Scorpions on farm house

by Apurva
(India)

I am a regular visitor to this site. We have built a farm house and try to go there as frequently as possible.

But being a city dweller I am petrified of the scorpions that visit our farmhouse.

Is there a natural way I can keep them away?
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Glad you like the site, Apurva, and welcome!

Now, I have some bad news for you regarding your scorpion problem. They are extremely hardy bugs, on the same level as cockroaches, in that if there was a nuclear fallout the cockroaches and scorpions would still be around!

So that gives you some ideas as to how difficult they are to get rid of. Prevention, in this case is better than cure!

Scorpions are particularly evident around full moon, and so it pays to go around the house during this time and get rid of as many as possible.

I don't believe in killing scorpions unless there is a total invasion as they do have a part to play in keeping the population of spiders, cockroaches, crickets, mice and even snakes down if the scorpions are large.

However, if you do want to kill them, use a torch with a black light so that you will be able to find them without frightening them away.

They have a very hard exterior skeleton, so you must make sure that you kill them properly. Catching them with an upturned glass and some cardboard to prevent them falling out is one way. Some people use hairspray to freeze them in their tracks, but never tried that.

However, you also want to put fly screens up on your windows, and make sure that there are no large gaps under your doors where they could come in.

Another way of preventing scorpions is to make sure that they cannot get into the weep holes of your house. You can buy covers for them as this is where the scorpions will enter, and come into your house.

Use caulking to block up any gaps and possible entry areas.

Clean the areas around your house and remove any piles of wood. Keep the grass short, and don't allow trees to grow too close to the house where the branches overhang.

Finally, you can spray with either lavender or cedar oil around the thresholds of your farmhouse on a regular basis to deter the scorpions.

Not every scorpion is highly venomous, and most of the time a scorpion sting will give you an unpleasant tingling sensation in the area for a few days with some swelling.

Just remember, however, to always shake out your shoes in the morning making sure that there are none in there, before you put your feet inside!

If you follow a regime of catching and killing them on a regular basis, and preventing them from entering your home as much as possible, you will lower the chances of an encounter enormously.

Kathryn