What Does a Scorpion Sting Look Like?

Scorpions stings are rarely fatal, but they can cause troublesome pain and swelling. Symptoms of a scorpion sting are similar to bee stings or spider bites, but they have distinct side effects that are telltale signs of a scorpion.

Read on to learn more about scorpions and how to identify when you’ve been stung by a scorpion from our Las Vegas pest control team.

Learn about our Las Vegas scorpion removal and prevention services by contacting our team today!

What Are Scorpions?

Scorpions are considered predatory arachnids. They have eight legs and are easy to recognize with their pinchers and tail that curves over their back. In the United States, scorpions can be found in the southwest, where the climate is warm and dry, such as:

• Nevada
• Arizona
• California
• Texas
• Utah
• New Mexico

What Are Common Types of Scorpions Found in the U.

S.?

There are about 90 different species of scorpions in the U.S. Of these species, there are three common scorpion types found in the Southwestern United States, including:

1. Bark Scorpion (Centruroides Sculpturatus)

As one of the most common and venomous scorpions, bark scorpions thrive in communities and can quickly invade your property. These have a skinny tail, usually light yellow or tan, and are about three inches long.

2. Striped Tail Scorpion (Paravaejovis Spinigerus)

With an easily identifiable striped tail, this common scorpion is not a great climber and, therefore, less likely to be found in homes. They have a broad tail and average three inches in length. Their venom is less potent than other types of scorpions, but their sting is no less painful.

3. Giant Hairy Scorpion (Hadrurus Arizonensis)

One of the largest species in the United States can grow up to 8 inches long and is known for its extremely large and intimidating pinches and stinger. While they are aggressive hunters, their venom is weaker than other species.

How Does a Scorpion Sting Look?

A scorpion sting can look similar to a spider bite or a bee sting. The main difference is that scorpion stings are often accompanied by pain, numbness, or tinging where the stinger contacts the skin.

If you think you may have scorpions in or around your home, don’t wait! Contact us today to see how we can help protect you and your loved ones.

What Does a Scorpion Sting Feel Like?

A person who gets stung by a scorpion can have a variety of reactions, from mild to severe. While most stings are mild, here are some symptoms to be aware of:

Mild Symptoms

About 85% of scorpion stings¹ are mild and may include symptoms like:

• Immediate pain, numbness, or stinging
• Redness

Moderate Symptoms

Around 10% of stings cause a more painful reaction, including:

• Painful shock waves
• Pain that travels up the leg or arm where the sting occurred.

Severe Symptoms

Only 5% of stings result in severe symptoms or allergic reactions such as:

• Muscle twitching
• Trouble swallowing or breathing
• Rapid eye movements
• Blurry eyesight
• Slurred speech

How Long Does a Scorpion Sting Last?

Scorpion sting symptoms usually begin immediately. Pain is most severe within the first two hours and gradually lessens over the following day or two. If you’ve been stung and are questioning what to do for a scorpion sting, it’s always best to contact a medical professional.

Have questions about how to prevent scorpions from getting into your home? Talk to one of our professionals and get some peace of mind.

How Do You Treat a Scorpion Sting?

If you’re wondering how to treat a scorpion sting, you can manage most scorpion stings at home with products you likely have on hand. Here’s what to do if a scorpion stings you:

1. Clean the sting site with mild soap and water
2. Apply a cool compress to reduce pain
3. Take over-the-counter pain medication to ease symptoms
4. Call your local poison control if you’re not sure what to do
5. Check health information to ensure tetanus vaccine is up to date

Medically reviewed articles² state that most scorpion stings are minor and do not result in emergency care. However, a scorpion sting may produce a life-threatening situation in rare cases. The toxicity of the venom depends on the species of scorpion.

Who Is Most at Risk for Scorpion Stings?

For children and the elderly, getting stung by a scorpion may be more problematic. These victims tend to be more susceptible to the venom, possibly causing severe side effects and even a trip to the emergency room. Make sure to take note of sting symptoms and either call poison control or get medical help immediately if you’re concerned.

Can a Scorpion Sting Kill You?

If you found a scorpion in or around your home, it can be an alarming discovery that leaves you with questions like:

• What happens if a scorpion stings you?
• How bad is a scorpion sting?
• Can you die from a scorpion sting?

So, are scorpion stings deadly? In the United States, deaths due to a scorpion sting are rare. In fact, in the last 50 years³, no one has died of a scorpion sting in the U. S. Some very dangerous scorpion species, such as the death stalker (Leiurus Quinquestriatus), produce an excruciating sting but would not usually kill a healthy adult.

Do Scorpions Die After Stinging?

Unfortunately, scorpions can sting more than once, but their venom gets depleted with each sting. If you ever encounter a scorpion or are stung by one, the best thing to do is move away quickly. See the information above for more on how to neutralize a scorpion sting.

Professional Scorpion Pest Control in Las Vegas

Scorpions are not creatures you want to mess with. If you suspect one in your home or on your property, get help from professional pest control and get them out before you have the unfortunate experience of coming across one.

We’re here to help! Contact us today for a free estimate on scorpion maintenance and preventative pest control services.

Sources:

¹Seattle Children’s Hospital. (13 February 2022). Scorpion Sting. Retrieved 14 February 2022.

²Shamoon, Z., Peterfy, Ryan J., Hammoud, S., Khazaeni, B. (12 August 2021) Scorpion Toxicity. Stat Pearls, NCBI. Retrieved 14 February 2022.

³Dominguez, K. Tarantula Bites and Scorpion Stings. National Capital Poison Center (NCPC). Retrieved 14 February 2022.

Scorpion Stings – Injuries and Poisoning

By

Robert A. Barish

, MD, MBA, University of Illinois at Chicago;

Thomas Arnold

, MD, Department of Emergency Medicine, LSU Health Sciences Center Shreveport

Reviewed/Revised Jun 2022 | Modified Sep 2022

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Topic Resources

The stings of North American scorpions are rarely serious and usually result in pain, minimal swelling, tenderness, and warmth at the sting site. However, the bark scorpion (Centruroides exilicauda or C. sculpturatus), which is present in Arizona and New Mexico and on the California side of the Colorado River, has a much more toxic sting. The sting is painful, sometimes causing numbness or tingling in the area around the sting. Serious symptoms are more common in children and include

• Abnormal head, eye, and neck movements

• Increased saliva production

• Sweating

• Restlessness

Some people develop severe involuntary twitching and jerking of muscles and very high blood pressure. Breathing may become difficult.

(See also Introduction to Bites and Stings Introduction to Bites and Stings Many creatures, including humans, bite when frightened or provoked. Others include Alligators and crocodiles Iguanas Mites Ticks read more .)

The stings of most North American scorpions require no special treatment. Placing an ice cube wrapped in plastic and a thin cloth on the wound reduces pain. A cream or ointment containing an antihistamine, an anesthetic, a corticosteroid, or a combination of them is often useful.

Centruroides stings that result in serious symptoms may require the use of sedatives, such as midazolam, given intravenously, or drugs to lower high blood pressure. Centruroides antivenom rapidly relieves symptoms, but it may cause a serious allergic reaction. The antivenom is available only in Arizona. It is given only if symptoms are severe.

In areas of the world where scorpions are more poisonous, such as Turkey, the Middle East, and India, stings are treated with drugs and methods that reduce symptoms and complications. Prazosin, an alpha-adrenergic blocking drug, is sometimes used to relieve serious breathing difficulty due to extreme high blood pressure. Antivenoms to specific scorpion venoms are available, but their effectiveness has not been proven.

NOTE:


This is the Consumer Version.


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What happens to the human body after a scorpion sting?

In the first half of November 2021, Egypt was hit by a severe thunderstorm with heavy showers and hail. Heavy raindrops damaged the burrows of poisonous scorpions, after which they fled in a panic and ended up right in the places of residence of people. According to the Egyptian Ministry of Health, approximately 500 people were stung by scorpions, and three of them died. The victims were treated with antidotes – there were so many victims that the management had to call even doctors who were on vacation to work. The thick-tailed scorpions pose a particular danger to the Egyptians ( Androctonus crassicauda ). This news has become a good reason to tell how scorpion venom affects the human body.

The fat-tailed scorpion that threatens the inhabitants of Egypt

Who are the fat-tailed scorpions?

At the moment, science knows about the existence of 1750 species of scorpions, but among them there are only 25 varieties with deadly poison for humans. The biggest danger is posed by thick-tailed scorpions that live in Saudi Arabia, Egypt and other desert places with a hot climate. Own name crassicauda they got from the Latin words “crassus” and “cauda”, which together can be translated as “fat tail”. As you can understand, they have a large tail, which is called the metasome.

Thick-tailed scorpion from a different angle

Interesting fact: in general, scorpions live in all countries with a warm climate. On the territory of Russia, they can be found in the Crimea, the Caucasus and Central Asia.

The body of fat tailed scorpions can be painted in different colors, ranging from light brown to completely black. The length of the body reaches 10 centimeters, but not taking into account the tail, it is also quite long. It contains a gland that produces poison that is fatal to people. It contains substances that lead to severe poisoning. Fat-tailed scorpion stings are especially dangerous for children, the elderly, and patients with cardiovascular disease.

Black scorpion in a terrarium

scorpion is called scorpionism . As a rule, scorpions sting people during field work, or crawling into their shoes. According to statistics, every year scorpions sting about 1.2 million people. More than 3,000 bites are fatal.

Scorpionism is a poisoning caused by a scorpion sting

Scorpion venom accumulates in the tail, namely in the pear-shaped segment - telson , which has a needle bent upwards. The poison contains substances that destroy the human nervous and cardiovascular systems. As with many spiders and other venomous creatures, neurotoxins are a big threat. They penetrate the nerve cells, which are designed to transfer information from the brain to the organs and vice versa.

A scorpion sting under a microscope compared to a medical needle

When a scorpion stings, a person usually experiences only a small amount of pain from the sting. After that, the pain begins to intensify - at this time, the poison penetrates into the bloodstream and causes overexcitation of the nervous system. A person begins to experience anxiety, which is a consequence of a severe headache, nausea, vomiting, poor coordination of movements and other unpleasant symptoms. In this case, the bite site swells, itches and hurts.

Structure of a scorpion

Black scorpion stings are distinguished by the fact that almost immediately they cause severe and burning pain. From time to time it subsides, but then it becomes unbearable again. Half an hour after the bite, the victim has pain in the area of ​​​​the tongue and gums. Also, convulsions of individual muscle groups and even such terrible signs as the discharge of purulent fluid from the eyes are not uncommon. If medical assistance is not provided to a person in time, he may die from suffocation.

There are many poisonous scorpions in the world, but in most cases stung people can be saved

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It is worth noting that there are animals in the world that can survive the stings of dozens of scorpions. We are talking about Brazilian toads ( Rhinella icterica ), which for many years behind scorpions and thus saved people from poisonous creatures. They bring great benefits to mankind, but the people themselves do not really like them - the inhabitants of Brazil scare them away with salt and other chemicals. You can read more about tiny scorpion rescuers in this article.

Animals of the Earth

Kaliningrad woman bought a bag of potatoes and ended up in the hospital because of a scorpion sting

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• Kaliningrad woman bought a bag of potatoes and ended up in the hospital because of a scorpion sting

Exotic creatures and where they live. A resident of Kaliningrad bought young potatoes and ended up in the hospital because of a scorpion sting.

How did an uninvited guest end up in our region? What to do if you are bitten by a poisonous animal?

Alena bought new potatoes. But dinner was not prepared that evening.

ALYONA REZNIKOVA, INJURED:

— Tore the package. We never untie. Here. And I started getting potatoes here. Throw in to wash. And here is the third potato. I remember on the third. He bit me.

There was a real scorpion in the bag. Further - acute pain and several days in the hospital. Diagnosis: toxic effect of scorpion venom.

ALENA REZNIKOVA, INJURED:

- Feels like a very sharp pain. Well, like a wasp sting, only, probably, 10 times more painful. Immediately there is numbness. Well, I don’t know, as if they scalded their hand with boiling water. It hurt a lot, because I myself in the hospital asked for painkillers.

While Alyona was in the hospital, her husband caught the disturber of the peace and put him in a jar. Feed the pet with insects.

ALYONA REZNIKOVA, INJURED:

— He just sits in a bank, we throw spiders at him, I don't know, we throw flies. He eats flies. Zhukov. Vaughn crawls himself. He doesn't need much care.

Deny any involvement at the base. They explain: potatoes from Azerbaijan are packed in bags by hand and they could not miss such a passenger.

This is not the first case for Kaliningrad. Scorpions have been found in other places as well. Maria sent us this photo.

MARIA:

— Hello! I can only write that while cleaning I saw that there was a beetle on the floor, I wanted to take it, it quickly turned around and began to run under the baby's bed. In shock, she crushed his tail with a children's car! My husband was shocked when he got home from work!

Potato arthropod - female spotted scorpion. Lives in the Caucasus. According to the expert, such individuals can indeed live in Azerbaijan and quite often travel in vegetables or fruits.

ALEKSANDR KHLEVTOV, CHIEF SPECIALIST OF THE TERRARIUM SECTOR:

— Scorpions are nocturnal, secretive animals that usually spend the day somewhere under stones, under snags, in narrow crevices and after dark they come out to hunt and do their natural things. Most likely, it’s just that a scorpion somewhere climbed into a pile of potatoes, looking for shelter, they loaded it with these potatoes together in bags, and, accordingly, that’s how it came to us, by import.

Alena is lucky. This type of scorpion is low toxic, but if a person has an allergic reaction, then stinging can lead to disastrous consequences.

VALERY SERGEYEV, DOCTOR-METHODIST OF THE EDUCATIONAL CENTER OF THE TERRITORIAL CENTER FOR DISASTER MEDICINE:

— We know cases when a person becomes very ill from a simple bee or wasp sting. People prone to allergies, of course, will react completely differently. And snake bites. Their condition will be much worse.

There are scorpions in Russia. Their habitats: Lower Volga region, Crimea, Black Sea region. When stinging, the first aid rules are the same as when biting a snake, or, for example, a spider.

ANASTASIA MAKHINA, CORRESPONDENT:

— If you are alone and you are bitten by a scorpion, you need to ensure that you are in a sedentary state, then a cold compress is applied to the bite and fixed with a bat or any material at hand.

Next, you need to immobilize the injured limb and drink an antihistamine for prevention. But the most important thing is to call an ambulance.

Emergency number 103. Before the doctors arrive, make sure you drink plenty of water. It will help remove toxins from your blood.

Scorpio lived with Alena for 5 days, and she didn't know where to put him - she gave it to us. We found him a home in an exotic pet store. Now the scorpion has a warm, dry terrarium, and Alena has peace in the house.

MIKHAIL KAZACHENOK, OWNER OF THE TERRARIUM STORE:

— Will live in our terrarium.