoors fun again and keeping pests out of your indoor spaces!

All our work is backed by the Neighborly Done Right Promise™ and the Mosquito Joe Guarantee, which ensures we’ll do the job right. Request a free quote, and we’ll tell those winter insects to bug off!

Are All Scorpions Poisonous?

If you just encountered a scorpion, you may wonder whether all scorpions are poisonous. While every one of the nearly 2,000 scorpion species worldwide is venomous, just 30 to 40 species are potent enough to be deadly to healthy adult humans. In the United States, the deadliest scorpion is the Arizona bark scorpion found throughout the Southwest, particularly in Arizona, Nevada, southeastern California, and parts of New Mexico. Due to medical advances and the accessibility of antivenom, deaths from the Arizona bark scorpion are rare.

Scorpions are fascinating creatures that thrive in a vast range of habitats, from desert wastelands to lush tropical forests. Although most often found in deserts and dry grasslands, scorpions live on every continent but Antarctica. Let’s delve into these fascinating, fearsome-looking critters and answer your questions. We’ll consider how poisonous scorpions are, how their venom works, and just how deadly scorpions like the Arizona bark scorpion actually are.

How Deadly Are Scorpions?

All scorpions are very deadly — to their preferred prey. Most are not fatal to humans, though their sting is no joke. A healthy human without allergies is still likely to experience the following symptoms from the single sting of a non-lethal scorpion:

• Immediate pain
• Redness
• Swelling with heat
• Numbness or tingling
• Muscle twitching
• Headache
• Dizziness
• Nausea
• Sweating

The list of symptoms indicates how poisonous scorpions are. It is typical for healthy adults to recover from within hours to a few days. However, the sting should be closely monitored. If the symptoms persist or worsen, seek medical attention.

Though somewhat rare, some people are allergic to scorpions and may experience a far more severe reaction, including anaphylaxis, which can be life-threatening. Symptoms of an anaphylactic reaction include:

• Severe swelling
• Difficulty breathing
• Rapid heartbeat
• Sudden drop in blood pressure
• Nausea and vomiting
• Hives or a rash beyond the bite site
• Anxiety

Experiencing any of these symptoms following a scorpion sting is a medical emergency. Prompt medical attention is essential and may involve the administration of epinephrine, antihistamines, and corticosteroids. Due to their smaller body size, children and pets are more vulnerable to scorpion venom. Even if the initial symptoms appear mild, seek prompt medical attention for any child or pet stung by a scorpion.

So, answering the question, “How deadly are scorpions?” is a bit of a catch-22. Most scorpions won’t kill a healthy adult unless the adult is allergic to scorpions. And, of course, you wouldn’t know you were allergic to scorpions until stung.

How Scorpion Venom Works

Technically, scorpions aren’t “poisonous” at all! They contain venom rather than poison in their stings. The difference is a matter of molecular size and use. Poisons have small molecules that can be absorbed through the skin. It is a defense mechanism. Venom, however, is all about offense. Venom molecules are large and require an open wound so the venom can directly enter the victim’s bloodstream. A way to remember the difference is that if you bite something and get sick, it is poisonous. If it bites you and you get sick, it’s venomous.

So, the question,” How poisonous are scorpions?” should really be, “How venomous are scorpions?” And the answer is: “Plenty!” The scorpion’s venom is an offensive weapon that quickly immobilizes and kills their prey by shutting down the victim’s nervous system. Scorpions also use their stings for self-defense against would-be predators, larger animals, and rival scorpions in territorial disputes.

Most Scorpions Are Mild Stingers

While all scorpions are venomous, only 30 to 40 species worldwide are considered deadly to healthy adult humans. Only one of those species, the Arizona bark scorpion, lives in the U.S. Most scorpion stings affect humans like a sting from a bee or wasp. However, responses vary among individuals, even those who are not sick, elderly, or allergic to scorpions.

Meet the Deadliest Slayers

Knowing the risk factors involved with scorpion venom, what are some of the deadliest? Let’s meet a few.

Arizona Bark Scorpion (Centruroides sculpturatus)

• Location and Habitat: Found throughout the Southwest U.S., particularly in Arizona, Nevada, southeastern California, and parts of New Mexico. Prefers desert and semi-arid regions.
• Venom Potency: Highly venomous; its sting can cause severe pain, numbness, convulsions, and, in rare cases, death in humans.
• Physical Characteristic: Adult Arizona bark scorpions grow up to 3 inches long, with slender tails and pincers.
• Behavior: These nocturnal hunters can climb trees.
• Cool Facts: Like all scorpions, the Arizona bark glows in the dark when hit with UV light. We don’t yet understand why this glowing evolved.

Deathstalker (Leiurus quinquestriatus)

• Location and Habitat: Commonly found in North Africa and the Middle East, inhabiting dry and desert regions.
• Venom Potency: Contains a potent cocktail of neurotoxins. This dramatically nicknamed scorpion is one of the world’s deadliest, with extremely painful, potentially fatal stings.
• Physical Characteristics: Yellowish, with a slender body measuring 2-3 inches long.
• Behavior: Aggressive when threatened, this scorpion hides under stones and in crevices.
• Cool Facts: Deathstalker venom is being researched for potential medical applications, including treating brain tumors and diabetes.

Brazilian Yellow Scorpion (Tityus serrulatus)

• Location and Habitat: Widely distributed across Brazil and other parts of South America. Thrives in urban and suburban areas.
• Venom Potency: Its sting causes severe pain and inflammation and can be deadly, especially to children and older adults.
• Physical Characteristics: Yellowish brown in color, growing up to 2.5 inches long.
• Behavior: Highly adaptable, this scorpion is moving into Brazil’s big cities and urban environments.
• Cool Facts: This scorpion has been known to display parthenogenesis, where females can produce offspring without mating.

What To Do if You Encounter a Scorpion?

What to do if you encounter a scorpion varies, depending on where you find it. While all scorpions are venomous, they generally avoid people, and most are not deadly to healthy adults. Wear protective clothing like closed-toe shoes, long sleeves, and long pants if hiking or camping in scorpion country. Avoid rocky areas, fallen logs, and dense vegetation. Clear a wide swath of brush, rocks, leaf litter, sticks, and debris around your campsite. Use a tent with a built-in ground sheet, or sleep on a raised cot. While you deserve to enjoy the outdoors, you’re stepping into their natural environment where their role as both predator and prey is important.

If you encounter a scorpion in your yard, don’t panic — just avoid contact. Scorpions are notoriously hard to catch or kill, and attempts to do so can antagonize them into stinging you. You can try to scoop the scorpion into a box using a trowel or shovel, then discard it or release it well away from your property (or your neighbors’!). Then, be on the watch for more, with special care if you have pets or small children.

If you spot a scorpion in your home, set out sticky traps and follow our home hygiene tips to prevent pests. Call the pros for scorpion exterminator services if you have a scorpion infestation in your home or on your property.

Why Scorpions Are Becoming A Problem For Homeowners

Scorpions are typically shy of humans and are only interested in survival. They enter our property and homes only when their need for suitable shelter, food, or water cannot be met outdoors. As urban expansion encroaches on habitat and climate change alters the availability of standing water, scorpions and other pests are a growing problem for homeowners. In need of a home pest inspection for scorpions? We can help here.

How Do I Get Rid of Scorpions?

The best way to get rid of scorpions is not to attract them in the first place. This means doing all you can indoors and out to control insects — their food source — standing water, and their preferred shelter. Remove brush piles, leaf litter, rocks, stacked wood, and other debris from your property. Trim shrubs and trees so no foliage is in contact with your home’s exterior, providing a handy bridge. Then, use caulk to seal all cracks and crevices in your home’s foundation and walls. Repair screens and fix any leaks indoors or out. Use yellow light bulbs in exterior light fixtures to keep from attracting insects.

Professional pest control services efficiently prevent scorpions from moving in. Scorpions won’t move to or stay where there are no insects to eat.
Trust Mosquito Joe®’s pest control. The Neighborly Done Right Promise™ backs all our work because the job’s not done until it’s done right. Request a free quote today. Let’s make your outdoor spaces fun again!