Sunday, September 18, 2011

Whip Scorpion

Our house has lots of stairs and two consecutive stairs are rarely the same size. Each morning as my alarm jolts me out of bed and I work my way down four flights of stairs as Audrey excitedly bounces around, I feel success if I make it to the bottom without a slip, trip or fall. Recently, I arrived at the bottom and turned on the light to find a whip scorpion hanging out in the kitchen. Happy to have made it down the stairs, I'm relieved though often still half-asleep. Scorpions are not the first thing I want to see in the early hours.

The first one was large and after a short conversation mediated by a broom, it disappeared. The next morning, a much smaller one turned up...in Audrey's water bowl!


From Random Taichung


From what we've read, these scorpions are not dangerous to people. Instead of a menacing stinger, a thin whip-like appendage extends from its rear. They are supposed to be able to squirt acid out of the whip which can be irritating though painful for an animal if received in the eyes. 

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