Scorpion Identification

What are scorpions?

Scorpions belong to the arachnid family, which puts them in the same group as spiders, ticks, and mites, not insects. You can tell one at a glance: eight legs, a pair of grabbing pincers up front called pedipalps, and that curled tail tipped with a stinger (the telson). The body plan has barely changed in hundreds of millions of years, which tells you how good these animals are at surviving.

Around Leander, Cedar Park, and the rest of Central Texas, the one you will almost always run into is the striped bark scorpion. It happens to be the most widespread scorpion in the country. Look for a pale yellow or tan body with two dark stripes down the back, usually two to three inches from head to tail. They look scarier than they are, and once you understand how they behave, keeping them out of the house gets a lot more manageable.

Are scorpions dangerous?

Every scorpion carries venom and can sting. The good news for Central Texas homeowners is that the striped bark scorpion, the one you will actually meet, delivers a sting that hurts plenty but is rarely a serious medical event for a healthy adult. Expect sharp immediate pain, some swelling, and a burning or numb feeling at the site that can hang around for a few hours.

The exception is anyone allergic to the venom. For those folks a sting can bring on trouble breathing, muscle spasms, or full anaphylaxis, and that is an emergency room situation. Kids, older adults, and pets take stings harder because the same dose of venom goes into a smaller body. Dogs and cats usually get hit on the nose or paws when they investigate one indoors. If your pet gets stung and seems off, call your vet.

Why do I have a scorpion problem?

Scorpions hunt. They eat insects and other small arthropods, and they go wherever the food is. If your house already has a bug problem, scorpions will follow it right in. They are also just part of the landscape here: rocky ground, cedar country, and the kind of terrain Central Texas has plenty of is exactly what they like.

All the construction across Leander, Cedar Park, and greater Austin keeps bulldozing their habitat, and the displaced scorpions end up in the nearest neighborhood, which may be yours. They are hard to starve out too. A scorpion can go months without eating and shrugs off temperature swings, so once they settle in around a property they tend to stay.

Where will I find scorpions?

Scorpions work the night shift. During the day they tuck into anything cool, dark, and tight: under rocks, logs, bark, mulch, and leaf piles outside, plus firewood stacks, patio furniture, construction debris, and the thick vegetation along fences and garden beds.

Indoors, they slip through foundation cracks, gaps at doors and windows, and openings around pipes and utility lines. Then they hide in closets, shoes, folded laundry, bedding, and dark corners of bathrooms and garages. They climb well, so do not assume floor level: rough walls and textured surfaces are easy for them, and they turn up on shelves and walls all the time. Here is a trick worth knowing: scorpions glow blue-green under a UV flashlight, so a cheap black light makes a nighttime sweep of the yard genuinely effective.

How do I get rid of scorpions?

Scorpions shrug off half-measures. They are tough, they fit through tiny gaps, and spraying alone rarely puts a dent in them. What works is a combined plan: targeted treatment for the scorpions themselves, sealing up the entry points they use, and knocking down the insect population they came to eat. Skip that last part and new scorpions keep showing up no matter how many you remove.

Accurate Termite and Pest Control has been handling scorpions in Cedar Park, Leander, Austin, and the surrounding area for over 25 years. Our treatments go after the whole problem: the scorpions on your property, the food source pulling them in, and a protective barrier around the house. Get in touch to learn more about our scorpion control services and get a free estimate.

How can I prevent scorpions in the future?

A few habits go a long way toward keeping scorpions off your property and out of the house. Here is what our techs recommend to Central Texas homeowners:

• Go around the foundation, windows, doors, and utility penetrations and seal every crack and gap you find. A scorpion needs surprisingly little room, so be picky.
• Fit door sweeps on exterior doors and replace any weather stripping that has gone loose or brittle.
• Move firewood away from the house and get it up off the ground. A woodpile against the wall is prime scorpion real estate.
• Clear rocks, leaf piles, debris, and thick mulch away from the foundation so there is nowhere to hide through the heat of the day.
• Shake out shoes, boots, and work gloves before you put them on, and give stored clothing and bedding a check, especially anything that sits on a closet floor.
• Keep the garage door down when you are not using it, and check the bottom seal for gaps a scorpion could slide under.
• Stay on top of other bugs. Scorpions follow their food, so fewer insects around the house means fewer scorpions.
• Cut back any tree limbs, shrubs, or vines touching the roofline or walls. Scorpions climb, and vegetation is their on-ramp.
• Think about an ongoing treatment plan that covers both the scorpions and the insects they hunt. That combination is what keeps them gone.
• Sweep the yard, garage, and perimeter with a black light after dark. The blue-green glow makes scorpions easy to find and tells you where they are coming from.

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