Scorpion control guarantees? (Tucson, Flagstaff: how much, houses, landscaping)

[jaredC]

Hello all. So I decided to go with Bulwark pest control for scorpions about two months ago. They offer a scorpion control guarantee or they will come back out ASAP and re-treat. Almost a month has gone by and zero scorpions. I was relieved as I have a 1 year old in the house. Well this morning my wife found a scorpion in our daughters crib! I called Bulwark (to my surprise they had staff answering phones at this time!) and was told that while they do have a guarantee, the soonest they can be out is in about a week. Are my expectations too high to expect them out the same day? I mean, if I found a scorpion in our garage or something, ok, a week is almost understandable. This scorpion was found in our daughters crib. It's a good thing our daughter has been in our bed lately.

[Zippyman]

Originally Posted by jaredC

Hello all. So I decided to go with Bulwark pest control for scorpions about two months ago. They offer a scorpion control guarantee or they will come back out ASAP and re-treat. Almost a month has gone by and zero scorpions. I was relieved as I have a 1 year old in the house. Well this morning my wife found a scorpion in our daughters crib! I called Bulwark (to my surprise they had staff answering phones at this time!) and was told that while they do have a guarantee, the soonest they can be out is in about a week. Are my expectations too high to expect them out the same day? I mean, if I found a scorpion in our garage or something, ok, a week is almost understandable. This scorpion was found in our daughters crib. It's a good thing our daughter has been in our bed lately.

there isn't any way to "spray" for scorpions that works like other bugs/insects. Scorps don't "groom" themselves, so when they walk through various poisons, it stays on their exo-skeleton & doesn't kill them. The only way to kill a scorp is to starve it (can take months), or score a direct hit with a poison that would injure your child/you if you got into it. (Or diatomacious earth, which is an abrasive that grinds through their shells & lets their inner juices leak out).. or stomp it, but you can't call a pest guy out to stomp a scorp.

The reason i mention the above is so that you understand that if you're in an area where the scorps are, getting rid of them may take years of spraying to eliminate the bugs they eat, the places they hide (like unpeeled palm trees), & physical changes to the house to keep them out. (Like sealing the perimeter). Even then, you'll still likely have "strays" wander in occasionally.

Not making light of the situation - I've lived in houses that were infested & it stinks to always know they're around, just know that no "pest guy" can protect you from them. No matter how many $100 bills you throw at the problem, you're going to still find scorps in your house unless you make it your life's mission to hunt the little bastards down, spray poisons continuously for a long period of time, change your landscaping so it doesn't attract them & seal your house so tight they can't get in - including *upstairs*, cause they can & do walk on walls.

When night-time temps first go over 100 (in the spring), and when they first go below 100 (about now), you'll see more scorps - over the winter, you'll see a lot less scorps.. not sure on the science behind that, just what I experienced in a house of scorps myself.. so if the pest guy comes out today, he'll be a "hero", and you'll be cussing his name again in May.

Best bet? Get a cat. Cats find scorps to be a lot of fun.. the cat will sniff them out & you can stomp whatever the cat finds for you. Cats will also face off with snakes & big roaches as well. If it wasn't for my cat, I'd have packed up & left the desert years ago.

[jaredC]

Originally Posted by Zippyman

there isn't any way to "spray" for scorpions that works like other bugs/insects. Scorps don't "groom" themselves, so when they walk through various poisons, it stays on their exo-skeleton & doesn't kill them. The only way to kill a scorp is to starve it (can take months), or score a direct hit with a poison that would injure your child/you if you got into it. (Or diatomacious earth, which is an abrasive that grinds through their shells & lets their inner juices leak out).. or stomp it, but you can't call a pest guy out to stomp a scorp.

The reason i mention the above is so that you understand that if you're in an area where the scorps are, getting rid of them may take years of spraying to eliminate the bugs they eat, the places they hide (like unpeeled palm trees), & physical changes to the house to keep them out. (Like sealing the perimeter). Even then, you'll still likely have "strays" wander in occasionally.

Not making light of the situation - I've lived in houses that were infested & it stinks to always know they're around, just know that no "pest guy" can protect you from them. No matter how many $100 bills you throw at the problem, you're going to still find scorps in your house unless you make it your life's mission to hunt the little bastards down, spray poisons continuously for a long period of time, change your landscaping so it doesn't attract them & seal your house so tight they can't get in - including *upstairs*, cause they can & do walk on walls.

When night-time temps first go over 100 (in the spring), and when they first go below 100 (about now), you'll see more scorps - over the winter, you'll see a lot less scorps.. not sure on the science behind that, just what I experienced in a house of scorps myself.. so if the pest guy comes out today, he'll be a "hero", and you'll be cussing his name again in May.

Best bet? Get a cat. Cats find scorps to be a lot of fun.. the cat will sniff them out & you can stomp whatever the cat finds for you. Cats will also face off with snakes & big roaches as well. If it wasn't for my cat, I'd have packed up & left the desert years ago.

Hey, thanks for the reply. I have a basic understanding of how scorpions work, I've lived here a long time. I've seen both my parents' home get invaded and overrun by them, heck, the house in Tucson I gre up in had those bastards crawling on the ceiling. I know it takes a good, planned out path of integrated pest management to rid ourselves of these little nuisances. So far, it has worked up until now. I used to take good care of the pest control around my house, but that was before my full time job and children came along. My main reason for posting my question is because I wanted to gauge how others' pest control companies offered their guarantees. As for cats, I've got one, and she is pretty good about catching them and ripping them to pieces.

[asufan]

The only guarantees I've seen is if they seal your house. I would look for a contractor to do that though, not a pest control company. companies like wesealit can do that for you.

[jaredC]

Originally Posted by asufan

The only guarantees I've seen is if they seal your house. I would look for a contractor to do that though, not a pest control company. companies like wesealit can do that for you.

Well I noticed that Bulwark did seal some of the cracks.

[asufan]

Originally Posted by jaredC

Well I noticed that Bulwark did seal some of the cracks.

You can go around with a mirror and see if the house is actually sealed. If it was recently sealed, there's a possibility the scorpion was already in the house when it was sealed.

[jaredC]

Originally Posted by asufan

You can go around with a mirror and see if the house is actually sealed. If it was recently sealed, there's a possibility the scorpion was already in the house when it was sealed.

Ok, I'll do that sometime today. I did do a walk over of the outside and did notice they sealed some areas.

[Ponderosa]

The pest guys always have picture of a menacing scorpion in their ads. Truth be told there is not much that can be done about them (scorpions, not pest guys). They will just come out and spray some more toxins in your environment. I raised kids in Arizona from birth to adulthood and never used pesticides. They only got stung once and that was near Flagstaff digging in a wood pile, not here. Frankly, I think the risk to your baby from bug sprays is more than from scorpions - especially considering their ineffectiveness.

As for cats, yeah I have one. Maybe he gets interested in a scorpion and maybe he doesn't. On the other hand, he may be slaying them all night for all I know. My dogs run the other way when they see one suggesting they have taken it in the nose before.

[maverick974]

Here is what I did and it seems to have worked very well. I used Bulwark for a couple of years but I decided to just spray myself so I asked the guy what they use and surprisingly, he told me. It was some stuff called Cy-Kick.
I bought a 4 gallon backpack sprayer from Harbor Freight. It was around 20 dollars at the time. Then I went on Amazon and bought some Cy-Kick. It was less than 40 dollars and i spray 3 or 4 times a year but if I had a problem, I could spray whenever I want. The 40 dollar bottle of Cy-Kick lasted me over 2 years.
Frankly, I didn't think they were using enough product. They mixed their tank at my house once and seeing how much they put in there just didn't add up so that's why I chose to do it myself and I've saved several thousand dollars in the process.
It's easy, doesn't take but about 15 minutes, it's certainly affordable and I know it's done right.
Cy-Kick is pretty harmless actually. It's basically just a finer grade of diatamatious earth. Same stuff used on some pool filters.
So far, it has worked for well for me.
That's my story......

[stevek64]

You know the only thing or 2 that's guaranteed in life, right?

I would take the approach of regardless if you spray/don't spray/try to seal up every last crack in your house, while you can greatly reduce the odds perhaps of a scorpion sneaking in your house, I'd still always assume there's a possibility a scorpion could sneak in and take extra precautions, especially when an infant is involved.

A neighbor we know with an infant placed the legs of the crib in jars as I've read scorpions can't crawl up on the slippery glass and get into the crib.

Some more ideas like this for crib/kid protection:

Scorpions | Atomic Pest Control