Scorpions exterminated.
Location of Scorpion Audit.
The number of acres on the property.
Duration of the Scorpion Audit.
Hello there, my name is Toby Riley and I am a professional Scorpion Sweeper. The other night I swept a house up off of Cactus and the 101, in north Scottsdale. And we removed 107 scorpions. Throughout the property, we found scorpions in the front and back yard. This general geographical location is somewhat close to the Mcdowell Mountains, and this may be contributing to the scorpions in the area.
Factors on the property that may be contributing to the scorpions being found include 149 palm trees, lots of river rock, minimal amounts of dog and bird feces throughout the property. As well as large amounts of American and German Cockroaches and other flying insects and pests on the property. This house also contained large amounts of Oleanders along one side and a multitude of decorative rock in the back yard.
Scorpions on the property were found consistently from right to left and front to back. Scorpions were also seen on the roof of this property and throughout the backyard around the pool and patio area.
In the front yard, the majority of the scorpions were found in the river rock around the center of the yard. These scorpions were located underneath the five plus inch rock areas, usually, we recommend removing this river rock as it provides shade and habitat for scorpions during the day. A lot of the scorpions were also found in the palm tree bark located throughout the property. As I previously stated there was 149 palm trees of different species throughout the whole property. Scorpions really like this as it provides shade and easy escape points throughout the tree. These palm trees were inundated with scorpions from the base to about 15 feet from where we found them. These palm trees were more prevalent in the backyard, that’s where we found the scorpions. These scorpions were located around the perimeter and the center of the yard and as well like I said, we did find on the back patio to the side back porch door. These scorpions were also found in the decorative fountain features around the pool.
We recommend flushing and running these fountain features regularly to eliminate other pests and scorpions from taking refuge in them. We recommend cleaning up bird and dog feces throughout the property, to remove interest from other pest that may attract scorpions.
Some best practices that we recommend for this property and yours include, trimming your vegetation six to eight inches above the ground. We also recommend removing any excess shade creating objects, he had his pool equipment laying around or pool toys laying around that provide shade during they day, there is a chance scorpions may find their way underneath for refuge. Also on the property we did see some Black Widows and Daddy Longlegs Spiders, these were located around the pool pump areas and the back gate areas as well as the corners of the property. There were scorpions in these areas as well.
On a cool April night, we headed to North Scottsdale to conduct a Scorpion Audit. This home was in the Cactus and Loop 101 area, near the McDowell Mountains.
This was a huge property with about an acre in the front and back yard. It took around 90 minutes to complete. The two main issues were the 149 palm trees and amount of large river rock. Scorpions were found all over the property but those two items were the hottest spots. We collected and removed 106 Arizona Bark Scorpions and one Desert Hairy Scorpion.
There were many factors that lead to this scorpion infestation. Mainly the abundance of habitat in the form of Oleander Bushes, Palm Trees, and large river rock.
We had some guests on this Scorpion Audit. New York Times reporter Fernanda Santos and a cameraman joined us while we swept the property. The piece was published in the weekend edition on April 30th, 2016. We were a feature on the front page of the national news and had a tiny square on the front page.
This is one of our older reports, find our current report sample here.
Sweep Results and Scorpion Locations
On Thursday night we found 106 Arizona Bark Scorpions and one Desert Hairy Scorpion. Scorpions found in the front yard were found in the front right area between the garage and the river rock. Specifically, they were found in the river rock river and the base of the palm trees. 3 scorpions were seen on the roof tiles that were out of a proper vantage point. In general, there were a few key areas where the most scorpions were found. The first being the rock areas to the right and left of the walkway leading to the pool. A heavy majority of the scorpions were found in the river rock and various crevices between rock and pavement. The other major area of interest was around the perimeter of the entire guest house and the left hand side of the guest house. In this area the majority were also found in river rock and at the base of nearby palm trees.
Notes and Recommendations
Over the course of tonight’s sweep, we removed 107 scorpions. This is a very high number of scorpions and can be attributed to a number of factors. Some reasons for the high population include geographical location, close to the mountains, high amount of river rock and palm trees throughout the property, large amounts of canine fecal matter, and a high level of insects/pests.
We highly recommend removing any dog feces as this attracts the prey of scorpions. Another recommendation would be trimming excessive palm bark that provides daytime scorpion habitats. Removing excess river rock would help mitigate the amount of scorpion habitats currently present.
The majority of scorpions removed on tonight’s visit were located within river rock and palm from bark. Best practices include trimming vegetation 6 to 8 inches above the ground and removing any fallen organic debris. Frequently running your water features also helps to drive away scorpions by flushing out pests. We did remove 3 scorpions from just outside your back patio door. There were 3 scorpions on the roof that could not be reached.
Next Sweep
We recommend weekly sweeps until you are in single digits. Let us know if you are interested.
