Scorpions etc

Just to put your mind at ease, I have lived in the valley for 11 years and I have never seen a scorpion, rattle snake or black widow. I have had friends that have seen them but they live in more rural type areas or are close to the mountains. I think overall they are not any concern, but it is just good to be aware that they are around. I hope this helps.

"Our lives are not determined by what happens to us, but how we react to what happens; not by what life brings us, but by the attitude we bring to life."-unknown source

I don't live in a rural area and we have scorpions and black widows, I wouldnt be nervous about it, you just need to be aware of it. Most of the new home built areas have scorpions, cause of the digging of the ground.. A real nice area like So. Tempe has a huge scorpion problem and the homes are 350,000 plus.. Awatukee has problems, Ocotillo, Arrowhead and ect. Most new home areas have the problem with scorpions.
There is also a pesticide called Sidekick that kills scorpions, the reason exterminators dont tell you or use it, is because they want you to have them come back every month.. I spray Sidekick every 3 or 4 months around the perimiter of the house and don't have a problem with scorpions.. But not that it has rained alot I will be spraying this weekend and it will do the job. I have a great fear of being stung by a scorpion.
If you go onto poison control they are ways to keep baby safe, like putting glass cups under each leg of the crib, scorpions can't climb on glass..
black widows are usually only outside and where there maybe junk pilled up like wood and stuff..
rattlesnakes have been found in yards that back the mountains mainly.

" just my Opinion" LOL

Every place in the country has their unique creatures. Don't worry - we also have neat looking roadrunners (rare but neat!)

Mom of teenage boys!

First, welcome to the valley when you get here! About scorpions, I have lived out here for going on nine years, and have lived and worked in two places that had them. They are nocturnal and mainly active in the summer. The first couple scare you when you see them, but after that, you realize they squash just as easy as any other bug (and then have your husband clean up the remains -- that's what I did, I could stand seeing them twice). You can have a pest control company spray for them, but keep in mind the poison doesn't kill them, but what they eat so they move on someplace else or starve. Not all new homes have scorpions -- there are areas who have them. I know Las Sendas and the Red Mountain area have them. I also have a new home and no scorpions. I would recommend calling a couple pest control companies and asking if the can tell you hot bed areas to avoid.

I live in an area that my pest guy said has black widows, but the house is sprayed every other month and I don't see anything. (I have an infant and am up at odd hours, so if we had anything I would know). Rattlesnakes, yeah, if you live on the outskirts or next to a mountain preserve, you have a better chance of seeing them. I've only seen them hiking and that was because some nitwick hiker thought it would be great to provoke it (and even with the provoking, the snake still preferred not to bite, but rather slide away).

You could probably ask your real estate agent about hot bed areas too (they know).

There are far worse things to be worried about than these pests, like making sure you didn't pack the favorite toys you plan to travel with.

Best of luck!

Thank you all for your calming and welcoming words! I feel more educated about the situation, which helps.

We were looking at the southeastern part of Phoenix due to my husband's work travel (mostly to Tucson), but maybe we also like the look of the southwest too- Goodyear, etc. Is it a much further drive from the west to Tucson- it's hard to tell on the map.

And I hate to sound ignorant, but what is considered the "valley"?

First of all, Welcome!! I have been living here in az for about 14yrs and have never been across any of these creatures, don't worry about it too much...

xoxo

Well, the builders did invade their habitat so don't be surprised if you run into one :) But I think that if you live close to a mountain or out in the desert then you will see them occasionally. We haven't run into one yet(knock on wood) and we've been at our home for 7 years.

It is not that big of a deal.....I have been stung twice.
I had an apartment in Tempe that was full of them, and we had an apartment in Ahwatukee that had a scorpion problem, too....they usually show up in areas close to a mountain preserve or areas just recently developed.The tempe area has a huge problem with them....legend has it that some years ago there was an ASU research project that involved scorpions, but lost funding and they released them into what was at that time undeveloped desert...hence the birth of the Tempe "scorpion alley" area.
We got a cat when we were living in Ahwatukee and the cat seemed to take care of the scorpion problem......they can hunt them very efficiently. My husband has an aunt that lives in Ahwatukee and they put their baby's crib legs on glass jars to keep the scorpions from crawling up there. Once they get into a structure, it is very hard to get rid of them.....but we have been living in the same home in Gilbert for 10 years and haven't seen a solitary one....good luck.

My husband and i had our house sealed up by a professional and we've had a monthly exterminator that visits. Knock on wood - we don't see any creatures. The exterminator sprays out doors once a month.

We feel safer, haven't seen any creatures....but we are always aware to keep our eyes peeled.

For us, it's money well spent.

The recipe for perpetual ignorance is: be satisfied with your opinions and content with your knowledge.
~ Elbert Hubbard (1856 - 1915)

We have scorpions because we live in a former citrus grove and we have flood irrigation. (The yards are watered by flooding them from a pipe in the ground - something I'd never seen till I lived here!) I did some research though, and no one has been killed by a scorpion since the 60s. My 2-year-old was stung once, and we took her to the ER. Nothing happened, they checked her out and sent us home. So, as a former midwesterner, they were new to me too, but I don't see them often, and the ones I have are only about an inch long. You'll be OK, really. :-)

Hobbymommy, 38, is a discussion leader from Mesa. She is a happy stay-at-home mommy to a 3-year-old daughter and a 2-year-old son.

I was born in Phoenix and have lived here my entire life (almost 32 years). I have never seen a scorpion. Three years ago we moved to a newly built home in Surprise (far west valley) and I have yet to a see a scorpion, although I have had neighbors mention they've seen them. I have, however, seen black widows. This past summer we actually had a lot of them. I was nervous too because I was pregnant. They never ventured inside the house, but we had a lot of them outside in the bushes and under patio furniture. The area we live in still has a lot of undeveloped desert and farmland. We have our house sprayed once a month but that does little to help with spiders. Before we moved out here I had never seen a black widow either. The only reason you might have a run in with those types of critters is if you buy a house in a rural area or near the mountains like someone else mentioned. Even then, I woudn't worry about it.

When our next door neighbors moved in, the wife saw a scorpion, panicked, and called an exterminator. They sprayed and all the scorpions and cockroaches came to our house to die! LOL!

Scorpions are no biggie. They have no interest in you. They'll scurry away from you as fast as they can and won't sting unless they feel provoked. I don't know anyone who's ever been stung. The cockroaches actually freak me out much more (I think the fact that they fly is creepy).

Science project: scorpions glow green under a blacklight (ultraviolet) light. They're actually really pretty. It's a fun thing to do on summer nights. Also, they're really easy to catch. Take a glass (they can't climb the smooth glass), and pop it over the top of the scorpion when you see it trying to scurry away. then slide a piece of cardboard under the glass (those advertisement postcards you get in the mail work well because they're thin but stiff), and lift the glass and card, and flip over so the scorpion is in the bottom. You can feed them crickets and give them a little bit of water, and they'll stay alive for a long time. or you can just take them to your nearest green area and release then (this it what I do, although my husband did keep and feed one for about a month, named it Scorpio, before finally releasing it)