Scorpion, scorpion, scorpion, scorpion
Clearly part of the draw of Costa Rica is its fabled biodiversity and we have been reeling in its wondrousness, wonderosity, whatever...every day since we got here. Each day (or more likely evening) we find some critter in the bathroom or kitchen or under the bed and largely it is very interesting and very cool. Not always though.
A cool critter to see in your bathroom
After the first few weeks we'd been here I turned to Tom and remarked that I'd heard the word scorpion more since we arrived in Costa Rica than I'd ever heard it before. I had honestly heard scorpion attached to the classic rock power ballad Winds of Change more than I had to an actual living creature.
And then I'd read somewhere that the creature to most watch out for is a scorpion: spiders and snakes will largely slither/run away from you, ants and stuff you largely get used to or protect from (clearly I will need to revisit this thinking whenever I get bitten by a bullet ant or hawk tarantula), but scorpions lurk. They LURK in your corners and under your bed-sheets and in your underwear drawer (we don't have any drawers but there you go). They like dark places and then when you disturb them "POW" they sting you. And it hurts.
Things people have said to us about scorpions include; "it only hurts like hell for a bit and then with the little ones it's more like a bad high"; "it really really hurts but it's not as bad as the caterpillars because that can last for about 24 hours and you feel really ill"; "it's not as bad as labour pain"; "our son got bitten, it was in the collar of his shirt, our other son didn't get bitten because it was squashed in between his cap and his head and couldn't get its sting out". "It won't kill her or anything (referring to Iris) but she'll probably be pretty upset" and, my personal favourite "you might want to just check round corners before you put on the light switch or whatever".
I think it's partially because we just don't have scorpions in the UK and I haven't really come across them anywhere else. My sisters reminded me of a story of our dad killing one in Italy using his fine leather dress shoe as a hammer which makes me happy inside, but in general, all of this has led to me being on high alert and probably unhealthily anxious about light-switches, my underpants and bedding. Also Iris didn't have a main light in her room for the first few weeks we were here and it was CREEPY in there!
So, I now know about the Schmidt pain index. I know bullet ants and tarantula hawks are the worst pain (level 4) and both of them live here, in CR. I have learned from the Costa Rica fandom wiki that there are two types of scorpion here. A venomous one - Centruroides margaritatus - known as alacranes locally - and another one that looks kind of like a spider and doesn't have a sting so it's kind of an ersatz scorpion anyway and doesn't really count. I learned the venomous ones are just 1-8 cm long.
Which seemed like a MASSIVE LIE the evening that, upon rushing towards the bathroom carrying Iris to show her a tree frog in the shower, there was a HUGE scorpion. And it wasn't lurking, it was in the middle of the bathroom doorway, just brazenly hanging out.
I had heard the aforementioned Winds of Change that day wafting out from a restaurant in a strip mall in PZ. It was an omen!
I screamed SCORPION, TOM TOM!! and went running back the way I came into the bedroom. Tom, living up to the first part of our surname as ever, went and removed it outside, it could move quite fast apparently. I was feeling traumatised. It was so big. It was like a lobster!
And then I looked at the photos, because of course my husband had prioritised you, dear readers, and *posterity* over "safety" and getting the hell rid of it (calm in a crisis) and I couldn't understand what I was looking at. Yes, it was an alacrane, but clearly, in relation to the size of the bathroom tiles it was not a foot long as I can still see emblazoned in my memory, but more like 5cm long. I really could not fathom it, but apparently it's a thing - Fear Makes Things Bigger and Closer. So, that's another thing I've learned.
And now we've seen a scorpion, and it didn't sting us or kill Iris and I kind of feel less worried about it. A bit. To be honest everything is scary in the dark i've found out. So, what next...Snakes anybody???
After the first few weeks we'd been here I turned to Tom and remarked that I'd heard the word scorpion more since we arrived in Costa Rica than I'd ever heard it before. I had honestly heard scorpion attached to the classic rock power ballad Winds of Change more than I had to an actual living creature.
And then I'd read somewhere that the creature to most watch out for is a scorpion: spiders and snakes will largely slither/run away from you, ants and stuff you largely get used to or protect from (clearly I will need to revisit this thinking whenever I get bitten by a bullet ant or hawk tarantula), but scorpions lurk. They LURK in your corners and under your bed-sheets and in your underwear drawer (we don't have any drawers but there you go). They like dark places and then when you disturb them "POW" they sting you. And it hurts.
Things people have said to us about scorpions include; "it only hurts like hell for a bit and then with the little ones it's more like a bad high"; "it really really hurts but it's not as bad as the caterpillars because that can last for about 24 hours and you feel really ill"; "it's not as bad as labour pain"; "our son got bitten, it was in the collar of his shirt, our other son didn't get bitten because it was squashed in between his cap and his head and couldn't get its sting out". "It won't kill her or anything (referring to Iris) but she'll probably be pretty upset" and, my personal favourite "you might want to just check round corners before you put on the light switch or whatever".
I think it's partially because we just don't have scorpions in the UK and I haven't really come across them anywhere else. My sisters reminded me of a story of our dad killing one in Italy using his fine leather dress shoe as a hammer which makes me happy inside, but in general, all of this has led to me being on high alert and probably unhealthily anxious about light-switches, my underpants and bedding. Also Iris didn't have a main light in her room for the first few weeks we were here and it was CREEPY in there!
So, I now know about the Schmidt pain index. I know bullet ants and tarantula hawks are the worst pain (level 4) and both of them live here, in CR. I have learned from the Costa Rica fandom wiki that there are two types of scorpion here. A venomous one - Centruroides margaritatus - known as alacranes locally - and another one that looks kind of like a spider and doesn't have a sting so it's kind of an ersatz scorpion anyway and doesn't really count. I learned the venomous ones are just 1-8 cm long.
Which seemed like a MASSIVE LIE the evening that, upon rushing towards the bathroom carrying Iris to show her a tree frog in the shower, there was a HUGE scorpion. And it wasn't lurking, it was in the middle of the bathroom doorway, just brazenly hanging out.
I had heard the aforementioned Winds of Change that day wafting out from a restaurant in a strip mall in PZ. It was an omen!
I screamed SCORPION, TOM TOM!! and went running back the way I came into the bedroom. Tom, living up to the first part of our surname as ever, went and removed it outside, it could move quite fast apparently. I was feeling traumatised. It was so big. It was like a lobster!
And then I looked at the photos, because of course my husband had prioritised you, dear readers, and *posterity* over "safety" and getting the hell rid of it (calm in a crisis) and I couldn't understand what I was looking at. Yes, it was an alacrane, but clearly, in relation to the size of the bathroom tiles it was not a foot long as I can still see emblazoned in my memory, but more like 5cm long. I really could not fathom it, but apparently it's a thing - Fear Makes Things Bigger and Closer. So, that's another thing I've learned.
Alacrane, as big as my head in my head
And now we've seen a scorpion, and it didn't sting us or kill Iris and I kind of feel less worried about it. A bit. To be honest everything is scary in the dark i've found out. So, what next...Snakes anybody???
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