The Arizona Bark Scorpion
The Bark Scorpion is the most venomous scorpion in all of Arizona. Males can grow up to 3 inches long. Scorpions eat various insects like crickets and roaches and are eaten by many insects, reptiles and animals like snakes, spiders and rodents.
Bark scorpions can live for up to 6 years and can stay under a rock for up to 9 months without needing food or water. Scorpions, like spiders, breathe through lungs called Book Lungs. This is why it is more difficult to kill arachnids with regular bug poisons unless you spray the poison directly on them. Local exterminators suggest that you have a better chance of killing scorpions by catching them yourself than you do using pesticides. However, pesticides will kill the bugs that scorpions eat which will eventually cause them to leave your area in search for food.
To catch scorpions yourself you need a few items
- A black light flashlight- typically found at Lowe's or Home Depot for about $14
- A pair of 10 inch tweezers found at your local pet store
- A jar- scorpions can not climb glass
Bark Scorpions will actually glow when you shine a black light on them as shown in the pictures below. If you go out at night, typically after 10pm you will have a good chance at seeing them. In 2011 I caught over 70 of them around my home. This year I have caught about 30 or so as their populations are way down around my home vs. last year.
When put into a jar with more than one scorpion they will start eating each other. In the video below you will see a huge scorpion as he attacks other scorpions and then begins to eat one of the scorpions that he caught.
