11 Ways To Get Rid Of Scorpions In Your Home

Arizona is a great place to live. When people think about Arizona, they think of towering Saguaros, the Grand Canyon, majestic mountains, the desert, beautiful weather, great golf courses and…scorpions. Yuck!

A little bit about scorpions

Scorpions are members of the class Arachnida and are related to spiders, mites, and ticks. There are several species of scorpions that live in the South, Southwest, and Mexico. They are commonly thought of as desert dwellers, but they also live in the rainforests of Brazil, in British Columbia, Canada and, weirdly, North Carolina.

Scorpions are carnivores, and have been around for hundreds of years and are survivors. That’s all good, we just don’t want them surviving in our house. Scorpions are nocturnal creatures, so they usually hide during the day and are most active at night. They feed primarily on other insects like crickets and cockroaches but they can survive months without food if they have enough water around.

Keeping scorpions out of your house is the best defense

Of course, the best way to avoid getting stung by a scorpion in your own house is to prevent them from getting into your house in the first place. Prevention is the best option to keep scorpions and all other bugs and pests out of your home and away from you and your family. Scorpions get into houses through tiny cracks or holes. If you shine a flashlight on the walls of your house and the light gets through, so can a scorpion. You should always be on the lookout for cracks or small holes that can provide entryways inside.

Here are some tips to keep scorpions and other unwanted visitors out of your home:

1. Keep all sides of your home free from debris (leaves, wood piles, brush, etc.) Walk all around your house and clean away anything that can provide a hiding place for scorpions and other pests. Use a rake, shovel or broom to keep these areas clean.
2. Keep the areas around your home dry, because moisture attracts scorpions. If there are leaks or small puddles around the base of your home, it’s best to get these cleaned up.
3. Fill in any holes or cracks in your foundation and outside walls. Cracks or small holes are easy entries for scorpions and other pests. Concrete expands on hot days and contracts in cold weather, so you should use a material that stretches a bit. Mix a dry patch powder with latex instead of water to give the product elasticity and adhesion. For cracks wider than 1/8 inch, use a patch or call a professional.
4. Caulk around all doors and windows. Caulk keeps out scorpions and also keeps out extreme heat and helps keep your home cool.
5. Spread treatment granules in a 2-5 foot area around all sides of your home or apply “pest barriers” around the outside of your house. Use outside spray up to two feet from the ground on foundation, doors, windows, garage door and frame, sidewalks and patio. It’s smart to call a professional like Northwest Exterminating to be ensured that this job is done correctly.
6. Apply inside spray along all baseboards in every room, closet and around window frames. Again, a pest control professional is a wise choice here.
7. Keep the inside of your home free of clutter as well. Declutter laundry rooms’ entryways and closets so there aren’t areas where scorpions can hide.
8. Essential oils like lavender, cinnamon, peppermint and cedar can be used to discourage scorpions at all of the potential entry ports listed above.
9. Schedule a regular spraying in and around your house to give you peace of mind about scorpions and other pests becoming house guests.
10. Sprinkling cinnamon all around the baseboards of you house will deter scorpions from entering your home and putting borax around under your sinks and pipes help eliminate the bugs that scorpions feed on.
11. Keep your food containers sealed to avoid other pest. Since scorpions feed on centipedes, spiders, and crickets you should keep people and pet food in tightly closed containers. Also, you should keep all trash containers closed both inside and outside of the house.

What to do if you find a scorpion in your house

The best way to deal with scorpions is to take preventative measures, like the ones we’ve talked about, to not allow scorpions in your home in the first place. Sometimes, in spite of our best efforts, we still get scorpions and other pests into our home.

Don’t pick up or touch the scorpion. Scorpions are sometimes found in small places like shoes, caps or in clothes. Because scorpions are nocturnal creatures, it’s most likely to see them at night. A black or ultraviolet light will illuminate them, but it’s wisest to just call an exterminator. Prevention is the biggest key and regular spraying and inspection will help keep you scorpion-free and worry-free.

There are some sprays that are effective in killing scorpions, but once they get in, it is difficult to get rid of them, so calling a professional like the Southern Arizona pest control experts at Northwest Exterminating is the best option. Offering effective scorpion treatments in Phoenix, Tucson, and throughout Southern AZ, you can count on us to eliminate and prevent scorpions from infesting.