What About Pest Control?  Killing Scorpions and Controlling the Food Source Myth

Keeping scorpions from getting inside the home requires much more than spraying insecticides to kill scorpions or “get rid of the food source”.  If a pest control spray service “only” seems to be working, it really is much more than the product used, the dilution rate mixed, or the quality of the technician spraying. There are certainly other variables contributing to success.

For every property that reports great pest control results with a specific product, technician or company, there are many more homes that continue to have scorpion problems even though they may be using the same techniques or services.

A significant question to ask yourself: What is my goal?  Is it to kill some individual scorpions or find dead ones?  Or, is it to keep them out of the house and have a neighborhood population repelled from the home and property?

• Scorpions inside your home is more a result of the neighborhood flow of scorpions and less of an individual property problem.
• Insecticides will kill some individual scorpions on your property, but that doesn’t mean you won’t still find them in your home.
• Insecticide cannot control a neighborhood population or prevent individual scorpions from entering your home, in fact they often flush sickly ones inside and put us at higher risk of stings.

Scorpion Myth: “Controlling the food source will prevent or cure a scorpion problem.”

False. Scorpions are fierce predators who can always find food. Insecticides will not kill 100% of the bug population around your home. Scorpions can catch flying insects, which insecticides cannot control; and they can wait many months to eat, as they need very little food. If all other sources are controlled, scorpions often eat each other. Remember: THERE IS ALWAYS A FOOD SOURCE.

Controlling the “food source” should be more about minimizing the conditions such as moisture and micro-climates required for the “food source” to survive, as these conditions are attractive to scorpions regardless of the food potential.

Scorpion Control Consists of 5 Major Components, Listed in Order of Importance

1. Sealing (Weatherization and Exclusion) – one time with maintenance
2. Property and Landscape Maintenance – regularly
3. Black Light Searches – periodically based on population, season and moon phase
4. Repellents – cyclical and also based on season and other conditions
5. Insecticides – cyclical, varied and also based on season and other conditions

Written By:
Georgia Clubb – Seal Out Scorpions
gclubb@sealoutscorpions.com
www.sealoutscorpions.com