How I Saved a Scorpion

I saw the title of my next blog entry in my head: "I killed a scorpion." I saw other things, too, like what the scorpion would look like writhing under the broomstick handle, a partially crushed little guy still trying to sting anything, and even my own hands shaking after killing my own zodiac sign. So, after standing there in a partial daze, holding the broomstick like a little threat in front of the equally dazed arachnid, I ran into my writing room (also the bunny room now), grabbed an empty plastic jar that usually holds timothy hay cubes, and returned to find... no scorpion in sight.

After moving a few things with the tip of the broom stick, I found him (or her) under Bryan's cordless drill charger, and then I screamed. :) And then, I used a dust pan to shuffle the little guy into the jar and quickly screwed on the lid.

There's a nice, large area of desert near our place, so I was able to take a flashlight and my jar and let him out there. Hopefully, he'll find some food and a cool rock to inch under. He's good; I'm good. I think this experience helped both scorpions living in my near vicinity and myself. After watching the little guy try not to get into the jar and try not to step onto the dust pan, I'm a lot less afraid of scorpions in general. He kept trying to play dead, I think, and he never tried to strike at anything; he just wanted to be left alone.

Since October, when I saw my first scorpion (outside of the Desert Museum) in person, hanging out in our kitchen, I knew my fears were unjustified and mainly based on the way scorpions look. Where's the head?--I mean, I know where it is, but since it's not "head-shaped" with a nice neck, it looks kinda headless. Headless things are scary things... or so I thought. Now that I've seen a scorpion up close--really up close--and interacted with one, I actually kinda like them. And I have much more respect for them. Yay, scorpions. Oh, here's what he looked like:


photo by Matt Reinbold