Oh man! I thought I was going to have a peaceful quiet day today and get heaps done, but the peace was shattered when I looked down as I lowered my hand to my office chair. I caught a glimpse of something going underneath the arm rest. I'd already seen an e-bloody-normous wolf spider in the laundry this morning, and what I saw on my chair looked like a spider appendage ducking out of sight.
I try not to kill creepy crawlies just because they've strayed into "human space", but when they're on the holy of holies, MY CHAIR, I tend to be less forgiving. I leapt up and away from the chair, then peered under the arm from a safe distance...
It was a HUGE scorpion! I freaked smooth out. Even now I have to step away from the chair for a moment and catch my breath.
Once or twice I've seen tiny ones in the house, but they were extremely rare. This one was about 4 inches long. I didn't even know they got that big here. I grabbed the first large clear thing I came to and a file folder, knocked the chair over, and plopped the measuring cup over the critter. It was fast and smart, and escaped through the spout, but I was right behind it, and captured it again - I just kept spinning the cup around so it couldn't escape again. Eventually I got the file folder under it and flipped the cup, scorpion and all. I took it outside, but I didn't let it live. Sorry Scorpion.
Let that be a lesson to all scorpions - stay clear of human habitations. We're terrified of you and we're too big to eat.
I try not to kill creepy crawlies just because they've strayed into "human space", but when they're on the holy of holies, MY CHAIR, I tend to be less forgiving. I leapt up and away from the chair, then peered under the arm from a safe distance...
It was a HUGE scorpion! I freaked smooth out. Even now I have to step away from the chair for a moment and catch my breath.
Once or twice I've seen tiny ones in the house, but they were extremely rare. This one was about 4 inches long. I didn't even know they got that big here. I grabbed the first large clear thing I came to and a file folder, knocked the chair over, and plopped the measuring cup over the critter. It was fast and smart, and escaped through the spout, but I was right behind it, and captured it again - I just kept spinning the cup around so it couldn't escape again. Eventually I got the file folder under it and flipped the cup, scorpion and all. I took it outside, but I didn't let it live. Sorry Scorpion.
Let that be a lesson to all scorpions - stay clear of human habitations. We're terrified of you and we're too big to eat.