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Post by dbutler69 on Aug 4, 2016 8:48:00 GMT -5
We are moving to Florida (Melbourne) in a few months, and my wife has been reading about scorpions there. Apparently, they like to hide under/inside things made of paper/cardboard, and one site she visited recommended replacing your cardboard boxes with plastic ones. She thinks that they might go inside/underneath the comic boxes, and she is coming up with all sort of out-there ideas like storing them in a shed, so as not to attract scorpions in the house. Does anyone here live in Florida, and if so, have you had a problem with scorpions (or any other critters) especially, but not limited to, them going in comic boxes. If so, any recommendations?
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Aug 4, 2016 9:11:24 GMT -5
I have no problem with Scorpions:
In all seriousness though, I often wonder how in the world people manage to collect comics in the Southern states. I worry about my comics degrading as is in my nice dry attic in Ohio. I don't know how a collection could survive in a hot and humid, insect-filled climate.
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Post by Red Oak Kid on Aug 4, 2016 9:57:57 GMT -5
I would never store comics in a shed. Just don't set the boxes on the floor. Put the boxes on shelves, the higher off the floor the better.
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Aug 4, 2016 10:28:17 GMT -5
I have no problem with Scorpions: I, on the other hand, think that they're vermin and need to be stamped out for the protection of all right minded music lovers.  |
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Post by DE Sinclair on Aug 4, 2016 14:49:12 GMT -5
We are moving to Florida (Melbourne) in a few months, and my wife has been reading about scorpions there. Apparently, they like to hide under/inside things made of paper/cardboard, and one site she visited recommended replacing your cardboard boxes with plastic ones. She thinks that they might go inside/underneath the comic boxes, and she is coming up with all sort of out-there ideas like storing them in a shed, so as not to attract scorpions in the house. Does anyone here live in Florida, and if so, have you had a problem with scorpions (or any other critters) especially, but not limited to, them going in comic boxes. If so, any recommendations? I used to live in Florida in my teenage years. I didn't have long (or short) boxes then, but stored my comics in one big cardboard box (it was a box a charcoal grill came in). We lived there for years, and had many bits of paper and cardboard boxes around the house and had zero problems with scorpions sneaking in or hiding in them. We had a total of two scorpion encounters, both mine. One hid on a blanket that was hung out to dry, and stung me on the hand after being brought in. The second time I was running outside at night in the dark, bare footed, and got stung on the foot. Got sick as a dog both times, but recovered. So I've never had a problem with scorpions and paper/cardboard, though they didn't seem to like me personally very much. |
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shaxper
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Posts: 22,451
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Post by shaxper on Aug 4, 2016 14:55:32 GMT -5
I thought scorpions were lethal?
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Post by Pharozonk on Aug 4, 2016 14:57:03 GMT -5
Slightly off topic, but I thought scorpions were more of a southern-south west (Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, etc.) problem than an east coast thing?  |
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Aug 4, 2016 15:04:31 GMT -5
I thought scorpions were lethal? The Arizona Bark Scorpion is the only scorpion in the U.S. that is potentially lethal to humans. |
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Post by dbutler69 on Aug 4, 2016 15:17:30 GMT -5
I thought scorpions were lethal? I'm no authority, but I've heard that the ones in Florida are not poisonous, or at least not as much as the ones in, say, Arizona. Edit: Now that I've read Slam_Bradley's post, he beat me to it, and with more accurate info, to boot. |
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Post by dbutler69 on Aug 4, 2016 15:19:51 GMT -5
We are moving to Florida (Melbourne) in a few months, and my wife has been reading about scorpions there. Apparently, they like to hide under/inside things made of paper/cardboard, and one site she visited recommended replacing your cardboard boxes with plastic ones. She thinks that they might go inside/underneath the comic boxes, and she is coming up with all sort of out-there ideas like storing them in a shed, so as not to attract scorpions in the house. Does anyone here live in Florida, and if so, have you had a problem with scorpions (or any other critters) especially, but not limited to, them going in comic boxes. If so, any recommendations? I used to live in Florida in my teenage years. I didn't have long (or short) boxes then, but stored my comics in one big cardboard box (it was a box a charcoal grill came in). We lived there for years, and had many bits of paper and cardboard boxes around the house and had zero problems with scorpions sneaking in or hiding in them. We had a total of two scorpion encounters, both mine. One hid on a blanket that was hung out to dry, and stung me on the hand after being brought in. The second time I was running outside at night in the dark, bare footed, and got stung on the foot. Got sick as a dog both times, but recovered. So I've never had a problem with scorpions and paper/cardboard, though they didn't seem to like me personally very much. Thanks for the wealth of your experience.  By the way, had that blanket been hung out overnight, or only during the day? I ask because I thought that scorpions were mainly nocturnal. |
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Post by DE Sinclair on Aug 4, 2016 15:27:45 GMT -5
I used to live in Florida in my teenage years. I didn't have long (or short) boxes then, but stored my comics in one big cardboard box (it was a box a charcoal grill came in). We lived there for years, and had many bits of paper and cardboard boxes around the house and had zero problems with scorpions sneaking in or hiding in them. We had a total of two scorpion encounters, both mine. One hid on a blanket that was hung out to dry, and stung me on the hand after being brought in. The second time I was running outside at night in the dark, bare footed, and got stung on the foot. Got sick as a dog both times, but recovered. So I've never had a problem with scorpions and paper/cardboard, though they didn't seem to like me personally very much. Thanks for the wealth of your experience. By the way, had that blanket been hung out overnight, or only during the day? I ask because I thought that scorpions were mainly nocturnal. I can't say for sure because it was so long ago, but you are right about them being nocturnal, so it probably was overnight. |
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Post by DE Sinclair on Aug 4, 2016 15:29:49 GMT -5
I thought scorpions were lethal? I can vouch from experience that they're not lethal. Inexplicably, my mother didn't take me to the doctor for it (probably because money was tight), and I spent the next day each time very, very sick. But after that I was ok. |
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Post by DE Sinclair on Aug 4, 2016 15:36:18 GMT -5
Slightly off topic, but I thought scorpions were more of a southern-south west (Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, etc.) problem than an east coast thing? They are definitely in Florida. It's possible they are more common in the southwest, but I've never been there so I can't say. Oddly enough, when we first went to Florida, we crossed the border and stopped in a rest area. They had strange garbage "cans" that were inset into the ground with popup lids that sat flush with the ground. We got ready to leave and throw out some garbage, looked into the "can" and there was a scorpion in the bottom waiting to welcome us to Florida. The only scorpion I met in Florida that didn't manage to sting me. |
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Post by Red Oak Kid on Aug 4, 2016 16:53:59 GMT -5
I've lived in Texas my entire life. I saw some as a kid when my family moved into a new subdivision. When I bought a new house in the 80s I got stung by one in my house. I didn't have any furniture and was laying on the floor watching TV. It hurt but was no big deal. I think I've only seen one since then.
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
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Post by Confessor on Aug 4, 2016 19:00:04 GMT -5
I've lived in Texas my entire life. I saw some as a kid when my family moved into a new subdivision. When I bought a new house in the 80s I got stung by one in my house. I didn't have any furniture and was laying on the floor watching TV. It hurt but was no big deal. I think I've only seen one since then. A bit off topic from what the OP was talking about, but we also have tiny little scorpions in the south-east UK. They are only 2" long, their sting in comparable to a bee and Wikipedia tells me that they're called the European yellow-tailed scorpion. They're also extremely rare. |
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By the way, had that blanket been hung out overnight, or only during the day? I ask because I thought that scorpions were mainly nocturnal.