Unwelcome Guest

Yesterday evening I went to the kitchen and found a scorpion in my sink.

I live in central Texas where my wife and I just purchased a modest ranch (which we promptly dubbed Inn Over Our Heads (Scorpion Ranch). Scorpions abound -- my estimates are about 1,000-1,500/acre -- and occasionally they get into the house. These scorpions are usually dormant this time of year (yes, it can get quite cold in Texas), but once in awhile you find one roaming about the garage. I suspect the one in the pix below hitchhiked in yesterday on a string-mop left out in the garage the day before.

You have to be very careful to inspect what you bring into the house (and ALWAYS remember to wear shoes or slippers when you walk around and ALWAYS remember to check said shoes or slippers for occupants before putting them on) so that you don't bring in any unwelcome guests. Last week's company, for instance, included a coral snake and a black widow. Fortunately for us our cat kept the snake out of the house proper.

Ah, the joys of Country Living...

In the pix below you'll notice that the scorpion appears to glow. That's because it is glowing! God, in His infinite wisdom, built these critters to fluoresce under ultraviolet light (UV). This makes them easy to find and dispatch -- provided they are out in the open for all to see. I have killed 62 of them in the last two months.

Pretty soon I'll have enough scorpion hides to make a new pair of boots.

In most of these pix below the room lighting has a yellow cast to it. This is because of the blue-blocking (yellow) filter I installed on the camera to improve the contrast between the glowing scorpion and its surroundings.

In addition to the yellow filter, I installed a second, UV-blocking filter to eliminate the blue-magenta 'glare' you get when photographing subjects under UV light. The yellow filter does not block UV, making the second filter necessary. In one of the pix below I removed the filters so that you can see the difference they make in the final print.

Hope you enjoy the show!

If we could only train him to set the table...!

Next, a closer view...

And closer still...

Now, smile for the camera...

Without UV and yellow filters installed...

A bit forlorn-looking, wouldn't you say? You'd be, too, if you'd been drenched in green Palmolive dish soap...

I squirted some on him to slow 'im down (they can run quite fast for such short legs). Turns out green Palmolive dish soap also fluoresces under UV (am I paying extra for this? The antibacterial version doesn't glow at all!). Those green 'cloudy'-looking patches? Dish soap. Fortunately for the camera Bubba glows much brighter.

Here he is getting a well-deserved tan, courtesy of 32 Nichia 400 nm high-intensity LEDs...

See? It worked! (Not really. These scorpions range in color from brown to beige to honey-colored. All of them glow under UV.)

These last two pix show Bubba's size compared with a nickel and a penny (show me da money!). The following pic is taken with a mix of white and UV light...

And with white light only...

In spite of their diminutive size (max: about three inches), these critters pack a wallop. I was stung on the hand shortly after I moved here. If you wanna know how it feels to be stung by one of these babies, just imagine someone suddenly driving a large nail completely through your hand with a nail gun.

There are 60 species of scorpion in the US, with all but four species west of the Mississippi River. The species shown here is quite venemous and should be treated with respect -- and dish soap.

Hope y'all enjoyed the show!

-e