How to Scorpion-proof Your Home
Image courtesy of Shantanu Kuveskar
You may have some scorpion roommates you don’t know about. Our homes are a scorpion’s ideal climate, and many hunker down to hibernate in the winter right under our noses!
Bark scorpions hibernate in groups of up to 30, and they often hide in warm, dark places. These unexpected houseguests won’t show themselves until the temperatures begin to heat up. These tips will help you scorpion-proof your home:
- Seal off all potential entry points. Scorpions can enter through the tiniest crack! Seal off the spots where waterlines, electrical or phone lines enter your house. Many pest control services can do this for you.
- Don’t overwater your plants. You’re providing a water source for scorpions and other pests if you do. Scorpions can live for months without food if they have a reliable water source. For plants with sprinkler systems, be sure to fix leaks quickly.
- Trim plants away from your home. Scorpions can gain access to your home by climbing over from surrounding vegetation.
- Remove sheltering areas around your yard. Scorpions love the shelter that large rocks, logs, dead or decaying shrubs and untrimmed palm trees provide. They also enjoy woodpiles, and clothing or shoes left out.
- Place potted plants on stands. Scorpions like to hide under pots, and stands eliminate this option.
Want more scorpion management tips? We’ve got you covered.
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Good post Andrea and a good time of the year to post it. It’s also a good idea to have a black light. In the dark those scorpions light up like neon. It’s a good idea to shut off the lights and do a black light check at least once a week.
I have been studying scorpion behavior here in arizona for alot of years. All of these tips are helpful. Scorpions are most attracted to moisture not food a bark scorpion will eat once every two months or so but moisture they are constantly seeking. The best way to be proactive for any scorpions that might be in the home is to get a piece of burlap towel size moisten it and leave it on your tile floor maybe in the kitchen and the bathroom at night when you go to sleep. Scorpions are nocturnal if there any wandering around in your home there is a very good chance you will find it nesttled underneath that piece of burlap in the morning.
Living and dealing with the scorpions in the desert for over 20 years we found it necessary my wife and I to finally come up with a solution that will keep scorpions out of our home permanently. Scorpions among many other pests don’t have the ability to climb smooth surfaces like glass we surrounded our home with a 2 inch wide strip of glass on our stem wall and in our garage we also placed this on the pillars that are on our back patio and front entry. We wrapped a heavy Teflon strip around each pipe that connected with the home. In doing this because scorpions can’t climb glass and scorpions don’t jump or fly or dig, We made it impossible for them to climb onto our home if they couldn’t climb on our home they couldn’t get into our home. This works so well that we decided to offer it to other people that were scared of scorpions and called it The Pest Border. If you’re frustrated and scared and have tried everything you might want to look into our border.
“Scorpions can enter through the tiniest crack!” The general rule is, if you can slide a standard size paperclip through a space, a scorpion can get through it, too. Some bark scorpions do grow to be huge, so it won’t apply every time, but the point is that they can flatten themselves out until they fit through an opening you would never dream a scorpion-sized critter could fit through.
In the half century I’ve lived in the Phoenix ares, we’ve found that 3 of the most helpful actions for getting rid of scorpions outside, before they come in to share your dwelling, are eliminating crickets (scorpions love crickets), keeping landscape plants away from the foundations and walls of your home, apartment building, or barn, and not using bark or plant mulch around landscape plants. Make the scorpions go look somewhere else for tastier food and more comfortable digs.
So much helpful intel. Yet nobody mentions working on or under their trees. I really want to know how many people have had them drop onto them while working on the ground under a tree or while working on the tree? And in particular citrus trees. I have 4. And I like to garden in general. I am somewhat terrified to do those things at this point. If my fears are unfounded won’t someone please enlighten me? Thank you in advance. Sincerely.
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