Scorpions in Sydney

[Starman73]

Hello Everyone,

My wife and I live in the North West of Sydney, the Hills District. We went into our bathroom tonight and we saw a little scorpion in the floor. We caught it and I took a few photos of it.

I have never heard of scorpions in Sydney before. Has anybody else come accross them, are they common? Thankfully I have read that in Australia the sting of a scorpion isn't deadly, unlike the bevy of other lovely "deadliest" creatures we have here. I am really concerned about finding this scorpion because we have a little 5 month old son who will be starting to crawl around the house in the next little while.

Please let me know what you think.

Thanks
Paul

[Sab]

wow...

You'd think having caught a scorpion in sydney, the chances of encountering another one would be very very slim.

But i'm not a scorpion psychologist...

[mark3d]

you could contact the museum, they will be able to tell you what bugs are around your area. :)

.

[Terry B]

I have seen scopions in Sydney and they are pretty common here in Armidale.
Always little and found in the leaf litter.

[multiweb]

They love humidity. Got stung on the leg once putting a fresh pair of overalls on. Yellowish about an inch long. The pants were still a bit damp off the laundry and the bloody thing was having a rest inside one of the legs. I felt a pinch on the inside of my upper tight. Two inches higher and I might have been running for it but not as sore as a wasp sting - you still feel it on the spot. Then the area goes numb and hard for weeks until the venom goes away I guess. I don't think they're dangerous though.

Got to big careful with the little one coz young kids drool, wet the bed etc... and they're attracted to moist. Find out where they come from and spray the place.

[mithrandir]

Not about scorpions, just other venomous creatures.

One of the local newspapers said several people in the Hills district have been stung recently by redbacks. SWMBO is insisting I get rid of the pet one living in the kitchen. We've been watching him grow for several weeks starting from an unidentifiable speck and now the stripe is unmistakable. He chased down (didn't wait for it to be caught in the web) a cricket twice his size the other day.

[Ric]

Hi Paul, while scorpions are not considered as poisonous in Australia the reactions from a sting can vary from mild irritation to numbness and some paralysis.

In the case of toddlers the reaction could be worse as their immune system is not fully developed.

Cheers

[Starman73]

Hello All,

Just to give you an update, my wife got in contact with some pest controllers today, one said there is no way it is a scorpion, scorpions don't live in the Sydney area and the other said it can't be a scorpion, we are mistaken, it is an Earwig. Looking at the pics I took of our scorpion, it is definitely not an earwig.

Anyway the pest controller that said it was an earwig said that he could spray the house etc and that will control them if there is more than our little specimen currently in a jar. I really don't want to risk my little boy getting bitten I don't want him to suffer the possible pain and other possible effects too.

Hopefully this is the last one I will see, but don't let anyone tell you that scorpions don't exist in Sydney.

Paul

[mark3d]

it might have hitched a ride from elsewhere..without any of its kin... :)

[[1ponders]]

According to "Venomous Creature of Australia" scorpions are found all over Australia and the further north you go the bigger and more dangerous they become, but none are a threat to man. There was one reported death of a baby girl in WA. Treatment is usually ice compresses with pain killer in severe cases

[that_guy]

its a marble scorpion very common scorpion in aus, they tend to get in houses because of the hiding places and bugs...

[Ric]

An earwig in disguise, I be more worried about the pest controllers instead.

[multiweb]

:lol: My thought exactly. :thumbsup:

[White Rabbit]

I'm a bit late to the party but scopions dont like lavender. If you leave sprigs of lavernder about the place it should ward them off.

[M54]

We found a little scorpion in our garden years ago and we live in Melbourne.
Never saw one again after that.
Your photo is definitely NOT an earwig. Looks nothing like an earwig, for a start earwigs have only six legs. Scorpions have eight.
As mark3d said, contact the museum, they should be able to give you better information.

[Starman73]

Hello Molly,

From my research, I found that there is a variety that is commonly found in southern parts of Australia. I found this to be quite unusual as I always thought scorpions were the domain of deserts. Anyway as I said at least the scorpion isn't one of Australia's most deadly, we have enough of those.

The scorpion was confirmed by the pest controller and he was going to go back and tell the guy who said it was an earwig in no uncertain terms what it was.

So far we have remained scorpion free and hope to be for ever in the future.

Paul

[bluescope]

Your scorpion looks very similar to the variety I get here in country WA ... the pest control guy you spoke to must be an idiot to think it was an earwig ... but then those guys do spend a lot of time messing with nasty chemicals ;)

[M54]

Yes Paul, we certainly were surprised to see a scorpion in our garden!
I was a bit worried after that, but as I said, we never saw one again and that was about 25 years ago.

Hopefully you'll never see one again too.:thumbsup: