Greg In The Desert

I thought I would try to turn a negative into a positive with my scorpions situation by capturing them and keeping in them in a glassed habitat in the house. Perhaps there’s money to be made selling scorpions.

The first thing I did was to clean out a 10 gallon aquarium that was being unused.

I then added cactus from the back yard.

I then added some sandy soil (commonly referred to as dirt), also from the back yard.

I then added a pile of rocks, from the front yard this time.

I then added the scorpion (Vaejovis flavus). This one came from inside the house.

The first scorpion died after keeping it in the tank for about a month. This was despite providing it several crickets that it quickly ate.

Since Saturn the cat came along, I rarely get a scorpion before she kills them. Plus she is has eliminated the scorpion food supply in the house so I don’t know that I will get much more of them. The tank currently sits empty.

My floor is spotless thanks to my Roomba and I decided to tempt fate and walk around barefoot. Sure enough what did I find in the kitchen but a small scorpion. I found it before the cat so thus the scorpion lives.

A high school teacher in my hometown of Chandler, Arizona claims to have found a scorpion in his bag when he bought an egg McMuffin from McDonalds. The story on Channel 15’s website describes the scorpion as a baby and more venoumus than an adult.

It wasn’t just any scorpion — it was a baby scorpion, which is even more venomous than it’s adult counterpart.

Both of these statements are false. The scorpion appears to be a Vaejovis spinigerus, that looks like the same kind of scorpion I find in New Mexico. This is probably an adult as they don’t get much bigger than this. Had Channel 15 bothered to just use google, they would have found the ASU’s “Ask A Biologist” website where Christopher Putnam states

Other people say the sting of a baby scorpion is more dangerous than the sting of an adult, but again, this is false. The venom in a scorpion’s stinger is the same all through a scorpion’s life.

I suppose it is possible for the scorpion to find it’s way into the bag. I would hope it didn’t get into the bag at the restaurant but maybe in at the manufacturer or during transport. I wasn’t able to find where the bags are made. Scorpions are found in Chandler, but since the city has become more developed they are not nearly as common as they used to be. I find the whole story suspicious.

Another potential use for the scorpions I keep finding in my house.

Amber InsectNside (Amber Brittle), is a ribbon style toffee flavored candy with a real Edible Scorpion inside. Looks like fossilized amber. Net wt .75oz.

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In early May I spotted the first scorpion of the year in the house. In the last few years I have been living here, this is the earliest I have seen on in the house. In previous years I didn’t start to see them until July.

I was sure they were coming in from the garage so I put diatomaceous earth throughout the garage and around the entrances to the house. Diatomaceous earth works good on insects because it’s very itchy to insects and it will suck the moisture out of their bodies. In the case of scorpions I’ve read that they will just avoid it.

Tonight I came home and found Saturn playing with something. The good news is Saturn found a scorpion the bad news is the scorpion made it past my defenses. That means that it either went around the diatomaceous earth or it came in another way.

I will start going around the perimeter of the house sealing up cracks. I’m not sure what else to do.

Since I have had problems with scorpions, I keep finding in my house in the last few years, I’ve been trying to think of something to do with them. Instead of just releasing them back outside maybe I could sell them on the internet or something.

Or how about turn them into Vodka.

Scorpion Vodka is made with farm raised buthus martensii scopions, made in china of course.

According to their website:

Alcohol infused with a scorpion is said to possess many excellent health properties when drunk, such as helping to increase libido, lowering blood pressure & helps remove toxins in the bloodstream.

If scorpion vodka doesn’t do it for you, they have other stuff such as edible worms or crocodile curry.

The New Mexico Scorpions start playing October 19th. The real live scorpions have started invading my house on August 12th.

Last year I saw my very first scorpion, in my house, on July 31st. I then found a total on 7 of them over the next two month. I then took some steps to find major pathways that could give these guys a way in. Apparently I didn’t get them all.

I know the crickets were coming in around the rear sliding door and the garage is insect central. Lets see how the next two months go.

I’ve often thought there is a lot of corruption and ego in New Mexico politics. I should say, what seems like more than a normal amount of corruption and ego in New Mexico politics. Kind of a “god-old-boys network” that exists. The Mayor of Albuquerque seems to like to promote himself a lot more than I would expect, for example.

I didn’t expect it from Kevin Jackson, Rio Rancho’s new mayor. he campaigned on being different and trustworthy and I mostly bought into it. Now he’s almost blown any trust I had, since he’s had his credit card revoked from the city for spending $8000 at Scorpion games that wasn’t authorized. The non profit New Mexico Family Council-Best Choice has recently fired Jackson for mismanaging money too.

The Rio Rancho Mayor position is part time, and pays about $12,000 a year. Mayor Jackson said he was giving that money back to the city. Perhaps he thinks he was justified?

Update 10:54 PM: According to KRQE, Mayor Jackson is accused of double billing some trips to the city and his non profit foundation.

Update 6/5/07 6:18 PM:Oh come on now. This is just sour grapes, “Not only is former Mayor Jim Owen calling for Jackson’s resignation, he is also saying the council should name the second place finisher in the last mayoral election to take his place. That person would be Owen.”. Jackson can’t be as bad as this guy.

Update 07/06/07 10:03 PM: It just keeps getting worse. KRQE is now saying that the Rio Rancho city council may have a vote of no confidence at the next meeting (June 13th?).

Also, some of the Santa Anna Star Center receipts list “Mayor Chavez”, yet Albuquerque’s mayor says he’s never been to the center and doesn’t want his ass dragged into it.

Update 6/9/07 8:38 AM: Kevin Jackson has made an official statement saying he will pay back any charges but not admitting any wrong doing. Also saying something about others making charges. New Mexico FBIHOP suggests it’s his brothers that made the other charges. Very interesting.

Kevin Jackson has sent the following “letter to the editor”.

I do not believe in attacking others. When there are challenges and mistakes, we need to learn from them and grow through them.There are certain new issues that we have had to grow through. We can either grow through them professionally or destructively.

Also the Observer thinks the Mayor should resign and suggests alternatives. I say lets not be premature.

User road is one of the main drags through Rio Rancho. It use to only take you to North Hills (where I lived when I first moved to New Mexico), it now takes you to the new Down Town Rio Rancho, along with all the house developments besides North Hills. It’s deplorable that with all the housing and the down town that the road is still only in progress of being widened from 2 lanes (no center lane) to 4 lanes. Anyone that’s been at the intersection of Unser and Northern about 7am can testify that this road should have been completed with construction about two or three years ago.

The Scorpion’s play at the new Santa Anna Star Center in the new down town on 27 October. I don’t see anyway that they will have this road paved in a week and ready for traffic. The other road leading to the events center is Paseo Del Volcan, which Cocoposts explains how the whole United States paid for the majority of the road. In fact, I think the whole country paid for most of the Unser expansion too. Thanks USA!