Understanding The Arizona Bark Scorpion And What To Do If Stung

Throughout the world there are over two thousand known species of scorpions.  All if these arachnids have the ability to sting and deliver venom.  Each of the scorpions roaming the Earth have within their bodies a form of poisonous venom.  This venom is used to paralyze and kill their pray so that they can continue to eat and thrive as an individual.  While all scorpions contain poisonous venom, not all scorpions’ bites can be harmful to humans.  Most often a bite will be similar to that of a bee sting, and it has been reported that a scorpion bite hurts less then a common bee sting.  The most common effects of being stung by a scorpion are localized redness, minor pain, and sometime swelling can occur.

In Arizona scorpions have a list of nearly forty different species that live throughout the desert and mountainous north communities.  Of the nearly forty scorpion species only one of them has the potential to greatly hurt or give reason for concern.  That scorpion is called the Bark scorpion.  Of all the known Arizona scorpion species, only the Bark scorpion can deliver a venomous bite that could often result in needing medical attention.

The Bark scorpion is one of the smallest, yet most toxic of all scorpions.  Their entire body is usually no more the one and one-half inches in total length.  The Arizona Bark scorpion’s body color will come across as light tan to shades of rich brown.  Their body color can change depending on the Arizona environment they are living in.  The Bark scorpion can be found inside of an Arizona home in cool and dark locations of a garage, storage room, or utility room, as well as outside where they live in rocks, woodpiles, within palm trees, and in the bark of trees.  This toxic Arizona scorpion is very skilled climber and finds few places they cannot easily maneuver.

The Symptoms Of A Bark Scorpion Sting:

Children are often the one’s with the worst symptoms and show signs the earliest when stung by a Bark scorpion.  Of the symptoms that could show up, signs will be clear within the first one to three hours of a sting.  Whenever in doubt it is advised to seek the advice and treatment of a medical professional.  Each person stung may develop a different reaction and not all people stung will have severe symptoms to the venom.

•    Burning Pain
•    Swelling may occur
•    Sensitivity at the location of the sting
•    Numbness and the lose of sensation near the sting area
•    Blurred vision
•    Throat and tongue swelling
•    Difficulty speaking and forming sentences
•    Tingling sensation at the face or limbs
•    Muscle cramping, or twitching
•    Emotional irritability
•    Restlessness

Human deaths as a result of an Arizona bark scorpion bite are very rare.  Only the elderly, children, infants, and those with severe allergic reactions face any serious dangers concerning being stung by an Arizona Bark scorpion.  Always seek medical advice if a person is showing severe symptoms of a Bark scorpion bite.

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 1st, 2009 at 5:14 pm and is filed under Animals. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.