Being a native Arizonan and nature artist, encountering venomous creatures of all sorts has been a rather normal experience for years. While it's not something I particularly enjoy, I’m rarely unnerved by their presence. Rattlesnakes don’t bother me because they are usually polite enough to let me know that I’m invading their personal space. Coral snakes always show their true colors, so I know to avoid them. And Gila monsters and tarantulas are really quite easygoing if you respect them and leave them be.
However, bark scorpions – especially mother bark scorpions with little ones in tow -- are another story. Having been the recipient of painful unprovoked bark scorpion stings and the unpleasant effects of the neurotoxins that go along with it, well, to say the least, I dread encountering bark scorpions!
Being small and nocturnal, bark scorpions have the nasty habit of stealthily finding their way into shoes, clothing, bedding, and furniture under the cover of darkness. Plus, they are not hesitant to sting first and ask questions later. And late October seems to be one of their favorite times to visit our home uninvited and make themselves comfy in some dark corner.
Interesting Fact:
Bark scorpions, like most scorpion species, fluoresce in the dark under ultraviolet light. It seems a chemical reaction in the outer layer, or cuticle, of its exoskeleton makes this phenomenon possible. However, very young scorpions, and older scorpions that have just shed their exoskeleton so they can grow, are rather soft skinned and don't glow under black light until their cuticle hardens.
Bark scorpion fluorescing under UV light before
being returned to the desert from which it came.
