Scorpion Sightings

I have read many people’s blogs stating that they have problems with ants and spiders in their home. Most people even mention a scorpion or two. I had never seen a real scorpion before so I wasn’t sure what to expect- I only know they are dangerous. One evening shortly after the dry season began in December, I witnessed this tiny little thing running across our patio. I followed it trying to get a better look until it scurried into a crack in the cement. I became excited and told Azure and Patrick how tiny the thing was and mentioned I thought looked like a scorpion but I thought it would be larger.

A few nights later, Patrick found a much larger scorpion outside under the car port. He smacked it with his shoe and showed me but it was quite dark. We decided to leave it there and inspect it further in the morning. That turned out to be a bad plan. By morning, the only thing left of the scorpion appeared as a shadow that the ants left behind. The ants completely devoured the scorpion over night.

Several weeks later, my Mom and brother came to visit. My mom happens to be slightly squeamish so we didn’t want to tell her about the scorpions until after we picked her up at the airport. We figured we should at least warn her to keep an eye out just in case because I’m always of the philosophy better safe than sorry. She didn’t seem too shocked about scorpions in the area so we left it at that.

The next morning, we prepared to leave for an outing to Britt Café. I put on my most comfortable walking shoes and while tying the laces noticed something black sticking out of the tongue of the shoe. Nothing felt out of the ordinary, but I am pretty particular about tying my shoes tightly so I decided to take the shoe off and find out what object impeded my shoe laces. Next thing you know I am screaming as I realize a scorpion just fell out of my shoe. I jump around and Patrick whacks the thing. It all happened so quickly that I don’t know how large of a scorpion almost stung me but it sure appeared to be the largest one I’ve ever seen. Of course everyone laughs and says “oh, so that’s what we do if we find a scorpion!” Ha ha.

Since that day, we are all vigilant about checking our shoes before we put them on. I’ve seen a few more scorpions in the house but the good news to point out is that they always seem slow and easy to kill. Also, we verified that Costa Rica does not have any dangerous scorpions –nothing fatal anyway.

I found this remedy for a scorpion sting on a website that I thought would be good to share:

Make a paste from water and baking soda on a soft cloth or kleenex, apply it firmly to the sting and leave it on for 30 minutes to an hour. It will stop the stinging and itching and draw the venom out -- you will see a yellow spot of venom in the soda when you remove the patch. This works for wasp, yellowjacket and non-poisonous scorpion stings."


I haven’t had the need to try this out yet but I will let everyone know if I do and if it works.