I got stung by a scorpion last Friday!!!!!

Because it is Winter here in Australia, and my brother-in-law works odd hours, it has become my job to make sure we have enough firewood in the house to get us through the day, night, and following morning. My brother-in-law had just gotten a load of wood from the bush a few days earlier, and had unloaded most of it, but asked me to get stuff out of the trailer before grabbing it from the back, so I did. Only problem was that amongst all the refuse of the bottom of the trailer were some scorpions which I didn't see, and sure enough as I was collecting wood, one managed to tag me on the right hand.

The bad thing was I had only a few hours left before I Had to start work. So this meant I would have to go to work with the cramping on my right side caused from the poison.

The scorpions we have here in Victoria aren't as big as the ones you guys get in the U.S. nor can they kill you. But they do give a nasty sting that will cause cramping, nausea and other little "joyous" things, that last around 6 or so hours. Was not a fun night!!!

So please share with us your own scorpion stories. Let me know I am not alone in this. ;)

The ones I caught were small and the best I remember could not kill you. I was fortunate enough to never have to test that theory.

:hi:

Maybe you are the scorpion charmer? ;)

ant rear its head back and bite me on my stomach about a week ago. It was a rude awakening and one I won't soon forget. I was snoozing on the couch. I felt something crawling on my face and woke up. I had been doing yard work and had passed out on the couch. I figured I had brought a spider in on my clothes. I hadn't taken my shower yet, because I have a jungle to cut instead of just your ordinary yard. In any case, I knocked what I believed to be a spider off my face and didn't do such a great job. My eyes weren't even completely open or focused yet.

Needless to say, when they did focus, the first thing I saw was a flying crazy ant (king or queen) sitting on my stomach. Its head flew back like a Pes dispenser and bit me so hard, I thought I was going to go out of my mind. The worst thing is that it wouldn't let go. I had to pull it off with my fingers to make it stop gnashing back and forth with it's teeth sunk into my stomach. I swear I think it was part terrier or something. It just didn't want to let go. Tiny little thing that it was, it was ready for a fight and intended to win.

I'm all better now. I hope you get well soon too. A scorpion sting sounds ferocious.

Who knew that flying ants would bite? I didn't. In fact I just killed one a short while ago that was flying around my computer.

Had I been you, and felt something walking on my face, I wouldn't have been as calm as you. LOL

The bite reacted and felt the same exact way a fire ant bite feels, only twice as bad.

He didn't want to die, but I wanted to make sure he couldn't do that again. My aunt said I should save his corpse and look it up on the internet. I decided to scan it. Here's what he looked like:

Ugly little critter it was!!!

I couldn't for the life of me get it to scan any clearer, but I figured I would throw the closest measuring device on the scanner for a size comparison. It just to happened to be my English-Metric Measurement Converter from ICS.


Ewwwww! is right! Nasty little thing bit me hard.

it would be a queen or worker, which would be female. Males, especially in social insects, exist only to mate, and only show up for mating season, then die. Some exceptions exist in solitary insect species, but for the most part the insect world is female-dominated. The stings that evolved in many ant, bee, and wasp species are modified ovipositors (egg-laying organs), and thus are absent in males. Male social insects are often called drones, due to their existential similarity to members of middle management... :D

Little fun entomological tidbit for the day. :)

Todd in Cheesecurdistan

There are a number of fire ant species in the United States, and some of them are indigenous.

The ones that most everyone is aware of is Solenopsis invicta from South America. They are widespread because they are not native and have few natural enemies in the United States. They are generally red in colcor, though and leave a characteristic painful bite that develops into a swollen area with a blister on top.

There are other fire ant species, though, that are black in color. They live in the temperate Eastern part of the country, if my memory serves me correctly.

There are, of course, many other ant species that pack a powerful bite, but are not fire ants. The blister is characteristic of the fire ant because their toxin has a substance that causes it specifically.

Your scans are not adequate enough to identify the ant, but from its size, it looks to be pretty small. A fire ant of some sort is likely. Perhaps Solenopsis xylinoi, but it really is a wild guess. You certainly are in the right area.

The blister that formed was what made me think fire ant as well. I know we have tons of different types of ants in this region. They call us the "sandhills" of NC, so naturally, an ant enthusiast would have a field day here. We do have the red colored fire ants as well. We also have a larger black ant that my grandmother always called "army ants." They also tend to bite hard as well. They are much larger than this one was though. I would say they are twice the length. I find bugs fascinating until they bite me, then I mangle them to try to escape, like this one.

But it's no laughing matter. :(

been impossible. I have never encountered an ant quite that aggressive and ferocious.

I'd gone out onto the back steps to get a mop that my mom had left out to dry; when I attempt to wring out the mop with my left hand: zock, zock. It was like two very strong electrical shocks, followed by hours of my hand feeling like it was on fire.

I'm really sorry this happened to you and I'm very glad I now live in a scorpion-free area. :hug:

And the redness that shows up. I was lucky and had no swelling from the actual bite, because I ran it under cold water for a bit. But boy was it on fire.

And I see this weird lil' thing crawling... upon closer inspect I see it is a scorpion. It was only about the size of my thumbnail. I spoke to a local entimologist and he told me that it was a rare breed of scorpion that only lives in our area.

Canadian scorpions. Who knew?

The maujave travel into Canada for about 400 miles before it tapers out.

But don't feel bad! I never knew we had them here in Australia until about 10 years ago when I was picking up some firewood for the camp fire, and found two of them right near my hand. Believe me I freaked. LOL

they rocked me like a hurricane :silly:

I should have realized I would open myself up to something like this. ;)

I am glad you are all right.
I have never been stung but I have killed a few.

Both times were at my in-laws' house. They live out in the country in north Texas. They have a 2 story log cabin, and I was sitting at the counter. It lines us perfectly with the upstairs loft. We were all sitting there talking one day, and a scorpion fell on me from the landing. I flew up and the bar stool flew backward as the scorpion went on the floor. The second time I was taking a shower and as I closed the shower curtain, I saw the shadow of it on the curtain. I jumped out of the shower and yelled for my husband. Being the brave entomologist that he is, he captured it in a jar. I made him stay in the bathroom with me while I finished my shower.

I'm glad your sting was nothing serious. Hope you're fine now.

Having one fall on me would have caused me to have a massive heart attack on the spot. LOL

Funny thing is, after being bitten by it last Friday, I went to have my shower before work. As always I threw a towel over the shower door ready for when I get out. As I am rinsing my hair something moving out the corner of my eye caught my attention, so I looked, and sure enough it was yet another scorpion on my towel. I shit myself again, got out, didn't bother dryng off, just grabbed my sweats put them and called my mum who was wearing shoes and could deal with it better than me.

I have never been bitten but every other member of my family has. They didn't get sick as you describe but the site of the sting was always painful. My mom used to mix baking soda and water and applied it until the swelling started to go down. That was it as far as symptoms and treatment.

Now if you want to talk about black widows, brown recluse spiders and rattle snakes I do have some interesting stories about them though not bite stories. :scared:

...I could talk snakes with you all night long, but as for spiders, forget it. LOL I would have nightmares for years! Ewwwwwww hate them little suckers.

I live in the northeast and if I see any bug larger than a dime, I scream.

about black widows, brown recluse spiders and rattle snakes if you don't mind posting them.

When I was three, I loved to play outside. My dad had built a huge sand box about 10' x 10' for us to play in. If you put water in the sand box you can build all kinds of things and park hot wheels in underground tunnels. I was building an underground maze for the cars and came across what I though were worms. I put them in my pocket and kept playing. I forgot about them until lunch time and suddenly remembered them and took them out of my pocket. I casually handed them to my dad who promptly threw them on the floor and stomped them. I was pretty upset until he told me they were newly hatched baby rattle snakes and that they could hurt me. I was lucky they liked sleeping in my pocket. :scared:

They have problems with scorpions sometimes, too. My BIL was stung once when he was doing some yardwork. It made him feel sick, but it wasn't a huge deal like, say, a copperhead bite.

You dag, woman!!! I reckon the copperhead bite takes the cake over the scorpion. LOL

I came back from trail running, took a shower, and was chilling in front of the TV. My housemate said, "What the hell is that on your ankle???" I looked -- it looked like a viper bite, but it really didn't hurt -- it was just kind of sore and reddish. Come to find out, about 25% of copperhead bites are dry. Since I went running through trails surrounded by tall brush, I probably wouldn't have seen it strike, or even felt it -- I'm always having branches hit me and briers gash me.

EEK!

I remember when that happened. You and I talked about that once before if I recall correctly.

Well if you must endure a snake bite, be glad it was a dry one.

We live with some of the most poisonous of all critters here in Oz. Now that I am living in the bush, I kinda shit myself every time I walk out the door. Gotten into the habit of wearing my boots again.

Have you read it?

...Sapph and I read together. Very funny book, and very funny author. :)

I think it was funny how he kept talking about the nonchalant attitude Aussies would have about deadly creatures," Oh, that's a box jelly. It can kill you in a nanosecond mate. Let's get closer and pet it, eh?" Not verbatim, of course, but similar to what he writes.

Hehehehhehehehehhehehe.

Well except for when I see red belly black snakes, and well, scorpions. LOL

Kind of like an emu? A cassel something. Is that right?

...Cassowary?

Our magpies attack too. LOL

Interactions with humans

The 2004 edition of the Guinness World Records lists the cassowary as the world's most dangerous bird. Normally cassowaries are very shy but when disturbed can lash out dangerously with their powerful legs. During World War II American and Australian troops stationed in New Guinea were warned to steer clear of the birds. They are capable of inflicting fatal injuries to an adult human. Usually, attacks are the result of provocation. Wounded or cornered birds are particularly dangerous. Cassowaries, deftly using their surroundings to conceal their movements, have been known to out-flank organized groups of human predators. Cassowaries are considered to be one of the most dangerous animals to keep in zoos, based on the frequency and severity of injuries incurred by zookeepers.

More recently, Cassowaries have been known to lose their natural fear of people. As a result, large areas of Australian National Parks have been temporarily closed to avoid human contact with the bird.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassowary#Interactions_with_humans

My son told me about it; it was on the living room curtain. I think it came in with some grapes I purchased that were from Chile.

It was very creepy, but fortunately, no one was stung.

The scorpions we have here in the southern part of Australia don't grow all that big. Very hard to see. Now that it is winter I am bringing in firewood every day, so of course we are going to get critters in the house. But it really worries me with my sisters two kids. I constantly tell them to wear their slippers for fear of them stepping on one, and they don't listen.

I got stung in the front yard, and the one that was on my towel was in the bathroom which is at the back of the house. I so cannot wait to hear back from the owner of this house we (my sister, her husband and me) are looking at buying. If we do get it, my bedroom will be upstairs and away from where the wood is for the fire. LOL

After that, I always shook out my shoes before putting them on. That was in South Florida where there are plenty of scorpions and other nasty bugs.

I live in the northeast United States, and we don't have any animals as interesting as scorpions living here.

I'm actually a little envious of your cramping, nausea, and other "joyous" things.

Come on down, and I will gladly hand over the firewood collecting job for a day or two. Guaranteed you will see something poisonous with in that time period. Well no snakes probably. Had them around up to about 4 weeks back (was seeing lots) but now the winter has really set in with rain, sleet, snow just off in the near by hills, so no snakes to be had at all.

All kidding aside I totally understand what you are saying. I was like that when I first saw squirrels, skunks, opossums, raccoons, prairie dogs, etc. Don't have them here, and totally got a kick out of watching them when I saw them in the U.S. :)

That'd be awesome! ;)

That will make the ones in NYC even scarier than they already are. LOL

Australia can have their scorpions and inland taipans and box jellyfish and funnel spiders....

Hiding in the grass. I'd never even been stung by a bee at that point (4 years old), so I made quite a bit of noise. It hurt like hell for a minute or two.

Most of the scorpions I've seen here in America have actually been very small, around 2-3 inches long.

..I am pushing 40 and it hurt like hell getting stung bythe little sucker. But to be 4 and have it happen, would have bloody killed.

The one that tagged me was about 3 inches as well. But I was only going by what scorpions in the U.S. I had seen on Animal Planet. LOL

but when I was 12, we went to my aunt and uncle's for Thanksgiving. They had just built a brand new house in a clearing near Alice, Texas (south central part of the state).

I was laying on the living room floor watching footage from Jonestown when one went bopping across the floor. Their cat went mental wanting to chase it, so a bunch of us were trying to hold off the cat and kill the scorpion at the same time.

36 years in Texas, and it's the only one I've ever seen, thank Goodness!

all day long. We had the orange and flourescent greenish-yellow ones. I could catch as many as I wanted. I used to allow them to crawl on my arms and legs, and not once did I ever get bitten. I am convinced it was because I showed no fear, nor did I make any of them feel threatened.

Hard

When I lived In San Antonio, TX a co-worker got bit while putting on her pants. It was keeping itself warm in her jeans drawer. Big ole' welt on her upper thight. Another co-worker used to bring in tarantulas he'd catch on his property.
Here in Austin, a friend couldn't get rid of the scorpions from her third floor apartment (in a very wooded and beautiful part of the city), that she started catching them and made them pets. She even scooped a few out while cleaning her cat's litter box. At one point she had 5 small bug "aquariums" in her apartment.

for some reason scorpions specifically are the creature I have nightmares about. I have no idea why, but my nightmares often have scorpions in them.

but fortunately have never been stung or bitten... whatever scorpions do.

My cat, however is another story. My little male kitty is a bug freak. If it crawls, hops, flies, he loves it. One of his great captures was a scorpion that he brought into the bathroom to play with. When I discovered what he had, I held him off by the scruff of the neck and whacked the scorpion with the cat box. Fortunately they are easy to smoosh.

On an interesting note, I have seen a couple of female scorpions with babies attached to their back. I took time to look and then... smoosh.

So badass.

a rattler a couple of years ago while in our backyard in New Mexico. Does that count? I have been stung
by scorpions (Arizona). Hurts like h***. Small, clear bodies ones.