Scorpions are fierce pests common to the Desert Southwest. Read on to learn more about the history and behaviors of these critters.

A Guide to Understanding the Scorpion

Despite generally being quite small, few pests cause as much fear and consternation as scorpions. They’re a common sight throughout the Desert Southwest, and many people turn to scorpion extermination in Las Vegas to battle the pesky arachnids every time the weather starts to warm. To help you stay one step ahead of these venomous critters, let’s take a look at where scorpions come from and how they typically behave.

A Proven Survivor

While an individual may only live between two and 25 years, the scorpion has survived almost unchanged as a species for more than 350 million years. Nature has adapted the scorpion to be able to survive in a wide range of habitats – various species can be found on every continent except Antarctica – and to weather some of the harshest conditions imaginable. They can slow their metabolism so much that they can live for an incredible 12 months or more after eating just a single insect.

A Nocturnal Predator

If you’ve ever had problems with scorpions as pests, you’ve probably recognized that they’re more active at night. That’s because they’re nocturnal predators, preferring to move under cover of darkness to seek out their prey. Though they most often eat insects such as crickets, grasshoppers, and cockroaches, they also enjoy eating other scorpions. In fact, it’s not uncommon for adult scorpions to chow down on their own young. All scorpions take down their prey using the venom in their tails, though the potency of the venom varies from species to species.

A Messy Eater

Scorpions are unusual creatures in many ways, and that extends to their method of eating. After capturing its quarry using large, strong pincers, a scorpion will sting its prey repeatedly with a stinger attached to the last segment of its tail, called the telson. This immobilizes the prey, allowing the scorpion to tear it into small pieces using its pincers. The scorpion then spits powerful digestive fluids on its meal, which liquefies it and allows the scorpion to suck the resulting goo through its toothless mouth.