Is there a real threat of black widows and scorpions in LV? (zip code, move to)

gflame · 03-09-2010, 01:38 PM

As someone else stated, it depends on what part of the city you live in. I live way out on the edge of the desert so I have seen every kind of bug and rodent from black widows to scorpions to mice to snakes to rabbits. The best thing I ever did was hire a bug and exterminator service to regularly spray around the house. After a few initial scorpions in the garage I haven't seen any since the exterminator started coming. So have a professional spray your yard and you and the kids will be fine...

healthpub · 03-09-2010, 02:00 PM

Been here 4 years now and spend most Sundays hiking or at neighborhood parks.

Have yet to come across any snake or a black widow in/around my home or out-and-about.
But did find a scorpion (yellowish, about 3 inches in length) in my garage over 2 years ago. Can't lie, caught me off-guard and took me a couple seconds to process it.

olecapt · 03-09-2010, 02:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by healthpub

Been here 4 years now and spend most Sundays hiking or at neighborhood parks.

Have yet to come across any snake or a black widow in/around my home or out-and-about.
But did find a scorpion (yellowish, about 3 inches in length) in my garage over 2 years ago. Can't lie, caught me off-guard and took me a couple seconds to process it.

Ohh they exist OK. Just had a client walk on a purchase as the home (in Summerlin) had at least a dozen around in the house. House has been vacant for a while and I would suspect the things were well established. While I think you can get rid of them it is a task when they are well established and likely in the walls and attic.

If you see one I recommend getting a UV flashlight and go hunting in your yard. They are fluorescent in UV light. Whack them a few nights and you drive the population way down. Likely more effective than chemical control. The buggers are not easily killed.

BUGBULLY · 03-09-2010, 04:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by olecapt

Ohh they exist OK. Just had a client walk on a purchase as the home (in Summerlin) had at least a dozen around in the house. House has been vacant for a while and I would suspect the things were well established. While I think you can get rid of them it is a task when they are well established and likely in the walls and attic.

If you see one I recommend getting a UV flashlight and go hunting in your yard. They are fluorescent in UV light. Whack them a few nights and you drive the population way down. Likely more effective than chemical control. The buggers are not easily killed.

Yeah, we do quite a bit of Scorpion Inspections for new home buyers. We always kill what we find. The hunt is a good thing to do, because you may find the main problem where they are coming from. May be a trees, or even your neighbors house/yard.

Buzz123 · 03-09-2010, 05:26 PM

I've lived in every part of town, in old houses and new, since 1964. I have seen exactly five scorpions in Las Vegas during that time. Three were indoors, one in the studio at the TV station, and two were laying dead on the floor in my house. How they got there is a mystery, but we suspect they were killed outside and brought in by ferocious Lhasa Apso killer dogs to show us what a good job they were doing on security detail. In Tejas, I saw more scorpions in two years than 45 in Las Vegas.

Now, if you've lived here a while, you know, when you're walking at night, to stay two or three feet away from the block walls, because the black widders like to string a web from their crack in the wall out onto the sidewalk or maybe a telephone pole. We used to walk along and whack black widows in our old neighborhood. Last fall I whacked three or four in back of my house. But, as the olecapt says, they only come out at night.

The point is, there is no need to sensationalize it since anyone coming here is usually coming from a place where nasty critters of all kinds are in far more abundance than here in the desert, where their resources, thus their populations, are limited. New folks coming to town have been brainwashed by years, and years, of old westerns where "deadly" scorpions are part of wrist wrestling contests, and there is a buzz-worm on every ledge in the dry gulch just itching for a cowboy to come sneaking by. Funny how the snakes never bite the Indians, just the cowboys, ain't it?

Whatever critters there are will be doing everything possible to avoid human contact. Most of them aren't aggressive, however, scorpions don't put up with no nonsense. I've never been stung by one (knock on wood), but people who have tell me it's like a bee sting, and I've had dozens of those.

BUGBULLY · 03-09-2010, 08:57 PM

I have some customers that had about 10-20 in their home in one month. As we build out, the more they are seen.

olecapt · 03-09-2010, 11:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BUGBULLY

I have some customers that had about 10-20 in their home in one month. As we build out, the more they are seen.

Don't think so Ms. Buggy...they are not native. Come in the palm trees from AZ where they are native. I don't think they do well here. That is why the colonies stay local..

Buzz123 · 03-10-2010, 01:29 AM

Scorpions are native here. I saw my first three in town in the 60's, and one in '91 before they brought any here hidden in tree bark. "Bark Scorpions" are native to Arizona, but they aren't the only kind of scorpions in the desert. Mrs. Bully is correct. As we disturb their native habitat they fight back a losing battle...but they were here first. I've only seen five in town but I've seen a lot more in the desert, especially at night running across the road. Take a drive some summer night up U.S. 95 toward Indian Springs...you'll see all kinds of critters on the road. All desert critters are good at staying hidden during the heat of the day, and most are nocturnal. But we've killed almost every living creature in town with poisons, so it's really sad that we don't see more interesting bugs here.

olecapt · 03-10-2010, 04:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Buzz123

Scorpions are native here. I saw my first three in town in the 60's, and one in '91 before they brought any here hidden in tree bark. "Bark Scorpions" are native to Arizona, but they aren't the only kind of scorpions in the desert. Mrs. Bully is correct. As we disturb their native habitat they fight back a losing battle...but they were here first. I've only seen five in town but I've seen a lot more in the desert, especially at night running across the road. Take a drive some summer night up U.S. 95 toward Indian Springs...you'll see all kinds of critters on the road. All desert critters are good at staying hidden during the heat of the day, and most are nocturnal. But we've killed almost every living creature in town with poisons, so it's really sad that we don't see more interesting bugs here.

The common scorpion found in homes here is the bark scorpion. I don't think I have seen another kind in or around a Vegas home. It is also the one that is the biggest problem.

Yes others do exist in the desert...but they pretty much stay there.

Here is a piece by Angela O'Calaghan from a year ago...

http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2008...ecome-problem/

Miami Mike · 03-10-2010, 08:59 AM

I manage a storage facility on the east side of the city and we see black widows in units that have been vacant for awhile. Yesterday found a big scorpion squished right outside our office. We're in a VERY populated area.......just be careful and get an exterminator!!! BTW....although they're big and ugly....Black Widows squish VERY NICELY under my shoe....I WIN!!!