Scorpions: How Far Will They Go? (Needles: sales, real estate, leasing)

[goozer]

In two years in San Diego and one year in Orange County, I've never seen a scorpion. And I spend a lot of time hiking in the SoCal backcountry. Rattlesnakes yes. Coyotes of course. Seen mountain lion tracks. But never a scorpion. I suppose you could find one, but you'd have to kick over a lot of rocks in the desert areas trying to do it.

[Gentoo]

Originally Posted by BayAreaHillbilly

The OP's geography is a bit off. Santa Cruz is a mere 30 - 40 minutes from the South Bay and 1 to 1-1/2 hours from the Central Bay.

I have seen scorpions even here in the Bay proper, in the areas with poor soils, south facing slopes and a more arid look. Even here in Central San Mateo County.

I caught one in the Berkeley Hills.

[zdg]

I have the same fear of scorpions that OP has. I am absolutely terrified of them and have made housing decisions based on where they are.

We bought a house in Sonoma County about 7 months ago and were told by numerous people that they had never seen a single scorpion in all the years they lived here. Well, guess what? We come home this weekend, park the car in the garage, and go to walk into the house...what is crushed under the bottom of the garage door? Not just a little one like we used to have in West Texas, but a monster scorpion. This thing had real deal mass to it and a huge stinger. People have told me it may be the only one I see as long as I live here, but it's already messing with my ability to sleep through a night (scorpions love to climb walls and fall from ceilings). I may never see one again, but just knowing they're here adds a little bit of stress, which sucks.

[Senno]

I have to admit that I have never followed a scorpion to see how far they would go...

[johnp292]

Originally Posted by 3DaysJourney

Thanks for what you have been able to share. After the reading I have done it seems they are more common in many open areas whether high or lowlands. Maybe I am wrong but it seems when a city is more landlocked scorpions seem to be less in those areas. Arizona has a lot of free land for scorpions to get about while Fresno, Riverside, San Bernardino, and San Diego have a lot of open areas also in between houses and cities.

I guess it is still possible there could be some in the bay area as the last poster mentioned.

I used to live in Newark, Union City, Fremont, Hayward, and San Leandro and have never seen a scorpion. I’ve also been in San Rafael and Novato and have not seen one.

I am vision impaired and I think that is why my senses of creepy crawly things is alarming in my thoughts. Meaning I can’t run or walk away from what I can’t see. I’m not a big fan of spiders either.

Would you suppose living in San Jose in a well kept apartment on the grounds of the premises plus keeping the apartment clean we would not have much to worry about pests? I’m looking into San Jose since it is more landlocked than Sacramento. It is not as many wildernesses where I would think Scorpions, spiders and other pests thrive on more. We use plug ins to scare away mice. It might be good for insects also. In San Jose I don’t think any concern of rattle or any snakes. If apartments are maintained, managed, well kept and clean there is not much of a chance of scorpions or any threatening pests? I know we can’t escape Bumble bees.

According to what I have read, scorpions can be found on every continent except Antarctica, and in every state in the US. They exist all over the world. The only scorpion in the United States that has the potential to be fatal to a human is the Arizona Bark Scorpion, found only in Arizona. We get them in the house occasionally and my wife was stung by one last summer. The sting is only life threatening to some, such as small children or the elderly. There has not been a documented fatality since the 60s as I understand. An antivenin is available for those who have a severe reaction (the venom is a neurotoxin).

We have the plug-ins as well, only because they happened to be in the house when we moved in. I don't really think they work, especially since we came home one night to find a small tarantula hanging out in our upstairs hallway, about 18 inches from the device.

[Tulemutt]

ScorpionList.com

[Senno]

Them wild Canadian scorpions are kinda doing their own thing ain't they.

But them Russian scorpions counter in their cold war ways, by moving north also...

Whatever happened to Glasnost?

[eureka1]

As someone pointed out, they are dangerous only to small children and small animals. We donated a washing machine to Goodwill (we were living in MillValley) and when they came to get it, there was a nest of scorpions beneath it. THey apparently like moist warm places.

[BayAreaHillbilly]

Originally Posted by Gentoo

I caught one in the Berkeley Hills.

There are also tarantulas back in them thar hills!

[mateo45]

Dunno, but I was gonna freak out re: insects, would be much more worried about the steady march northward of killer bee habitat (and that map was in 2006)!