Parabuthus leiosoma

[Fausta]

I have moved this from the main boards so someone may learn from my uncomfortable experience. Feel free to ask me any questions and I will answer them as best as I can. The P. leiosome is rated only a 3/5, a more moderate Buthid, but one never can be certain how strong each individual scorion's venom may be or one's reaction to the venom. I am not allergic to anything except walnuts and have had numerous scorpion stings over the 20 years I have had scorpions in my life. This was just a very freak and very strange event.
Kelly

(Approximate Date and time the sting occured, July 10th, about noon)

 

[Fausta]

Hello all,
Today I had a bad experience with a 4 inch P. leiosoma. I was given an enclosure by someone at a petstore I won't mention as a freebee I could clean out and use over. Well, I took a spatula and scraped the soil out and failed to notice the leiosoma jump out until it was too late. Got me a good three or four times in the lower arm. Right now it is very swollen and very painful and I am having great difficulty typing or even thinking for that material. My cheeks and ears are buzzing and I feel it all the way up my shoulder into my back muscles. It happened 10 minutes ago. I am going to go laydown for awhile, but I just thought I would post this while the venom courses through me. Bummer I left my digital camera at my office. Note: always check the old enclosures, even if someone tells you it has been vacant for 6 months. I have a new friend now, but at a terrible price.
Kelly
(Approximate Date and time the sting occured, July 10th, about noon)

 

[Fausta]

(July 10th, couple hours later, about 2:30PM or so)

Ok. I am making it through this. I had some breathing problems and had a shot of epenaphryn (if that's how you spell it). Not sure if it did anything, but it might have. My arm is very badly swollen and very stiff and my thinking is not to clear. I did not sleep as I am very uncomfortable. Skin crawling and some twitching, especially in my eyes. I fixed a bath and soaked and my wife pressed some kind of herbs on the punctures, which are four. I feel it has platoed a bit, but I guess i will have to see as this thing progresses on. I get these shivers up my body from this. Not too good, but i am sure I will live to fight another day. I appreciate the kind words and thoughts and i will let you know how things are a bit later. The scorpion is fine and I just left it in the old home until I can do something with it. I need to have a talk with the fellow who gave the tank to me. Had no idea anything was alive inside there. Knowing the types of scorpions he keeps I got lucky. Sorry about the miss-spellings and such.
Kelly

 

[Fausta]

(Sunday night, July 11th, about 12:00 AM or so)


Hello All,
I appreciate the concerns you all had about my health. I survived, but it was a pretty scary experience. I had some sort of relapse a few hours after the sting happened and was in and out of it all night. (Relapse and bad reactions started around 5-6PM on July 10th). I was sweating up a storm and shaking and had some breathing problems as well as a very tight throat. I had 2 nurses with their bags to help me and they set up an IV for me and gave me antihistamines as well as some other things I don't remember much about. They apparently were on the telephone with poison control about exactly what they were dealing with. My stubborn self would not go to the hospital. I had given my wife a print-out I keep on hand for each scorpion and I already had one for the P. leiosoma I previously had. Not sure if they were any help. I must say I never expected this to happen from a P. leiosoma, but I guesss you never know. I have ben stung a few times by B. arenicolas and a few others as well from the deserts of Egypt and California. The B. arenicola was bad the second time, but nothing like this. The swelling in my arm has subsided to about 30% and I still get small bouts of twitching if you can believe that! My muscles still ache a bit and I am very sensitive to light and heat right now, but my brain is seemingly normal as well as my body functions. I liken it to someone who uses a drug and gets high from it and it slowly fades away as it is absorbed into the body, leaving a few of it's effects as it wears on. Something like this. I am not even allergic to bees! I did notice the first 2 punctures are quite swollen like knots and angry and the latter 2 not so bad, perhaps he ran out of juice after the first two stings. It was just a wicked, wicked sting and the scorp must have given me everything it had. The scorpion is quite large, we measured it at about 4" with the tail curled. It did tell me it was sorry though
So if anyone has any questions about envenomation that my experience may answer or shed light on let me know and i'll try to explain some details about this horrid affair.
By the way, the moron who gave me this scorpion tank said he thought it was one of the "empty" tanks, but since he has scorpions everywhere I think he should always empty the soil from a dead tank to be sure. He has many deathstalkers and A. australis' and I could have been killed. He is very sorry and offered a lifetime supply of crickets and other things but I am not going to speak to him for awhile. I am so respectful about the awesome danger these wonderful animals represent that I take extra caution for their own and my own safety. It makes me sick that someone can just throw these things around so carelessly and the old saying came true "someone is going to get hurt".
I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow to check my heart and other things. I plan to speak about this as a freak event and not imply I keep these at all. I don't want people to freak out about poisonous animals and keep the remote chance of media attention away from this stupid, stupid event.
Sorry so long winded, but this is an unfortunate part of our hobby and a reality which potentially awaits everyone who takes poisonous creatures lightly.
Kelly

 

[Fausta]

(Monday, 6-7PM, two days after the sting)

I went to my doctor today who was not too pleased with me. He scolded my for not going in to emergency. It was my call In told him and explained the nurses etc... However he did say my reflexes, eyes, hearing etc. were just fine and explained to my the swelling of course would go down and I may have localized sensitivity for awhile. He did send me over for some blood work as well as a urine analysis. Might take a few to get those back. He also said that sometimes some of these reactions to the venom possibly can come back in various forms later. My B. arenicola sting area still gets weird and sensitive once in awhile and I was stung last in April.

As for the damage the scorpion did, swelling down to perhaps 20%, some isolated twitching with some of the muscles in the arms and my eyes. My finger, wrist elbow and shoulder joints ache, expecially in the evening. Not too much sensitivity to light anymore, but I do get itchy from time to time, which reminds me of when I had Malaria. Punctures very sore, expecially the two nasty ones, and itchy like a new tattoo. All in all a frightening experience, but a very survivable one as I always new these types of scorpions don't kill, but can ruin one's afternoon.

I promise when I get to my office I will bring home my camera and post a nice image of the fellow who got to know me a little better. I also, as SkinHeadDave suggested, will move my posts here to the "Been Stung" section so people can read and learn from this. I guess if I have any advice I would say that even if you know the scorpion is a safer type it still can do you one good as you never can predict how strong an individual scorpion's venom may be or how much of it the beast will administer.

Again I am very appreciative of all the well wishes from this wonderful community we have here with participants from all over the world.

Kelly

 

[Fausta]

Now it is Thursday, July 15th, and everything is back to normal except some soreness, minor swelling and definite sensitivity to the sting area as well and pain. The two bad stings hurt are pretty sore and still and some hardness in the flesh inderneath, sort of like a knot. My blood and urine work indicate no lasting damage and it appears this is just an unlucky reaction to a moderately rated scorpion, 3/5. It just shows that you never know exactly and all scorpions should be treated with caution.