The scorpion hunters

Last night, as we were preparing to go to bed, we got an unwelcome surprise. David was grabbing a light blanket to put over himself when he felt something crawl on him. By the time he saw what it was, it was going down the edge of the bed, and before he could get something to squish it, the black scorpion had crept under the bed!

The black scorpions here are not aggressive, and we've found several before in the house, but never up on the 2nd floor, in the bedroom. Luckily, we've never been stung, but I've been told that their sting is very painful!

We tried moving the bed back and forth to ferret out the scorpion, but it managed to remain steadfastly under there somewhere where we could get it or even see it. We knew that we had better be careful if we got up during the night not to step on it! I figured that mostly it would want to hide, but, in the dark (although we DO have a night light!), it might come out and go exploring.

Sure enough, in the wee hours, when I happened to be awake, I heard one of the cats scratching around near the far corner of the room. After a while, I sat up to take a look and saw that it was Pascal, our BIG one-year-old male who is mostly black with a white chin and chest and some white on his paws. I was pretty sure that he was after the scorpion. Somewhat later, I decided to put on my glasses and go over there and check more carefully. By then, his sister, Peachy, our petite adorable calico, had joined him, and, sure enough, there was the scorpion, probably already dead. I didn't take any chance though -- I took several paper towels, made sure it was thoroughly squished, and put it in the trash. The cats didn't really get what I had done and continued to look for it for some time after. Of course, I petted them and praised them (quietly, though, so as not to wake David!).

Since I had found the cats with scorpions a time or two before, I wasn't too surprised. By the way, our American cat, Katom, simply stayed up on the bed, sleeping!