This all too common false 'opinion'

Jaffster

Arachnoknight
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May 30, 2007
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I know this is an international forum, so it may not apply to you all. But here in the UK people seem to have their minds set on Scorpions being 'deady and dangerous' creatures.

It hurts me to think that a few films/programs on TV have put this into their heads.

I completely understand that we don't have any scorpions here in the UK in the wild, so people only have the impression of them which the TV gives, but I seriously wish people would open their eyes and listen!

All this came around with my mum, now I'm 20 and don't plan on staying at home for much longer. Infact me and my girlfriend are already looking at apartments/flats. But the only response I could get out of my mum when I told her I was going to buy a scorpion on my 21st (This saturday) was NO NO NO NO!

She seems to think that it will escape through the night, magically heat seek all humans in the house, jump onto our beds, sting us all to death then devour us for dinner. I was looking at the heterometorous species which we all know isn't really a killer.

Sorry for the rant, but I've just had a discussion at work about inverts, mainly scorpions and peoples opinions on these are nieve at the very least. People don't want to be told that they are fascinating creatures, there's no telling them!
 

LeilaNami

Arachnoking
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Jun 8, 2006
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That's not only in the UK but here in the US too. I try to educate people that come into the pet store. One guy thought the emp was the deadliest scorpion and he told his kids. So I reached in, hand fed him a cricket, and gently touched the back of his tail to show he really was a gentle creature that was undeserving of the fear. It saddens me that people feel this way with scorps and Ts.
 

Zope

Arachnopeon
Joined
Feb 27, 2007
Messages
36
Yeah it's really like that in the US. I live in an apartment building where the other tenants constantly or complaining about my scorpion. They're afraid she'll get out and sting everyone lol. Now I've got her in a sealed 10 gal aquarium. She would also need to climb about 2 1/2 times her length in glass lol.
 

marcelo_987

Arachnosquire
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May 4, 2006
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116
I tried to show people that scorpions (and spiders) aren't bad and I got some result. My girlfriends parents and grandparents killed arachnids on sight but I convienced them to only kill the ones that are in the house when I'm not there to remove it and release it outside.
 

scorpians111

Arachnosquire
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Jun 12, 2007
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lol same here i live in the uk (lincolnshire) took me ages just to beg my mum to let me have a sscorpion. lol
 

Rigelus

Arachnoknight
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Jul 12, 2006
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There's nothing strange or unusual about that sort of behaviour. It's as natural as breathing.
Humans have been frightened by things they don't understand or know of for hundreds of thousands of years....why should it be any different now?
If someone had placed a scorpion or bird eating spider in the palm of your hand before you became "enlightened" would you automatically have thought "no sweat"...!..and remember, enlightenment is not something you are born with....it's learnt.

It's also guaranteed that every person on these boards has an idea, an opinion, an educated guess, a bit of sure fire knowledge or some other relation to a "correct" thing that is actually not correct....and that's natural also...You can't know everything about everything.
Even if you are confronted with a "truth" it'll only become "your truth" if you have the necessary "tools" to accept or learn it.

Many of us are also guilty of accepting an untruth as truth simply because the untruth rings more "true" or makes more sense.
How many can honestly say they weren't impressed when they found out that big black scorpion the size of your hand is actually quite harmless while that little yellow number from the desert will take you down quicker than you can fart.

Nah...enjoy the diversity that is humans, i mean if everyone thought scorpions were cool you wouldn't feel special would you...!
 

Gigas

Arachnoprince
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Apr 6, 2006
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Happy birthday for saturday.

If you think people are scared of scorpions don't even start to talk pedes with them.
 

Mark Newton

Arachnobaron
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Mar 9, 2007
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People are scared of shadows mate... educate them as you come across them and do it with calm and sincerity, explain the logic, its all you can do.

I tell people how I camp in the middle of nowhere on my own and walk about under the stars in very remote areas...that alone scares them...:confused:

Doesnt England have one introduced species of scorpion that has now formed natural populations?
 

~Abyss~

Arachnoking
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Mar 28, 2006
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I had the same problem with my mom but she had reason to dislike scorpions. She was born and raised in Durango Mexico with some of the most toxic Centroide sp. in the world. She did get stung once and they rushed her to the hospital. Not sure if she got antivenom
 

Mark Newton

Arachnobaron
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Mar 9, 2007
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It's interesting. I was allowed to keep anything when I was a kid, EXCEPT snakes. So I did, spiders, scorpions, centipedes etc, reptiles, hopping mice, the lot. My mother had been stung by a scorpion while sitting in the living room when I was only 5 and my brother had to be taken to hospital after a centipede visited him in bed. We lived in a remote area of bush, my sister often visited in her bedroom by many bats, not to mention the huge Sparassid spiders. Of course, me being me, I did bring the occasional juvenile brown snake home, only the second deadliest land snake in the world...just didnt tell mum, and dad wasnt bothered, nothing scared him. The best way for people to lose the fear is to do it..be with it..etc..become familiar.
 

skinheaddave

SkorpionSkin
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Aug 15, 2002
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As I understand it, Euscorpius flavicaudus can be found in the UK

Cheers,
Dave
 

kahoy

Arachnoangel
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Dec 8, 2005
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859
come on... how come a 5inch scorp will eat you? scorps are scorpions not tigers!!!
 

Bayushi

Arachnoprince
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As I understand it, Euscorpius flavicaudus can be found in the UK

Cheers,
Dave
i saw a show on arachnids of the UK and they mentioned them as being very localized and being a "resident alien" species . gotta love the BBC and their specials
 

skinheaddave

SkorpionSkin
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Only in 2 or 3 locations, hardly as easy to come bye as like what it is for people in say Arizona
No, of course not. It is harder to find scorpions in the amazon than it is in Arizona.

There is one species in Canada, but only in a few provinces and it isn't exactly swarming out there either. I still wouldn't say that we don't have scorpions.

Cheers,
Dave
 
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