... The SCSon was stung by a scorpion. The resulting scream was the loudest thing I've heard since watching a Harrier in hover. Poison control center says it's very painful but not lethal. It's going to hurt for about 6 hours.
The SCQueen has taken him to the local urgent care, I'm home hunt down the offending critter. Which brings up the obvious question.
What caliber?
I'm thinking 12 gauge. Discuss.
Update: It went better after he calmed down and he was able to sleep through the night. The doctor checked him today for neurological problems and pronounced him OK. A few random tingles are the only remaining symptoms.
We learned tonight a little more about how it happened... he knelt down to pet the cat but didn't notice that the cat had captured a plaything... the scorpion. Good kitty for catching the lil bugger. Bad kitty for not disposing of it!
BTW, My weapon of choice for hunting scorpions is a 2 1/2 Hp shop vac. It has a 6 foot rigid wand which gives me about 5' 10" of reach on the scorpion. The end of the wand has an "event horizon" about 6" in radius. If I can get the little bugger in that zone, the vacuum quickly accelerates the critter to about 100MPH for the trip through the hose. They don't survive the trip and the mess is contained within the vacuum.
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I wouldn't count on the shop vac killing a scorpion (or any other insect). It's a great idea, but you'll want to vacuum up something else (like dust or water) to ensure that the insect suffocates before you open it.
Consider hornet spray; it has a broad-spectrum pesticide and is easy to use.
Make sur eyou have a filter fitted, too. My shop-vac currently does not due to using it to suck up water. If he did survive the trip that bugger's going to be mighty pissed after being ejected.
I didn't mention the 90 degree hard left turn the hose makes as it enters the body of the vacuum. Seems the critter has too much mass to make the turn unscathed. Just like a fly on your windshield. Maybe it's my sadistic side but I pop the top off the vacuum to check the critter's vitals. And once the top is off, it's a good time to dump the tank and clean the filter.
BTW, not all shop vacs are created equal. The SCFIL donated an old one he no longer uses but it's an older model with a ~3" hose. It doesn't generate a lot of velocity and I concur.. not sure if it would kill the bugger. But my weapon of choice has a smaller ~1" hose and with a much higher air velocities.
lil' buggers don't survive this trip but YMMV!
Sounds like he got nailed by one of the little ones. We have some small brown ones around here that are like a bad wasp sting.
When I was a tiny kid in Las Vegas, I remember a neighbor getting stung on the hand by one of the big ones we had there. His whole arm swelled up so bad that the skin was stretched and shiny.
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