Meet America's Most Dangerous Arachnid - The Arizona Bark Scorpion

Comments · 853

• MY

  @MyWildBackyard · 2 years ago · pinned

  What a creepy find! What other unusual creatures should we feature soon?

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• SO

  @SockyNoob · 2 years ago

  I love the message about coexisting with these scorpions. Really applies to all native wildlife.

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• Q-

  @Q-BertASU98 · 2 years ago (edited)

  I've been tagged by a Bark before, definitely unpleasant and your reaction depends on how allergic you are to their venom.  One very unnerving fact about Barks is they tend to end up on your ceilings, which makes the incidental tagging while sleeping not uncommon in AZ.

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• JA

  @Jammy2times · 1 year ago

  Literally only 2 deaths in Arizona since the 60’s. I’m tired of the sensationalism when it comes to scorpions. Yes, it’s a powerful sting from the Bark scorpion, yes it can lead to allergic reactions and hospitalization. This is so rare, and even less of a chance of death.

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• SP

  @spoonbendingspacemonkey · 2 years ago

  I seriously don't understand how you can handle these animals. I'm freaked out just seeing them on a screen! You have a lot of love and respect for theses creatures ❤

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• TM

  @tmanley1985 · 2 years ago

  Story time. About ten years ago or so I was into collecting various arachnids. I go to my local pet store and ask one of the guys if they had anything new come in. There was a younger fella I&apos;d never seen before and he seemed jovial enough. He said he had something I might be interested in, and brought it out. I&apos;d not seen this new scorpion but it looked familiar. He told me it was an Arizona Bark Scorpion. So I said, &quot;fuck it, wrap it up.&quot; and I headed home. I started doing research on it and found its venom to be medically significant and thought it was crazy they had it there. Now let me say something else about myself. I keep every receipt. All of them. My wallet is a graveyard for paper and some of them you can&apos;t even read anymore. I don&apos;t know why I do this, it&apos;s just a part of me now. Anyway, fast forward about a year and a half to two years later I needed to get rid of my collection so I started taking them back in to the same store and getting in store credit. I had centipedes, tarantulas, scorpions, you name it.<br><br>Well, I thought this was the time to say goodbye to my little Arizona Bark Scorpion so I had to take him out of his terrarium. TLDR on that, I thought the little asshole escaped and I was freaking out, but he was literally buried in the last little dollop of substrate left in the tank. I cleaned my underwear and took him back to the store. The guy that sold me the scorpion wasn&apos;t employed there any longer but I met with a regular employee and asked if I could get some in-store credit.<br><br>He looked at it and told me point blank, &quot;We can&apos;t take that from you.&quot; I scoffed and said, &quot;I bought it from you though.&quot; He looked around and said, &quot;You didn&apos;t buy that here.&quot;<br><br>I pulled out my wallet knowing it would be in there somewhere but half bluffing because in order to find this receipt would have taken forever. I said, &quot;No, I&apos;ve got the receipt and everything!&quot;<br><br>To which he said, &quot;No man. I&apos;m saying, you didn&apos;t buy that here...&quot; as he looked around the store.<br><br>I just left the store and a buddy took the scorpion off of my hands. To this day I&apos;m not sure if they weren&apos;t allowed to sell it or not but it sure seemed like it freaked them out.

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• JO

  @johnparsons1573 · 2 years ago

  Such an amazing animal. Talk about doing something right. They have been around for millions of years and changed very little. Absolutely amazing.

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• NA

  @nancybrown3816 · 2 years ago

  I got stung in my home by one of these. Had to go to the ER for anti venom

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• AC

  @aclearlight · 2 years ago

  As a visiting professor at Qufu University in China in 1988, my colleagues and I were honored with an especially fine banquet dinner put on by the chemistry department. Walking into the banquet room with about six tables, I was astounded to see that the central dish at each table was composed of a artfully-arranged pile of wheat noodles with about 8 - 10 large, deep-fried scorpions arrayed in a spoke-like pattern on top, and they were almost as large as this big one you handled here. I watched with keen interest as the first of the smiling Chinese grad students in attendance eagerly popped one into his mouth, stinger and all, and then went on to look very happy and healthy afterwards. &nbsp;So, I went for it, and OMG, they were DELICIOUS. Imagine a delicately-crunchy, meaty potato chip tasting like a cross between a large shimp and heaven. Evidently the deep frying process safely pyrolyzes the toxins in the stinger and brings out the wonderful seafood-like flavor. Now I always remember that surprising, delightful meal whenever I see scorpions in the wild where I live (Sierra Foothills, LOTS) or in videos like this. 😋

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• AZ

  @azmiked3872 · 2 years ago

  I live in Arizona and have been stung a few times by a bark scorpion. &nbsp;It is very painful however when you call Poison Control they really just advise you to wait it out unless you have health issues, elderly or a baby. The time of how long it hurts varies, it usually hurts me for about 6 hours but my mom was like 12 to 16 hours. Kinda feels like when your leg falls asleep and you get that needle stinging feeling but for a long time. So if you stay off it and rest it doesn&apos;t hurt as bad.

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• SP

  @SpaceBugArts · 1 year ago

  Downright cruel of you to do the &quot;Ow!&quot; joke the SECOND I TURNED MY ATTENTION AWAY TO DRAW 😂

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• GO

  @goldfieldgary · 2 years ago

  The best place to find bark scorpions isn&apos;t on the desert floor, it&apos;s (as the name implies) around cottonwood trees with lots of loose bark. We jokingly call them the Arizona Shoe scorpion, as that&apos;s the most likely scorpion you&apos;ll shake out of your shoes in the morning when out camping.

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