https://bugguide.net/node/view/5777 Sounds to me like they are a bit more than just painful. Add to it the really poisonous kind seems to have invaded SoCal: http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn74110.html Oh hell, they are here: http://www.sfbaywildlife.info/species/scorpions.htm Ain't never seen one in all the time I been here...twenty years maybe. Still, that's a bad omen. Guess I'd best start putting money aside for a move, and start looking into where I can move to that they are not. That way if I ever do see one I'll be able to get outta Dodge quick. Three things I do not mess with is rattlesnakes, scorpions and killer bees. Where these critters are, I don't want to be.
@Neville Telen If critters more dangerous than scorpions are a threat to you, consider that Timber Rattlesnakes have been found in all 48 states! Far more dangerous than mere scorpions, but possibly less commonly seen....... My big male cat, always the "watcher", amazed me while I lived in Vegas. I entered the garage from the kitchen one afternoon, one step down, to find the "Ox-Cat" engaged in a mortal game with the largest scorpion I've seen, at least 8 inches long. The intruder vainly trying to sting the cat, as his front paw lashed out time and again, batting the perp across it's back, I watched mystified, soon realizing the cat somehow knew of the inherent danger, and by virtue of his quickness and the scorpion's sluggishness, was easily capable of winning the match. By the time it was over, the scorpion, barely moving, and unable to strike anymore, the cat probed softly with his padded foot, raising the adversary in the air a few inches, then, satisfied with his victory, calmly walked away. I preserved that specimen in casting plastic, but over the years and many long-distance moves, it has become lost now and only a memory. Frank
I have heard people claim there were rattlesnakes in Kentucky, but I had lived there all my life and never seen one, so you cannot prove it by me. We had water moccasin and hornets and black widows. That's about it. Of the three, only the hornets and black widows ventured into any city. The snakes kept to the countryside. I been here now around twenty years and never saw a rattler or scorpion. As long as the rattlesnakes, scorpions, and killer bees stay clear of the city its okay. Minute I see one of these critters while walking down the sidewalk, sitting on a park bench, or worse yet in my place, its moving time. No way I will coexist with these nasties. Cats are wonderful little beings that so enrich ones life. I sorely miss having one around.
About fifty rattlesnakes were found near the coast in Maine a couple of years ago. They were all found in the same area, within the same summer, so it was assumed that someone had transported them here from elsewhere.
That's a pleasant thought---someone helping the spread of rattlesnakes. Hopefully the critters will freeze to death, but if garter snakes can survive Canada: ...maybe rattlesnakes can thrive in Maine.