Howdy folks and greetings from the Great Plains of North Texas,
land of the rattlesnake, scorpion, wild hog, coyote and a host of
other creatures that you probably don't want to associate with!
Scorpion King is not a title that I ever sought but I think I earned it
anyway after how many I've killed the last few years.
For those newer readers who don't know the situation, when we got
here the place had sat abandoned for 8 long years and nature had
pretty much taken it over so we had to take it back.
The biggest critter problem we faced is scorpions. I mean those
things were everywhere inside and out. We sprayed, we had
professionals spray, nothing seemed to stop them.
We've never been able to take our shoes off because you never know
when they're going to be around and you always have to check your
shoes before putting them on too because shoes are a favorite place
for them to hide.
So are blankets, clothing, they love beds and getting under the sheets
and covers! We had to buy drinking glasses and glass bowls for the
furniture and beds because scorpions can't climb up glass.
In fact it's about the only thing they can't climb.
There are companies in Texas that will come out and clad the bottom
couple feet of your house with glass so the scorpions can't climb up
the walls.
We finally started making progress and after killing 10 or 15 each
day inside the house we were thinning them out, it got down to
seeing maybe 1 or 2 a day. Then that went down to 1 or 2 per week.
But lately the rate has been about 1 per month after spreading
poison on the lawns surrounding the house.
Then last night I saw this guy on the side of the house at about
eye level:
Yeah I interrupted his dinner as he was chowing down on a
cricket. He fell down on onto the deck when I got close to him
with the camera, but he didn't let go of the cricket!
Then this morning I got into the laundry room and this is what I
see:
He was fast too but paused just long enough for me to get a good
shot of him. Then if those guys weren't enough, Mrs. J goes to
look at the pool and sees another one at the bottom of the pool.
Sorry the photos of the scorpion under water didn't come out very
well but you get the idea. Just when I was starting to relax and even
going without shoes a couple of times! lol.
If anyone knows of a secret weapon against these things let me know.
And if anyone has other critters they can't get rid of lets talk about
that too.
thanks for reading folks, God bless you all!
-jonboy Texas
the gentleman redneck
ps- ya know...you might just be a redneck if:
Yer mom calls ya over t'help, cause she has a flat tire...on her house!
I don't think I can ever live in a place like that. I would go mad. lol
what place? Texas? hahaha! well we found out that very few people have scorpions here, alot of people have never seen one, it just depends on the soil in your area. and ours likes scorpions. lol.
But our neighbor less than half mile away don't have any.
I see. Oh well. Be careful of them. :-)
I hate scorpion
hahaha..howdy there rabonee..thanks for dropping by and commenting.. well said!
I hate scorpions too ;/
Jesus Christ ! 😱😱! scorpions ?? And tell me this . If they hit you with their tail stinger thing would you be ok or require treatment??
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It is more dangerous for elderly gentleman so Janton will be ok for a few more years lol.
haha! yes! that's right sir cryptoandcoffee, I keep telling people that even though I have a 21 year old grandson who is joining steemit, I'm not really that old! lol. usually people have grandkids in their 70s.
haha..yes sir blanchy we are lucky that ours aren't the real deadly kind, ours are just the painful kind. I haven't been stung but lots of ranchers around here told me that it hurts like hell and might swell up a little with a red lump but you'll be fine.
The rancher that told me that had been stung 8 or 9 times. lol.
he's the same guy with the .357 Magnum six shooter in my dog hero story. were you around for that one? amazing true story.
so no if you're a Texan you shrug it off. if you're a snowflake you go screaming and cryin to the doctor who will be a Texas doctor who will tell you to shrug it off! lol.
Hi @janton. They love the attic as we had an issue a while ago. I woke up with one in the bed and it's true when they say they are always in pairs. If you find one you will find two. You need more lizards as they prey on scorpions.
But then you will have a lizard problem. Best get a few falcons for that 😂😂😂. How do yee guys live in these faccking places!? daddy long legs and an angry wasp is our problem.
Funny you say that but a daddy long legs is the most poisonous spider in the world but can't bite you. I have loads of lizards but they attract snakes as well so you can't win. If I was Janton I would be more worried about that long worm he mentioned a while ago.
oh wow..really! a daddy long legs is poisonous..huh. we got so many of them it's pitiful.
what kind of snakes do you have?
yeah that worm thing was creepy!
sir blanchy! what kind of a place? a faccking place? that doesn't sound like a very good place. lol. well when we checked the place out we were aware of all the dangers except scorpions so that was a fine surprise, we were ok with dealing with the potential dangers outside but didn't know we were going to have to deal with them inside! lol.
But it's still worth it to be out in the country with total privacy. It's a great location, we just have to solve this problem.
here's a couple of shots of some of the property:
Jesus that's beautiful Janton. Its green surprisingly!
hahaa! thank you sir blanchy! what do you mean it's green surprisingly? lol this isn't the dang desert, that's in West Texas like 5 hours hours from here.
Texas has several different geography types, ours in NorthEast Texas is a mixture of grasslands and woods with quite a bit of rain. also cooler and not as humid.
When I think of Texas i think of oil , desert 🌵 JFK getting shot in the bulb and cowboys. Although there was a grassy knowle so I suppose there isn’t some grass.
ahh yes.. well sir blanchy all of the oil and all of the desert is in Western Texas, I haven't seen an oil well since I've been here but we are in the Northeastern corner, you can look on a map and they have those little arrows labeled that will tell you which direction is Northeast.
haha! we need more lizards? hahaha. well that's one thing we don't have a whole lot of especially with our Road Runners and that's their favorite food is small lizards. and I'd rather have scorpions than snakes.
oh no! wow you had one in bed! I didn't know they were that prevalent in South Africa but alot of critters are there I know but are they in the house on a regular basis? Everyone says to get a cat.
Oh, gosh! I thought you had licked this problem, Jon.
Did your roadrunners take off on you, or...?
howdy back sir metpatriot! well we have pretty much licked it I think. with the spraying, the poison and the Road Runners but then last night and today just made us realize that maybe we'll never be 100 percent rid of them!
The Road Runners do take off for a couple weeks at a time though, even though they're here most of the time. They are here for a couple of months and then disappear for awhile but they always come back.
That's why we got and raised those Guineas because they take care of scorpions but our guineas got eaten by the coyotes. It's a rough ecosystem out here. And I here the coyotes starting to howl right now as I'm writing this, it's about 8:40pm and they'll be going off and on all night, but you guys have them up there too right?
Oh yes. We have plenty of coyotes.
What about putting up an electric fence around the house to keep coyotes at bay, with new guinea fowl inside the fence?
sir mepatriot! that's a good idea but I don't think Mr.s J would go for the idea of a fence because of looks and I doubt if we could keep the coyotes out I think they could get over it or through it, not sure but to build one secure or tall enough I don't think would be agreeable to the boss! lol.
Got it! I think I will start "The Attractive Electric Fence, Co., Inc."
haha! yes like those invisible fences but first you gotta catch the coyotes and put that collar on them! lol.
He’s a dead man walking with them Scotland around crypto! I’m heading on fundition to get two lizards funded 🦎🦎. He can call one wild bill and the other Doc Holiday. Maybe he can train them and put them on a leash!
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hahaha! train them suckers to kill scorpions? that's a good one blanchy I wonder if they eat scorpions? I bet they do. good idea!
Yikes, janton, there must be a colony of scorpions living on your property. I can see why you and Mrs J are always vigilant. Keep those shoes on!
howdy angiemitchell! yes Ma'am I don't know where these dang things come from but putting poison on the lawns almost eliminated them but not quite so we don't know where the few are coming from. Hopefully not from inside the walls.
I know this sounds daft but can you spray inside walls?
oh well yes if you could get inside of them but ours are all sealed up. I don't think we have them inside the walls though. Hopefully these last ones we saw were a fluke and we are still at the rate of seeing one or two a month inside which is a huge improvement and hopefully eventually we can get that number down more.
I wouldn't want to turn around and see one of those suckers at eye level. I have an ant problem. I got rid of them a couple years ago but they seemed to have regrouped and are back with vengeance.
howdy there rentmoney! yeah ants suck too. We kill them all the dang time and they multiply like crazy a few months later, our lawns are full of big ant hills.
😲😨
I'm most glad I don't have them here AT all...!!!!!!!
I will take the bears ANY day..!!!!!
which truly is not a good comparsion..
because I like the bears.
@janton
ha! what? you like bears? what kind of bears and they can be pretty dangerous can't they?
these things aren't dangerous they're just creepy.
The soil must not be right for them because they love wood homes. especially fresh wood or new construction they really like for some reason.
Do they have any natural predators?
well howdy sir enginwitty..yes sir chickens like them and guineas do too. In fact we raised a group of guineas so they'd keep the lawns around the house free of them and the dang coyotes ate the guineas. it's a rough ecosystem! lol.
Maybe a few german shephards or something to accompany the birdies?
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yes that would be great but ours, Jack here, we could never get him trained to leave the birds alone! lol.
we tried everything, he was crazy to catch those things so we had to keep him separate from them.
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here's Jack:
Wooo am I glad I didn't move to Texas! Hey, I never heard of the glass trick. Pretty nifty. I'm glad you shared that for future reference if I ever have to deal with those little guys.
haha! yes glass defeats them every time. Well when we got here we were amazed that no one had problems with them like we were having, lots of people had never seen one so it's just in certain types of soil is what we found out. And they like ours. lucky us. lol.
Wow. LOL! 😎 ❤️
Secret weapon=prayer. Seems to work for almost everything. 😎
sir acousticsteveo! lol. yes sir..hey I seem to have lost another comment that you made and I can't seem to locate it so if I don't answer that one that's the reason, I'm not trying to avoid you!
But yes, it's our authority we use too, we have lived our lives by doing that so we have been very baffled by the lack of results on this issue as nothing has worked! So we don't understand that part of it because we have used our authority in many circumstances and battles. We have been given all authority over serpents and scorpions....I know those are symbolic but they are also literal in this case.
So yes it is a secret weapon and thanks for reminding me because I had kind of given up on the spiritual side of things after years of no success! lol. thank you sir for reading and commenting and I'm sorry to have somehow missed your other comment.
Great to hear back. Yes, the authority is awesome. These things have receded, and will continue to diminish until gone. It's just the final shake down. You will be free from these pests, God willing. Sent out a prayer to the manifestor of love and light, and everything right. Keep being a warrior.
sir acousticsteveo! hey are you still in Dayton, Ohio? we used to live in Akron for too many years! lol. I agree these creepy critters are going away, thank you for the encouragement.
I sure am. Akron's ne Ohio right?
howdy again sir acousticsteveo! yes sir it's about 25 miles South of Cleveland.
what it like over there, is the economy still dragging?
It's not too bad around Dayton. If I lost my job tomorrow I'd most likely find another before the day ended, but I'm a truckdriver and there is always a demand for us fools.
lol. oh my janton. I know it's not funny. It's scarry, ugh. I don't know anything about critters at all. But I know I don't like them. How did you and your wife end up there anyway? Have a great evening. And don't be sleeping with scorpion now. lol, it won't be pretty if they eat you up.
howdy there roger5120...no it's not funny and it's not real dangerous or anything it's just a pain in the rear!
They always surprise me and I never get used to seeing them. well, except in the pool, I expect to see them there because that's common.
You don't know anything about critters? Because you've been in the city your whole life?
My sister lives in Texas, and I remember seeing scorpions in the pool we would go to. Can they survive underwater? I can’t remember. Eek, that’s awful to not feel comfortable and at ease in your own home!
We had a problem with what I believe were carpenter ants for a couple of years. Finally called a professional to take care of them. Only saw a few tiny ones this year, thank goodness! Now if only the mice stay away!
hahaha! yes the mice. nasty little suckers, it's an endless task with them.
Those stupid scorpions can be on the bottom of the pool for hours and hours and you fish them out and they start moving! lol. I think they're demonic! lol.
Okay. If you were ever encouraging me to move to Texas, that pretty much squelched it right there. No way my wife is going to want to deal with any of that, and she grew up with rats and giant cockroaches. :) Okay, not quite that bad, but she's seen her share of critters.
Plus, my youngest, who is pretty much jumpy around any bug, but particularly spiders, wouldn't ever want to come over. Right now, he's the only with a grandchild so we can't have that.
Plus, who wants to be killing scorpions all day, every day?
What about electrocution or flamethrowers? TNT? Gasoline? You're in redneck country. Get creative. :)
hahaha! Well when we got here we were amazed that no one had problems with them like we were having, lots of people had never seen one so it's just in certain types of soil is what we found out. And they like ours. lucky us. lol.
So you could come and probably never ever see one!
And even our situation is down to just one or two a month, except for yesterday and today but I'm hoping that was a fluke.
Not poisonous or not if I was your wife I think I'd rather spell DIVORCE then SCORPION.
hshaha! well it was her idea to move here, this is the house she chose so she wants to stay, I wasn't thrilled with the location or the house. lol.
Creepers jeepers....lol. Gives me the woolies!
haha! I take it you don't have scorpions up there sunlit7? lol.
Nope, thank goodness they prefer a year round warmer climate.
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well thank you so much theluvbug! you are rather extraordinary!
I hope you get them all under control I would hate to have to deal with Scorpions, I have come across them in the field in some places but would hate them in my house
howdy there JJ. well we're slowly winning the battle I hope. Hopefully the last couple of days was an anomaly! lol.
if we get invaded again I'll do another post!
LEts hope you are indeed winning the battle
We are in tune as some people say. I did a similar post talking about bats. Omg.. scorpions are on my list too. I hope you don't mind I mentioned you in the post. :) @janton
oh no I don't mind, thank you. I'll go see about bats now! At least that's one critter we don't have to worry about. scorpions are creepy enough.
Yes, they are and can be deadly.
yes Ma'am and that story of the guy waking up and feeling something under the blankets! wow. So the thing had to have gotten in their room and then under the blankets while they slept..and was nibbling on them...that would make you paranoid to the point of not wanting to sleep again, take turns standing watch or something!
I see you have new pets!
haha yes Ma'am blacklux and howdy from Texas today!
do you guys have these critters? and if not do you want some?
Its rare to see those here. We have lots of huge centipedes, it can be lethal if they bite u. I used to have a lot of centipedes in my backyard but hens loves to eat that thing so they ate them all 😅
howdy there blacklux! yes they love to eat scorpions too. I don't know why, they don't look like they have anything to them, they're all exoskeleton, legs and pinchers.
Maybe they're crunchy and the poison is like gravy.... who knows!
hahha! howdy back blacklux! maybe you're right, I sure ain't gonna find out
though!
there look real nasty , wonder why there keep back to your home ? I hope you find a solution soon , I am glad I only deal with common spiders x
yeah you might need to get some scorpions because they love spiders! it's true, spiders attract scorpions.
I'm not sure why they keep coming but I've heard that sugar attracts them and I'm so sweet that it might be attracting them! lol.
did not know that , ha ha yes you must be drawing them in x
yes winchestergirl it's true! there's no other explanation at all! so it has to be true. lol.
; )
Centruroides vittatus. Striped bark scorpion. First one looks like a female and the others are males.
howdy again sir nateonsteemit! what??? how can you tell? I kill them all so I guess it doesn't make a difference to me.
The longer skinny tail is a male trait. They use it during mating to survive. We had them in our neighborhood as a kid and I raised a small breeding colony.
ha! you're kiddin me nateonsteemit! you raised these things? like in a enclosed area or something? that is too wild..lol.
Yeah man, had a couple hundred at one point. The babies could be sold for five or ten bucks a pop, which was pretty good for a high school kid.
sir nateonsteemit! wow you're kiddin me! people actually paid for those things? who would want to buy them?
Weirdos like me I guess 😂
There's a bunch of folks that are into that kind of thing. You might be able to make a plague into a side hustle if you were so inclined.
Oh I have never ever seen a scorpion, they seems risky. for underwater clicks :p you need to buy a gopro, btw from where so many scorpions came ? Like according to weather conditions ?
howdy there clicked! well they say the soil has to be a certain type or else they won't be there. But I guess they like our soil here.
Just tonight our dog Jack was over by the fireplace snapping at something so we go over there and he has a big scorpion that he's trying to bite! lol.
lol, you guys have lizards over there ?
howdy back sir clicked! yes sir we have small ones that our Road Runners like to eat, it's their favorite food in fact!
Hello @janton, I have never seen a road runner, i googled it and I think they are pretty cute :D
haha! yes sir clicked, Road Runners are great. Did you ever seen them in the cartoons with Wiley Coyote? anyway they always showed that road runner as being super fast and in real life they are very fast runners and so fun to watch.
They patrol all around our house and eat small critters.
hahah yea i have seen cartoons they are cute :D
they say peee pee ? as horn
Lobsters in Holland and scorpions in Texas
yes Ma'am I think I'd rather have lobsters!
Me too ( gosh that sounded weird ) whenever in taco’s me and My beloved Will invite you and theme mrs. Out for lobster ! Gotta dream RIGHT??
hey it could happen! it sure could.
When we first took over our land, we literally had hundreds of the little scourges. I have been stung a few times, but I can tell you from experience that the big ugly black ones are the worst. Even the little black ones cause a big problem for me and necessitate a trip to the hospital. The sting from these just gets worse and where ever I am stung swells up almost instantly. I guess you would say I am allergic to them.
The key to controlling them, naturally, since spraying the little scum didn't do a lot, except lighten my wallet, first, don't kill your spiders or remove their webs. They like to eat scorpions.
Plant lots of lavender. I have it planted all the way around my house and have lavender potpourri throughout the house. Citrus works well too.
Keep the yard clean of debris and wood piles. They love wood piles. We stack ours further from the house and place detterents around it too.
Some pets are very adepted at catching and killing scorpions. We have cats that will catch them and then leave the dead carcus for me to clean up. Nice. The least they could do is bury it...
If we know we have an influx of the critters, we sometimes do a night hunt with a black light. They will fluoresce (glow in the dark). You can then dispose of them as you will, but remember they are quick.
We also sprinkle Diatomaceous Earth around the outside of the house, the chicken coop, the wood pile and other areas such as the garden where we know the scorpions lie to hide. In the past year we have had two in the house. That is a vast improvement!
howdy there cecicastor! so you used to have them in the house real bad too huh? At least you got that pretty much eliminated. yeah our place doesn't have anything anywhere to hide, it's super clean for that reason and we use Diatomaceous Earth also.
The only thing we haven't done is get cats, that's what everyone say to do, and plant lavender, I haven't heard of that one.
Sounds like the black ones are bad! thankfully we don't have those.
thanks so much for reading and commenting.
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well howdy there steem-ua! thank you so much for the upvote, God bless you for all you do to help others!
Man, so when the crickets stop chirping over by your place, it has a different meaning!
sir papa-pepper! so good to see you, yes sir it's very strange but silent crickets is not a good sign! lol. thanks for reading and commenting!