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hawky454

Lifer
Feb 11, 2016
5,338
10,232
Austin, TX
I’ve gotten used to them living in Texas, though, if they sting you on the tip of your toe, it can hurt like a butch for a good hour. Feels like stepping on broken glass. But I do enjoy a good cuddle with a scorpion when I’m lonely.
 

mawnansmiff

Lifer
Oct 14, 2015
7,684
8,294
Sunny Cornwall, UK.
My father told me that during the war in Italy, before you put your boots on of a morning you upturned them just in case something nasty had crawled inside overnight.

He went on to tell me if/when a scorpion fell out the guys would pour a circle of petrol around it, light it then watch the scorpion sting itself.

How true that is I have no idea though I do have my doubts as he was one for stringing yarns.

Regards,

Jay.
 
Aug 1, 2012
4,882
5,701
USA
My father told me that during the war in Italy, before you put your boots on of a morning you upturned them just in case something nasty had crawled inside overnight.

He went on to tell me if/when a scorpion fell out the guys would pour a circle of petrol around it, light it then watch the scorpion sting itself.

How true that is I have no idea though I do have my doubts as he was one for stringing yarns.

Regards,

Jay.
Yeah, after living in India I knock out my shoes every morning regardless of where I am.
 

BCF

Lifer
Dec 23, 2022
1,047
15,322
Pennsylvania
Yeah.

Speaking of pets, I had one very similar in colour and size (Australian desert scorpion) when I was a teenager.
Had its enclosure on my bedside table, would wake me up at 3am bashing into the plastic sides, whilst on the hunt.
Wish they ate more often, was a trip feeding it crickets.
What was its name?
 
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olkofri

Lifer
Sep 9, 2017
8,166
14,980
The Arm of Orion
My father told me that during the war in Italy, before you put your boots on of a morning you upturned them just in case something nasty had crawled inside overnight.

He went on to tell me if/when a scorpion fell out the guys would pour a circle of petrol around it, light it then watch the scorpion sting itself.

How true that is I have no idea though I do have my doubts as he was one for stringing yarns.

Regards,

Jay.
I used to do that when I was a lad. More for the fun and satisfaction the elimination of a deadly threat caused than for the self-stinging part, though. And I used ethanol instead of petrol.

The scorpion doesn't really sting itself: the contortions and the final crumpling into a shrunken wreck from the heat gives the impression that it does, but it really dies from the incineration.

Like snakes and other poisonous creatures, scorpions are immune to their own venom, so if a scorpion were to sting itself it wouldn't die.
 
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irishearl

Lifer
Aug 2, 2016
2,258
4,049
Kansas
Went on a 2 week camping excursion of national parks in the western US as part of a geology class some 45 years ago. Taught me how much I didn't like camping.:) Camped around Angel's Camp California and when I awoke in the morning had a scorpion in the sleeping bag. Then went to shower and found a black widow spider in the shower stall.
 

timelord

Part of the Furniture Now
Oct 30, 2017
956
1,983
Gallifrey
My father told me that during the war in Italy, before you put your boots on of a morning you upturned them just in case something nasty had crawled inside overnight.

He went on to tell me if/when a scorpion fell out the guys would pour a circle of petrol around it, light it then watch the scorpion sting itself.

How true that is I have no idea though I do have my doubts as he was one for stringing yarns.

Regards,

Jay.
My dad used to tell similar stories; but he was Asia during the war.
 

username

Lifer
Dec 24, 2014
2,261
15,599
Tucson Az
The only time I've seen scorpions in the wild here in Tucson was when we moved from our apartment into the house and they were in all the closets when we were packing up moving, It was wild since we never saw them in the years we lived there.