What Attracts Scorpions to Your House & How Do they Get in

Updated on by Jared Belson | Please note that there may be affiliate links on this page.

There’s nothing worse than walking back into your house, throwing down your bag, and sitting down in your favorite chair to look across the room and see a scorpion on the opposite corner of the room.

Unless you’re a subject expert in scorpions, they can be a bit unnerving with their hardened exoskeletons, claw, and infamous stinging tail. They are most certainly not the most welcome of visitors at the best of times, let alone when you discover one under your sink.

Fortunately, in this article, we are going to cover what attracts scorpions to come knocking and we will explore some of the places they manage to get in.

Scorpion 101

Before we get started, just a little bit about scorpions just in case you need to know a bit about them, know thy enemy as they say.

In short, scorpions are part of the arachnid family, they have segmented bodies, claws, and eight legs. They come equipped with a stinger on their tail which curls up and over their bodies when they are agitated.

Scorpions are highly territorial and can be aggressive with a painful sting if they manage to hit you with their tail.

Should I Be Worried?

It can be a little disconcerting to find these spidery critters in your home, although you shouldn’t be too worried. Most scorpion stings aren’t fatal. However, they are painful and can come with nasty reactions from children and the elderly, you must get these seen as soon as possible to avoid any trips to the doctor.

So What Attracts Them?

Several factors attract scorpions into your home, with a majority of these being relatively easy to remedy. Below are several reasons why these nightmare-looking creatures like to find a place in your home.

Moisture

Scorpions generally live in arid conditions; deserts and dryland areas primarily. This means that when scorching weather comes, they prefer to be in more humid conditions. Often they will enter through drainage systems and into the home, looking for the cooler, damper environments in which they hunt and rest.

Safety

Scorpions find their homes best suited to sheltered areas, away from potential predators and out of the scorching daytime sun. These arachnids are nocturnal and hunt at night, preferring to hide away during the day. Your log piles, sheds, and barns are perfect hiding spots for the critters.

Prey

Scorpions are voracious ambush hunters, feeding off insects such as centipedes, crickets, and even spiders. Like any predatory creatures they move to areas in which their prey is most likely to be hiding, these can include your outbuildings and even your house.

Dark Areas

Scorpions are nocturnal as previously mentioned and prefer dark spots, whether this be outside or inside. If you have a garage or cellar in your home, this is where you will likely find a scorpion hiding.

This is more so a case of safety for the scorpions, they like dark corners due to wanting to hide from predators and other scorpions which would encroach on their territory.

Where Can You Find Scorpions?

Although they can get into most places in the home, scorpions can generally be found in a few different places, in and around the home.

Basements

Basements are the perfect spot for scorpions to hide, they are dark, sometimes damp, and free from predators unless another scorpion is there of course. Basements are also an excellent place for scorpions to find their food sources.

Beetles, spiders, and centipedes are common in basements and are plentiful. Once the scorpion has pitched its camp in your basement, it is unlikely to leave whilst there is a large bounty of food available.

Cupboards and Understairs

Similar to basements, cupboards and understairs closets are the perfect environments for scorpions to thrive. The proximity to drain pipes is a bonus for scorpions as they will often use these as a route into the home from the external pipes

Outbuildings and Sheds

These are by far the easiest places for scorpions to access, they are damp, dark places, usually filled with food and shelter for the scorpions. As scorpions will prefer to be outside, they will often use these shelters as a home before venturing out to hunt.

How Do They Get Inside?

I have to hand it to them, scorpions are clever when it comes to getting inside your home. They get in using several different access points which some are common and some are a little more interesting.

One way in which they get in is by hitchhiking on plants, outdoor chairs, and tables as well as hopping on logs as you bring them inside to use on the fire. Once inside the house, they jump off and scuttle away into the darkest corner they can find.

Scorpions also follow food sources. If you have found an outbreak of bugs, you can be sure that the scorpions are not far behind, usually using the same access points that the bugs are using to enter your house, these are particularly found in basements.

Scorpions can climb so they will often scale the sides of your walls and take advantage of open ground floor windows and vents, using them to bypass the safety of your walls and get into the vent system.

Thankfully, scorpions don’t play nicely with other scorpions. They can live together in relatively similar areas, however, they are solitary by nature and it’s highly unlikely that you would get a substantial infestation of them.

Summary

Scorpions are freaky little creatures and most certainly not welcome in the home, there are a few methods to getting them out of the house including the old damp towel trick. Place a damp towel in the area in which you have seen the scorpion and wait until morning.

Once the morning swings around, grab the towel carefully and take it outside to shake out the scorpion. The use of insecticides is also widely used to get rid of scorpions, and scorpion traps provide a safe disposal method. Traps like the handy Harris scorpion trap are a great choice.

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