# Scorpions sent in mail to harm us, need help to identify type of scorpion



## dship3 (Oct 16, 2010)

Hi, I have two Scorpions here and I am trying to identify them. My sister received an envelope in the mail filled with plastic Halloween spider rings and happy Halloween tissue paper, and all of a sudden a scorpion was crawling on my sister's arm. We found two in the envelope. Someone is trying to clearly harm or scare us. We are trying to figure out if they could cause harm if one was to sting a person. We just want to know if the person that sent this to us is trying to really hurt us. Attached are some pictures of them. Thanks so much!


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## DrJ (Oct 16, 2010)

Seeing as you live in CA, they are likely native and pose little, if any, threat. 

Sorry, I'm bad at identifying...


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## H. laoticus (Oct 16, 2010)

If those are Centruroides sculpturatus then that was a really sick prank of them.  That person may or may not know what this scorpion is capable of, but these little guys can definitely hurt. Hopefully they didn't send out more of these surprises...especially to kids.  I am just flabbergasted right now.  It'd be good to notify your neighbors about this in the case that they do receive a mystery package.


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## GPulchra (Oct 16, 2010)

This is very sick and disgusting! Was there a return address? How could they do something so horrid, whoever they are?


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## RyoKenzaki (Oct 16, 2010)

One of the most venomous scorp in arizonia if my ID is right...
The person who sent u this is definitely sick and u should take legal action on him seriously

Anw i would be damm happy to receive them LOL!!!!


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## barabootom (Oct 16, 2010)

What kind of crazy person would do this?  Do you know who it is?  This is extremely irresponsible.  If I received a package like that I'd be furious.


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## gromgrom (Oct 16, 2010)

RyoKenzaki said:


> One of the most venomous scorp in arizonia if my ID is right...
> The person who sent u this is definitely sick and u should take legal action on him seriously
> 
> Anw i would be damm happy to receive them LOL!!!!


if someone did this to another actual experienced scorpion keeper, the keeper would find it hilarious. i would.

considered the venom level of these, I'm very sorry for you OP. That was not funny at all.


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## AzJohn (Oct 16, 2010)

That species is Centruroides sculpturatus. They are capable of a bad sting. A healthy adult shouldn't have any problems other than a good deal of discomfort. The species does have deaths attributed to it, but with modern medicine the chances of death or very bad reaction are very slim. The last death was around 50 years ago. Many people are stung by this species every year with 99% (an educated guess) having no more than a painful experience.

The species has a reputation that is much worse than it is. I would assume that the person sending the scorpion meant to harm you and choose to send the nastiest thing they could find. If they were uneducated they would propably use this species, based on it's reputation. If they new enough to know that the species sting isn't likley to result in any real damage, then they are still trying to scare you. Centruroides sculpturatus are very common and be found all over the southwestern US, including in peoples homes.

John


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## AzJohn (Oct 16, 2010)

Just a side note. As a hobbiest, the idea of "Deadly scorpions in the mail" headlines, isn't what I want to see. This whole thing is really bad.

John


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## Envyizm (Oct 16, 2010)

AzJohn said:


> Just a side note. As a hobbiest, the idea of "Deadly scorpions in the mail" headlines, isn't what I want to see. This whole thing is really bad.
> 
> John


I second that. I'm excited at the thought of someone sending me "deadly" scorpions on the mail. I'm sure whoever it was most likely wasn't meaning anyone harm considering it was your little sister who received the package. Its probably a peer of hers either sending or putting the scorpions on the package to give her a scare.


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## fangsalot (Oct 16, 2010)

on one side,i wouldnt want this on the news due to bad publicity about inverts,especially because of the exaggerations there going to come up with.but on the other hand i think its a good idea to let your local news station know so others would be more carefull about suspicious packages.


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## Toirtis (Oct 16, 2010)

The potential publicity is bad, but this is a serious issue...someone out there is either playing without a full deck, or is just vicious...the next target of their 'delivery' could fare much worse. The police need to be notified ASAP.


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## Vespula (Oct 16, 2010)

If this was a prank, this was a sick one. I'd be scared to go to the mail box. At least it wasn't that deadly, but dangerous, none the less.


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## AzJohn (Oct 17, 2010)

fangsalot said:


> on one side,i wouldnt want this on the news due to bad publicity about inverts,especially because of the exaggerations there going to come up with.but on the other hand i think its a good idea to let your local news station know so others would be more carefull about suspicious packages.


I don't think it was a hobbiest that did this. If I wanted to scare some one I'd use an emp or some othre huge but harmless scorpion. If I was out to hurt someone, C scult wouldn't be the first species that comes to mind. I think it's a case of some one, mostly ignorant of scorpions, with cruel intentions. I'm not telling the the OP not to report anything to the police or what ever. In fact if this happened to me, I would. I was just, well, disapointed with what might end up happening. Enough "jokes" like this could result in some rather unfortunate things for the exotic pet hobby, even if it wasn't a hobbiest that did it. I also don't think an instance like this would be wide spread. That would take a lot of time or money to collect a lot of scorpions. Maybe I'm rellying to much on my experience as an educator. This looks a lot like bullying or intimidation to me, maybe revenge against some imagined slight, who knows.


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## Lisa Gayle 713 (Oct 17, 2010)

Call the cops. Not funny. Not cool.


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## John Bokma (Oct 17, 2010)

Yup, I certainly would report this, even if it were totally harmless scorpions.


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## dship3 (Oct 17, 2010)

This envelope was specifically sent to my dad to harm him, but my sister is the one who opened it. We are 99% sure it is a lady he recently fired, and she happens to live in Arizona. He called all of his colleagues and warned them not to open any envelopes without a return address. The cops couldn’t do anything, they just joked around the whole time and then killed the scorpions because they said they are a danger. Really sad they are just innocent creatures. They collected the envelope as evidence and can’t do anything else because it is the job of the postal police.  We have to call the postal police on Monday. Hopefully they will actually do something about this whole situation. I think if she was trying to scare us, then she would send a package with 10 scorpions. There were only two and they were so well hidden in all of the tissue paper that she was planning on someone un-wrapping the tissue paper and then being stung by the scorpion. So I believe she was really trying to hurt my dad. We are scared she is going to do something else. She is really crazy and we could see her doing anything to harm us. Also we would never contact the media about this because we don’t want people to see this and think it’s a good idea or prank.


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## dship3 (Oct 17, 2010)

Also thanks everyone for your responses and info. We really had no idea what to do since we don't know anything about scorpions and you guys have really helped and informed us. So thank you! I just wish this had ended differently for the scorpions, I am still really mad about the cops killing them. They were doing so much better after I gave them some water and I was planning on handing them over to someone who has experience with scorpions and that could take care of them.


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## Aztek (Oct 17, 2010)

You think by any chance the scorpions could have gotten in unnoticed on their own accord?


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## khil (Oct 17, 2010)

Maybe I should get ppl to hate me so they send me free scorpions LOL
but seriously man find out who, get the fbi on that.


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## DELV55 (Oct 17, 2010)

khil said:


> Maybe I should get ppl to hate me so they send me free scorpions LOL
> .


Is that how you guys get your huge collection of scorpions....
So the secrets have been released.




> You think by any chance the scorpions could have gotten in unnoticed on their own accord?


Well, I think it was put in there on purpose considering that they were mixed in their on purpose and the fake spider stuff was meant to disguise them.

It'll be a huge coinkidink if it was by their own accord.

Maybe they wanted to travel, maybe that's how new invasive species go about it these days.


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## H. laoticus (Oct 18, 2010)

DELV55 said:


> Is that how you guys get your huge collection of scorpions....
> So the secrets have been released.
> 
> 
> ...


Smugglers?  Well they didn't get very far ;P


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## DireWolf0384 (Oct 18, 2010)

AzJohn said:


> Just a side note. As a hobbiest, the idea of "Deadly scorpions in the mail" headlines, isn't what I want to see. This whole thing is really bad.
> 
> John


Agreed, this could damage our hobby even though these are found in the wild and anyone could catch them. These are C. Sculpturatus and the sting is very painful so I advise the OP to be very careful, though these are not generally deadly.

Edit: I don't think they could have gotten there accidental.


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## Irene B. Smithi (Oct 18, 2010)

I've been stung by these, it's painful...

Do you know who sent them?? Any ideas.  They need to be reported, it's not a joke, and anyone who say's that they'll love to piss someone off and get one in the mail is just plain dumb.  Some one not knowing that there were scorpions in the mail AND of medical significance is dangerous...  They are 3/5 Medical significance...  I've told many young handlers NOT to catch or own these just due to what they CAN do.  

Will they kill you, I'd say no, the odds are greatly against that (last death was in the 1960s or something like that... and there have been countless stings since then with nothing more then some nasty pain).  Will they hurt you YES they will.  

They need to be reported.  

Edit:  If you don't want to keep them alive, but want to hold on to them for evidence, throw them in the freezer, that way you have proof with out the issues of dealing with them

I don't want to see this in the media,  but would like it to be dealt with.


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## Nomadinexile (Oct 19, 2010)

Everyone has said enough if indeed these were sent to your dad on purpose to scare or harm, so I won't elaborate on that.

What I want to ask everyone looking at this is this:

What are the odds that the two scorpions may have crawled in the packaging before hand without the knowledge of the shipper?   If it was just one, I would have already assumed that.   It's a little more of a stretch with two, but not out of the realm of possibility either.   I know people who work in Grocery stores and find all sorts of stowaways quite often.   And we do have members here who find them in their house all the time.   

I don't know, but the whole thing just sounds strange to me.   :?


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## John Bokma (Oct 19, 2010)

No return address. No sender information. Some random Halloween stuff. Do the math.


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## Musicwolf (Oct 19, 2010)

It is too bad that the police killed them though . . . . that was uncalled for.

Definitely hope that the postal police will be more helpful for you.


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## GPulchra (Oct 19, 2010)

John Bokma said:


> No return address. No sender information. Some random Halloween stuff. Do the math.


+1.
Let's see, without the scorpions...
a package without a return address full of Halloween crap. That's not odd at all :razz: .


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## DireWolf0384 (Oct 20, 2010)

Its very likely that they were put there intentionally, but is somewhat possible they got there accidentally. Bur without a return address, its probably a sick prank. I shudder when I think about what the media would do with this. Its too bad the Police killed them, they are very fun to keep and raise.


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## vtecgsr (Oct 20, 2010)

My first thought when seeing the pic was an L.Q. One of if not the most venomous scorpion known to man...


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## 8by8 (Oct 20, 2010)

That is some BS, popo saying they can't help. You need to find who sent them. Go to the postal police and don't take no for an answer. But honestly what could they do? Stop picking up mail from the villan? I don't think much will come of this, but I would still fight every step of the way. How old is your sister, still a minor? I dont belive those scorps got there anyother way than by human interaction. I hope this was the last "joke" played on your family. Maybe go down to the PD and raise some hell if you can't find someone to help.


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## DireWolf0384 (Oct 21, 2010)

8by8 said:


> That is some BS, popo saying they can't help. You need to find who sent them. Go to the postal police and don't take no for an answer. But honestly what could they do? Stop picking up mail from the villan? I don't think much will come of this, but I would still fight every step of the way. How old is your sister, still a minor? I dont belive those scorps got there anyother way than by human interaction. I hope this was the last "joke" played on your family. Maybe go down to the PD and raise some hell if you can't find someone to help.


Why is that so hard to understand? Some loser climbed up a ladder, pried open a second story window, and walked out the door with over 3K worth of stuff and all the police told me is they'll do a police report and called it a open and shut case. They walked out with a Flat Screen TV, Xbox 360, Wii, PS2, two Pistols, and about 20 DVDs and Video Games and a Brinks Home security safe. Hows that hard to understand? The Police cannot do much without a return address and simply telling the Police " I think it was a ex-coworker" of whatever does not do anything.


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## GartenSpinnen (Oct 25, 2010)

Are the scorpions in question still alive? I would give you shipping plus a little extra if you wanted to ship them my way (preferably not loose though, deli's would be nice lol).

You could look at it as instead of someone trying to cause you misfortune and drama, instead they managed to snag you a few extra bucks. No need to call the cops, just every time you get a package post whatever they send you on a FS ad on these boards. Then you can just profit off of the idiot


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## GartenSpinnen (Oct 25, 2010)

vtecgsr said:


> My first thought when seeing the pic was an L.Q. One of if not the most venomous scorpion known to man...


Nope definitely not an LQ. Although they look alike in that they are both buthids, the LQ has several visually identifiable differences, most notably being that LQ has a darkened metasomal segment, which the species presented in the photograph lacks. Definitely looks like Centuroides sp., most likely C. sculpturatus/exilicauda. 

Although hot, I do not believe C. sculpturatus has killed anyone in the US in a long time. Although perhaps I am mistaken, but I do believe that C. exilicauda does still contribute to some fatalities within Mexico. I may be wrong...


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## Canth (Oct 25, 2010)

Nate, the scorps are dead


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## Versi*JP*Color (Oct 25, 2010)

If I get a package like that.....*changing mood to B****ing*


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## Terry D (Oct 25, 2010)

^ Yeah, I think I'd do a little more than that once I found out who sent it! :evil:


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## Michiel (Oct 26, 2010)

>yawn< this thread is getting boring


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## AzJohn (Oct 26, 2010)

Michiel said:


> >yawn< this thread is getting boring


LOL The OP last logged on Oct 17. I think they got there answers and that was it.


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## Michiel (Oct 26, 2010)

AzJohn said:


> LOL The OP last logged on Oct 17. I think they got there answers and that was it.



Probably thinking, WTF, are these "nerds"still talking about it, I already forgot!


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## NevularScorpion (Oct 27, 2010)

Michiel said:


> Probably thinking, WTF, are these "nerds"still talking about it, I already forgot!


lol        .


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