Tarantulas or scorpions? (Farmington: live in, snakes, driveway)

[Katzpur]

Originally Posted by stycotl

although i wouldn't suggest this, i have tested the aggressiveness of black spiders by holding one in my hand once. i didn't have any problems, but i still probably won't pull that one again.

You are absolutely insane!!!!!

[ahkeeley]

I am so tired of finding scorpions in my home in Jacksonville, FL and I can't wait to move out to Salt Lake and be rid of this problem - I hope! We are considering a home in Emigration Place Canyon. I know it is a bit out of the city and more into the mountains so I was wondering if anyone knows if homes out in that area tend to have problems with scorpions?

I lived in Phoenix for 3 years and never once saw a scorpion, but I move to Florida where I didn't even know they existed and find at least a dozen a year. Once we found a dozen of the tiny babies in about 2 weeks time and I live in a suburban type neighborhood - not the boonies!

We have black widows too and found one once, but it is true that bug spray works just fine. Not too worried about tarantulas, but maybe I should be?! They don't scare me as much as scorpions.

[BorderGirl]

I think if I were to ever come across a tarantula I would lose my will to keep living. They creep me out big time! I live in the Sugarhouse area and my apartment is full of spiders. We spray every 3 months and I put down spider traps everywhere. My Dyson vacuum cleaner is my best friend for getting rid of spiders since it has a very long attachment which means I can stand back without getting too close to the creepy crawlies. Even in Emigration Canyon I don't think you'd run into scorpions. I think they're more out west and in the desert area.

[dpond]

I found a scorpion the size of a quarter in my house last night. I live in Sandy and my back yard borders the Dry Creek equestrian park just above 1300 East. I have lived here for 13 years and this is the first time I have seen one. It is a yellow-brown color.

[dcisive]

Scorpions are found quite frequently out in the desert by Dugway Proving Grounds and such. NO tarantulas however. I've spoken to folks that worked out at Dugway that say they always checked their boots before putting them on. Those pesky tarantulas love to freeload a ride

[coolcats]

I think an actual bigger worry is black widows. We found this bad girl today in our garage. It's the second one in three days we've found in there.

Not good when you have two kids under three, since they are most susceptible to black widow bites. If anyone has extermination tips, I'd be interested to know.

[Katzpur]

Originally Posted by coolcats

I think an actual bigger worry is black widows. We found this bad girl today in our garage. It's the second one in three days we've found in there.

Not good when you have two kids under three, since they are most susceptible to black widow bites. If anyone has extermination tips, I'd be interested to know.

I would get a reputable exterminator out there on the double. My dad once caught a black widow in our garage when I was a kid. The very next day, a huge egg-like sac appeared in the bottle with the spider. I can't remember how long it was before that sack broke open (maybe a week or so), but that bottle was filled with probably a hundred teeny tiny black widow spiders (except that at that point, they were unrecognizable as black widows). My mom talked my dad into contacting Hogle Zoo to see if they wanted the bottle containing the whole spider family. They did, and we delivered it safely to them. I cannot even begin to imagine what our garage would have been like had that mama widow been able to produce her sack full of babies in the garage instead of in that bottle.

I'd recommend Preventive Pest Control. We tried using Terminex for a while a few years back. When we decided to stop using their services, we had a harder time getting rid of them than we did the pests they were supposed to be controlling.

[irman]

Originally Posted by dcisive

they always checked their boots before putting them on. Those pesky tarantulas love to freeload a ride

You mean Scorpions ...
Not only your boots but also you clothes you shake out !
Talk to any soldier used to serving in *a desert* !

[slcslc]

Originally Posted by irman

You mean Scorpions ...
Not only your boots but also you clothes you shake out !
Talk to any soldier used to serving in *a desert* !

And your bath towels and your gloves. The secret weapon is one or more chickens. Chickens are scorpion terminators. In fact, conventional wisdom is that scorpions actually "smell" (who knows if scorpions actually smell?) chickens and re-locate.

edited to add: of course, then you have chickens.

[locko8]

We have caught 1 of 2 tarantulas at our house in the last three days. One was outside in our driveway, just smaller than a woman's hand. The one in our bedroom right now is about 2/3rds the size of the larger one. In the ten years I have lived here I have run across one a year. We moved to the mouth of Little Cottonwood Canyon one year ago and there have been 5-6 other tarantulas spotted in our neighborhood. No scorpions to speak of. Lots of rattle snakes. I ran across my first black widow about one week ago.