off topic: scorpions in TN?

DMBillies

Active member
I went on a camping/rafting trip to Southeast TN last weekend (Ocoee/Hiwassee area). I went to the bathroom at our campground and found this guy on the floor. I had no idea that TN had scorpions... so it was a bit of a surprise. This is one of about 6 that we saw over the weekend. The biggest was probably about 3 inches from claws to tail. Supposedly they aren't very poisonous (similar to a bee sting) but I made sure I checked my shoes before I put them on in the morning. Has anyone else seen/heard of these? The information I found about them said they weren't common, but we saw quite a few of them.

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ya they are pretty common that and rattlesnakes are the two most unsuspected animals here. You will find that species and a a smaller species anywhere around nashville
 
my sister had told me that when she lived in tn that they had alot of them. so when i moved here i figured id see them but never did in the 5 years ive been here so i just thought she was crazy but i guess not lol. she did live on the east side of tn though so there must be more over that way. now when i first moved here i did see a copperhead and a timber ratler the first week i was here but never did see any after that. i was living in hohenwald at the time though. pretty cool find there brian.
 
There are quite a few scorpions in East TN. When we lived over there we found several. The first one we found was in our living room and my little brother was playing with it! The funny thing was my mom grew up about 20 miles away and her family had never seen one. We had no idea they were there either until we found one.
 
I have them in my yard they don't seem to bother us in the house much. The kids say they saw a rattlesnake the other day too but I never got to verify that.
 
not to steal the thread but i was wondering if any one knew what could have got ahold of my dog at one time. he went outside after dark one evening and come back in scratching his face all over everything. within 5 minutes or so his head had huge bumps everywhere and started to spread all the way from his nose to his back. then his eyes were so swollen he couldnt open them. we called a vet and they said they couldnt help us unless we had cash to pay for him to be checked out. well anyways i started giving him antihistimine cause i thought it might be a rattlesnake bite and had read online that thats about all you can do for a home remedy. around 6 hours of him breathing really hard and gasping for air he come out of it and was fine. we thought he was gonna die for sure but anyways has anyone had this happen to any of there pets or have any idea what it could have been?
 
pitbull,
it was probably a nest of yellowjackets. I wouldn't think ,many scorpions would be big enough to get the top of a dogs snout.
Glad he is ok though.
 
yea i was actually thinking the same thing at one point and actually forgot about it untill you just mentioned it. i just never noticed any around the house but who knows they could have been hiding somewhere unoticeable but that does make alot more sense. thanks pinchey
 
This is a wierd subject. I'm definitely an outdoor guy and love the "microcosmos" on our planet. Very strange that I've never seen one. I still to this day when walking through the woods flip over rocks just to see whats under them.

What areas to they tend to be around? Type of land?
 
The ones i have seen (Nolensville rd & 440) were an off white color, almost translucent.

I'd see them at night on the sidewalk during the summer.
 
THANK YOU
A long long long long time ago when I was a kid, I saw a scorpion at church camp. We lived in Chattanooga and the camp was in Soddy Daisy. I've not seen one since and everytime I mentioned it people looked at me like I was crazy, I'm sure thinking that 'scorpions don't live in Tennessee'.
 
it reminds me of when i told my dad how i seen this huge 10" lizard one day at work and he had said they dont have lizards here or atleast any that big so it must have been a pet that got loose. he has lived here for 10 years and i had just moved here when i seen one for the first time. anyways he thought i was crazy or it had to be a pet untill he was at my house and seen one in my backyard. then he believed me lol
 
I never tried this, but apparently scorpion exoskeletons glow when exposed to ultraviolet light... so, if you have a black light that you can walk around the woods with you might have an easier time.
 
Ive lived here 20+ years and never seen one either. I had no idea. I have seen a glass lizard once though and I guess that uses my odds of seeing something rare randomly up.
 
Thanks Kane. I do remember seeing two differntly colored scorpions. One was much darker than the other, almost black. Funny thing is I have never seen any around here.
 
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