General Florida DiscussionsAnything related to Florida in general. From "natives" talking about things they know about, to visitors asking about details to make their visit more pleasant.
Last year (2015) while Connie and I were riding our bikes on Sanibel Island near Blind Pass, we saw a freshly killed scorpion on the sandy road we were on and commented on just how HUGE that thing was. I figured maybe it was just some sort of escape "pet" from someone who lived there, and didn't think much of it. Certainly no where near the size of the small scorpions we see around our place in north Florida every now and again. So I figured it was just a fluke and didn't think about it again.
But this year (this past May, 2016) we were staying in a rental home in the Bowman Beach Heron's Landing area and one night when I went downstairs from the top floor I noticed something black right under the lip of the top step. Well heck, another one of those jumbo sized scorpions! And this time sharing the house with us. The doorway to the right in the video leads into the bedroom area, and anyone (meaning Connie or I) coming down the step would have the back of their leg pretty darn close to that thing when they put their foot on the step. It was not visible from the top coming down the steps because of that overhang at the top.
Well, had to show that thing the hard side of one of my shoes (certainly did not want that thing to wind up climbing into bed with us one night). Then snapped a few photos of it on a spatula from the kitchen to give some perspective of size. If it had been sitting on my hand, it would have taken up quite a bit of the area of my hand. I'm guessing it was an easy 4 inches long. I don't know that this scorpion could deliver any serious sting, but I do not doubt that neither Connie nor I wanted to get stung by it, regardless. Just based on it's size, I would guess it could deliver a pretty healthy sting just from the venom content it could deliver.
Now an interesting thing is that I tried to research the scorpions found on Sanibel Island and could not find anything referencing the large sized scorpions we have seen there. Just found that kind of curious, since if we found two in just the two times we have been to Sanibel, then certainly there must be a LOT more of these things found there. Just saying....
The scorpions found on the island are from the genus Centruroides.This genus does include species whose sting can be fatal, but generally the injury suffered from a Sanibel scorpion is no greater than that of a wasp sting.
on a side note, i found you on faunaclassifieds posting about this as well.
Yeah, as long as it seems even partially relevant, I will post things on nearly all of my sites. FaunaClassifieds is the one that really pays the bills to keep THIS site alive.
Congrats on post #1,000!
Even with having a sting only as bad as a wasp (and even some of them can pack a wallop), I certainly wouldn't be keen about getting stung by ANYTHING, and certainly would not be happy about wasps flying around in the house, much less stepping on a scorpion in the middle of the night in the bedroom.
Years ago I had to lift a large, heavy garbage can into my truck. Had no help so I just bear hugged it and muscled it up. I got done, went home, sat down for about 30 minutes and headed to the shower. I pulled my shirt off which was tucked into my jeans and Wham-Wham-Wham!!! It felt like a wasp sting, only worse! A scorpion had apparently been on the trash can and got in my waistband when I lifted that can! Hit me three times before I could move! That hurt! I didn't know if they were poisonous or not so my wife called poison control and was told that the east coast scorpions are not poisonous but the ones found in Texas and western states are. I have never seen these big ones that you have encountered. Makes me wonder if they are a western variety that has moved east!?
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I Have Noticed That A Lot Of People Demanding Free Stuff Are Not Wearing Work Boots.
Some accounts are conflicting about whether it is a native species or introduced. All I know is that I have been coming down to Florida since I was a kid, have been poking around in all kinds of areas in Florida looking for snakes, and have lived here for nearly 25 years and NEVER seen any scorpions even close to this size outside of these two recent sightings on Sanibel Island. And trust me, poking around under all kinds of stuff looking for snakes, I certainly think I would have found them if they were around. Found plenty of little ones and even the whip scorpions, so the habitat was certainly conducive to this type of critter.
So beats me what is going on with information about this. I guess it's not really ideal from a tourist standpoint for it to be common knowledge about huge 6 inch scorpions possibly showing up nestled in your sneakers while you are at the beach. Or climbing the stairs in your rental home heading towards your bedroom.
Jumbo sized scorpions on Sanibel Island
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