Scorpions in Colorado Springs? (Pueblo, Fort Carson: homes, buying, living)

[DrDog]

Originally Posted by TCHP

We did have a couple of grasshopper invasion of biblical proportions ....back in 1874 and 1937.

So are we due for another?

[ProtoStrata]

You're not likely to run into many obnoxious invertebrates in Colorado Springs. The only ones I remember are the miller moths and houseflies. Of course, you can find plenty of biting/stinging critters: hornets, bulldog ants, mosquitoes, camel spiders (sometimes called wind scorpions, even though they're not scorpions), bees, etc. but none of them are very common.

As a rule of thumb, the higher you go in elevation, the fewer invertebrates you'll see and vice versa. Pueblo and the Arkansas River Valley lie at lower elevations (below 4500 feet) so count on seeing more pests down there, especially right by the river. The only place I recall seeing biting and stinging flies in Colorado was at Bent's Old Fort in July.

[TCHP]

Originally Posted by DrDog

So are we due for another?

Probably not. These historic invasions came up from Texas and New Mexico, the eggs carried by the wind, which was blowing arid farmland topsoil into the atmosphere. They have become much better at managing these critters and the moisture required for farming, which results in us only needing to deal with localized critters.

[Colorado Rambler]

I grew up in Colorado Springs and I've never come across any scorpion invasions or heard anything about them on the news or IRL. I'd say you'd be safe from them there depending on how fast global warming moves along.

You do not want to live in the Four Corners Region, however. We have plenty of scorpions (as well as tarantulas) out here. When I worked at the library for Ft Lewis College in Durango, there was a massive hatch of scorpions in the stacks next to my office. I would step out of my office on a nice summer afternoon in August to discover them racing like mad toward the biology collection. Made me suspect a student prank since they seemed to be coming out from the section of entomology (study of insects) books that we had there. But I guess it was just a natural phenomenon. I was told it had happened before and indeed, it happened again. I kind of liked them in a weird sort of way - I majored in biology as an undergrad - but no one else shared my enthusiasm for them and the exterminator was called and I felt a bit lonely after his visit. Anyhow, the Springs is safe - for now.

[Sonic_Spork]

I've lived here since late 2011 and not yet seen a scorpion. I did however, when living in Security-Widefield (closer to the plains than the mountains) have sun spiders invade the garage. One frightening moment when one was on my leg, but I shook it off without incident. They are FAST and rather alarming. I hear they've got a very painful (though official sources say, non-venomous) bite.

Sun spiders are neither scorpions nor spiders, they are "solifugae" or their own order of thing. A friend who is local to the area says that one should "kill them with extreme prejudice" if you see one in your home environment. They are the smaller local cousin to the camel spider they have in Iraq and I used to hear soldiers talk about staging pit fights between camel spiders and scorpions. I guess a camel spider can take out a scorpion sometimes. ??

[MBlake1]

We have them in our house and so does one of our neighbors. BUT we live on the mountain near The Broadmoor and also have red rocks in our house (feature rocks) the house was built around. We just moved here a year ago from the east coast and were very surprised to see them. Definitely not infestation because we have bug treatments done so maybe see one every other month.

[COcheesehead]

We have them in Grand Junction too. They supposedly are not poisonous, but they look creepy. We also have killed a couple black widows in the house and we have these huge Jerusalem Beetles that look like some ancient creature.

[Mike from back east]

Scorpions are rare in Colorado Springs, but one must beware of the dreaded Western Winged Jackalope, said to be more vicious than the killer rabbits of Monty Python's demise.

[Hschlick84]

If you see a scorpion in the Springs, take a picture for reference. I want to see some of the smaller ones, haven't encountered any in my area yet.

[NORTY FLATZ]

Aren't the Scorpions from Germany?