How to Keep Your Mexican Home Free of Scorpions

Unless you come from a part of the United States, such as Arizona, New Mexico, or anywhere in the southwest where the scorpion reigns, you probably have no idea one of the lovely things with which you will have to deal when moving to Mexico is The Scorpion! In fact, the fifth deadliest scorpion in the world lives right here in Mexico.

This is not such a frightening thought since the scorpion of which I speak also runs around in the desert homes of America's southwestern states. The Bark Scorpion is the critter that causes a great deal of problems in Mexico. It kills, according to some online sites, 1000-2000 people per year in this country. There are other scorpion species that live in central Mexico, but their venom is not as potent as the dreaded and deadly Bark Scorpion.

For those who embark on their expatriation adventure from parts of the United States where they've never had to deal with a scorpion problem, it can be a nerve-wracking event. After seeing my first one, and after getting stung by one (by the way, spiders bite but scorpions sting), I shudder when I encounter them. I often endure sleepless night just knowing that one is going to drop down from the ceiling to get me. I usually get over it until I see the next one. And, in Guanajuato, they are common.

Scorpions are amazing creatures and beneficial to the environment. There are a few species that can kill you and should be avoided at all costs. Mexico has one of those species.

"You find scorpions (Buthotus species) in deserts, jungles, and forests of tropical, subtropical, and warm temperate areas of the world. They are mostly nocturnal in habit. You can find desert scorpions from below sea level in Death Valley to elevations as high as 3,600 meters in the Andes. Typically brown or black in moist areas, they may be yellow or light green in the desert. Their average size is about 2.5 centimeters. However, there are 20-centimeter giants in the jungles of Central America, New Guinea, and southern Africa. Fatalities from scorpion stings are rare, but they can occur in children, the elderly, and ill persons."

There are two classes of poisons in the world of these vile creatures. One causes a sharp and very unpleasant pain, not unlike a bee or wasp sting. You could suffer death if you have an allergy to this venom. The other class of scorpion venom is somewhat akin to the neuro-toxic Coral Snake and the Cobra. Isn't that a lovely thought!

"The symptoms resemble poisoning with strychnine and frequently death results. Many fatalities from scorpion stings occur in parts of Mexico."

In fact, according to the yearly report we read in the papers here, there may be as many as 2000 deaths per year from scorpions. Which species is involved in these deaths is hard to tell for many reasons. All scorpions that are hazardous to humans belong to the Buthidae (Buthoid) family. In the New World, it is the most "notorious Centruroides suffusus (Pocock, 1902)," respectively titled "alacran de Durango."

Where I live, south of Durango, we have both classes of scorpions. We have the ones that will try to kill you with the most hideously painful sting. Then, we have the one that is like having a cobra bite you. This one, however, is not indigenous to Guanajuato.

What happens is that The Leather Capitol of the World, Leon, Guanajuato, gets its leather goods from Durango. This is where the lethal scorpions live and make babies. They apparently hitch a ride in the leather goods that get sold in Leon. They hide in the pockets and get sewn up into the collars of different types of leather clothing. A favorite hiding place might be inside that new purse you just bought...the one that might now be the cause of your premature death!

These scorpions not only nail the leather-good sellers and buyers but escape to begin a new life in the state of Guanajuato. Most of the stings of these creatures with their cobra-like venom occur in Leon each year!

They have been seen in the city of Guanajuato, however.

So, how does one cope? How do you live in a place where you could possibly encounter one of the top five deadliest scorpions in the world?

One thing you do is keep plenty of antihistamines on hand. We have generic Benadryl for just this occasion (and an occasional sleepless night). If you get stung, take 100 mg before getting yourself to the doctor. The next step is get to a Mexican doctor. They most adept at treating scorpion stings in this country. They are experts at scorpion envenomation.

Preventing scorpions from coming into your house is another thing all together. The locals have all sorts of folk remedies and tricks that I do not trust, to tell you the truth. What I want is a way of warding them off or killing them if I find them in the house.

In Guanajuato, you will find them coming into the house when the cold and rainy seasons begin. They want to escape the cold and the water since they cannot swim and easily drown. So, what you do is make sure your house is as free of the foods scorpions eat as possible. What mainly attracts them to the inside of your house, where they end up in your shoes and beds, is their food source. Kill the bugs they eat and you will help to reduce the amount of scorpions you find in your house.

I have used sprays on the little monsters when I've found them and it seems to make them madder than anything else. It is hard to kill them when you find them. The biggest one we've found to date was in our bedroom on Christmas Day. I took my shoe to it. Even that didn't end his little claw-clacking existence.

The thing turned on me and began arcing his tail and stinging the tile floor. I smashed him four more times before finally ending his stinging career. The thing was about three inches long and a dark brown color.

Using sprays to rid you house of the scorpion's food source does work but you have to keep it up on a regular basis.

Another thing that works is to seal scorpion access ports in your house. Seal up all the holes. Seal the space around pipes, holes in the walls, spaces in the window frames, and anywhere else you think one might squeeze through. Think like a scorpion! If it looks like a place where a scorpion, with its poison-laden dagger, might like to come in, then seal it up with some sort of sealant.

Also, they like to come in under your doors. We stuff a towel under the door each night since that is a scorpion access point.

There is a product, so we've been told, that is a floor cleaner, like Mr. Clean or Spic and Span, which is laced with insecticide. You can use it to clean you floor and leave a nice film of poison on the floor. This will help keep the bugs that scorpions eat out of your house and maybe even make a scorpion think twice before walking on the poisoned floor. I do not know if it works since we've not been able to find it.

In a nutshell:

• Keep your house as free as possible from the bugs that scorpions prey on.
• Seal up every hole that you could imagine a scorpion might crawl through. Sleep with your windows CLOSED. Stuff towels or newspapers in the spaces in door and window frames. Remember to be very careful when removing the towels or newspapers. The scorpions can hide in the folds of these items-just ask my wife.
• Keep a generous supply of Benadryl on hand and the cab company's number so you can get to the hospital if you get stung.