Scorpions? WTF???

[Merriweather]

Quoth 42_42_42

I do NOT like spiders or scorpions, but the thing that makes me let out a blood curdling shriek is centipedes. Spiders and scorpions are scary. Centipedes are just wrong!

My family and I lived in Tombstone, Arizona for about six months, in the sixties (I was in Jr. High then). During that time, I killed a scorpion in the living room, a tarantula in one of the bedrooms, we had a rattlesnake living under the front porch, someone found a poisonous centipede on the football field during P.E. one day, and my Dad liked to go out to the desert around old abandoned towns to bottle dig - when I went with him, I got to keep watch for Gila monsters.

Can't say I was too terribly upset to move away from there

[Tsiyeria]

Quoth teh_blumchenkinder

Apparently, in New Mexico, my mother saw a centipede the size of a forearm, about as big-around as a broom handle, and black as sin.
They're poisonous, according to my granny.
._________.

I HAVE SEEN THIS. I was working at a theater in Palo Duro Canyon last summer, I was there for about 16 weeks. One day a motion in our costume shop catches my eye. EXACTLY as your granny described it. As long as my forearm. HUGE spikey bits on the sides in red and yellow. And FAST. IT WAS FAST. Also durable. Our shop manager had to beat it to death with a laundry bucket. I am not ashamed to admit that I jumped on the table.

After that, the tarantulas didn't bother me very much. And we saw WAY more bull snakes than rattlesnakes, and non-venomous snakes don't really bother me anyway.

For those who don't know, here is a link to a picture of this behemoth, which is apparently a Giant Desert Centipede. Warning: NOT for the faint of heart or frightened of crawlies.

[ShadowBall]

Gack, my one friend gets massive centipedes in his den and they are disgusting. I don't know if they're poisonous or not, but it is not fun when you've got one of these huge motherfuckers shimmying at you. And in my mom's house, she gets huge black spiders in the basement that move relatively fast...where they come from, I don't even want to know. When it comes to bugs, the rule is as follows: Outside, I leave them alone. In the house, they get smashed.

But I'm a big baby when it comes to bugs. When I was visiting the aforesaid friend, I saw a moth in the shower when I went to bathe. I screamed bloody murder and ran out wearing nothing but a towel and asked him to get rid of it. Fucking moths and butterflies scare me, for some reason...just when they fly at me.

[flybye023]

Makes me glad I live in England, where the closest thing we have to dangerous wildlife is Rapscallion

I thought you guys had a little asp native to England?

[Mikkel]

Quoth flybye023

I thought you guys had a little asp native to England?

They even have scorpions . I thought I remembered seeing something about them on TV.

[Miss Maple Leaf]

Okay, I finished reading this thread and my heart has finally slowed down to a normal pace.

Scorpions don't bother me in the slightest (in fact I think some of them are downright cute) but spiders send me into screaming fits. I really did not need to see that camel spider picture on page four. Especially at 11:30pm. I'm going to have nightmares tonight, I just know it.

*rocks back and forth* Can't sleep, spiders will eat me. Can't sleep, spiders will eat me. Can't sleep, spiders will eat me.

And there goes my heart again...

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to visit Cute Overload. No evil spiders from Hell to worry about over there.

[Andara Bledin]

Quoth Heksubah

My dad and stepmom get them a lot at their house in the Ozarks and have mentioned that fact when I'm visiting, that we are not to squish them on the carpet.

I never want to live anywhere where there's advice about where it's is and isn't appropriate to kill the creepy crawly invaders. O.ô

Quoth telecom_goddess

WTF I live in the Pacific Northwest and I have never seen a scorpion......eeeeeeesssshhhhh

I'm in an actual desert location (albeit, coastal), and I've never seen one outside of a pet shop.

Though one of my cousins got stung by a nasty one while in Arizona once.

Quoth bhskittykatt

BTW here is a picture of the scorpion (best one I could get without releasing it from its plastic prison).

Oh, hey, that looks like the little guy that got my cousin.

Quoth Sandman

Yes.. we did have scorpions in the room... no... not the band... the actual insect....

They're arachnids, not insects.

I've always contended that the more legs a critter has, the creepier it gets.

Quoth 42_42_42

I do NOT like spiders or scorpions, but the thing that makes me let out a blood curdling shriek is centipedes. Spiders and scorpions are scary. Centipedes are just wrong!

I see I'm not the only one.

^-.-^

[bhskittykatt]

Okay, just had to share this:
http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2011...ommercial.html

Man was stung by a scorpion on a flight from Seattle to Anchorage. The guest from the original post was returning to Alaska. Is this a coincidence? I THINK NOT! THE SCORPIONS ARE TRAVELING TO ALASKA TO LAUNCH AN INVASION!!!