Scorpions are arachnids that you only want to see on TV or from a distance. When getting close to scorpions, your happiness probably turns to fear, as you do want to get hurt from their stings.
What if there are scorpions in your yard? Read this article for some ways to keep scorpions out of your yard.
Table of Contents
How to Keep Scorpions Out of Your Yard
Here are some great methods to handle your scorpion problem:
1. Remove Debris from the Yard
Remember that scorpions are diurnal animals.
As diurnal animals, scorpions are more active at night and hide from the sun during the day. This means that they will look for any place with shelter and hide there during the day so that you cannot find them.
Scorpions hide in dark places during the day.
In your yard, the shelter for scorpions is a pile of debris such as wood, leaves, and other moveable objects that have been sitting there for a long time.
To prevent scorpions from calling your yard their home, you will need to clear the debris from the yard. Plus, this can make the yard look appealing and is simple to do.
2. Prune Off Tree Branches Near Your Home
If you have ever found scorpions in your home, especially inside the attic, your first guess on how they got there should be the trees with branches that are near the home.
Scorpions searching for food can climb trees and follow the branches. This means that those branches that are close to the attic or your roof can expose the home to scorpion attacks.
Aside from scorpions, other animals that follow tree branches are squirrels, millipedes, centipedes, etc.
To help keep your home safe from all these pests, you should prune the branches that come close to your home.
3. Dispose of Your Kitchen Scraps Correctly
When you do not dispose of your organic kitchen scraps, such as fruits and vegetables, correctly, they will attract insects and other pests. These insects, in turn, will attract scorpions as scorpions eat insects.
To prevent scorpions and other pests from entering your yard or home, do not allow kitchen scraps to lie around for long.
You can sort your waste and bag it. As for your kitchen scraps, you can add them to a compost pile if you have one. Just make sure that they do not attract insects.
4. Block Holes, Crevices, and Cracks in Your Home and Yard
Aside from debris, scorpions can stay in holes in your home during the day.
While scorpions can use these holes as their shelter, the holes also give them access to your home. This is dangerous, so you should inspect the entire house and block off every crack or hole that you can find.
5. Remove Insects from Your Yard
Do you have a lot of insects in your yard? Remove them immediately.
Insects such as ants, termites, and even arachnids, such as spiders, can attract scorpions.
Scorpions can come to your yard because of insects, so you need to remove the insects if you want the scorpions to stay away.
Removing insects from your yard includes the use of pesticides and destroying their shelter if they are living in the yard.
6. Use a Movement Sensor at Night
Movement sensors help to prevent scorpions from entering your yard at night because they can repel them with light or water. As soon as the device senses any slight movement around it, it can turn on a very bright light in that direction or spray water toward the scorpions.
These devices are cheap and can save you a lot of work.
7. Fix Leaks in Your Pipes (Plumbing)
If you have ever seen scorpions inside your house, you need to take steps to prevent them from entering again. Aside from cracks and holes, another common way for scorpions to gain access to your home is when you have leaks in your pipes.
Check the pipes that lead to your bathrooms and kitchens. If there are leakages, please fix them immediately.
8. Light Up the Night
Remember that scorpions are diurnal. This means that they hate the sunlight.
To prevent scorpions from entering your yard, especially at night, make sure that the yard is well-lit.
If possible, please make use of yellow bulbs, as they resemble the sun and repel scorpions better than other colors. Also, make sure that the light reaches the ground as scorpions go on the floor.
9. Plant Lavender or Use Essential Oils
If you need a natural and passive method to repel scorpions from your yard, this is a great method.
Plants such as lavender and mint can repel scorpions and other pests. Lavender is best as you can use it as a border or barrier plant. All you need to do is to plant it along the fence or on the edge of your yard.
Aside from plants, you can also use essential oils.
For example, cinnamon oil is effective in repelling scorpions. However, you may need a lot of it because its effects wear off daily.
10. Employ Your Farm Birds
Farm birds such as turkeys, chickens, ducks, and guinea fowl are effective in controlling the population of scorpions and other types of pests.
These birds naturally feed on insects and arachnids, so you want to release them in your yard so that they can search for and eat the scorpions.
Remember that chickens scratch, so they can easily reveal the scorpion’s location.
Note that this technique is only safe for free-range birds. If your birds are mostly in their coop, they may not be hardy or skilled enough to fight scorpions. Instead, a scorpion that enters the coop can sting some birds.
11. Use a Homemade Citric Acid Solution
An easy homemade repellent that is effective against scorpions is a citric acid solution.
- To make this solution, sun-dry the peels of oranges, lemons, and other citric fruits.
- When they are dry, grind them to powder and then mix them with water in a ratio of one-part powder and two-parts water.
You can use this mixture to repel scorpions and other pests. However, you need to spray it on your yard daily because the effects wear off quickly.
12. Search for and Remove the Scorpions When You See Them
You can go searching for the scorpions at night. Wear sturdy boots, long pants, and thick gloves to protect yourself.
Go to places where you have seen scorpions in your yard before and search around that area. Make use of a black UV light because the exoskeleton of scorpions is very shiny under such light.
When you see scorpions, kill or remove them immediately.
If you see multiple scorpions in a particular place, it could signify that the scorpions’ shelter is not far. Keep searching, and you may find it.
13. Make Use of Pesticides and Traps
There are many pesticide products and traps that you can use to catch or repel scorpions.
The best traps to use are sticky traps because they will keep the scorpions alive but immobile until you find them. Keep the traps near holes and leaks in your home and near the edges of your yard.
As for the pesticides, spray or apply them to surfaces but not to the air, as scorpions are not flying arachnids.
14. Consult Pest Control Specialists
Just in case you are afraid of scorpions or do not have time to actively remove them from your yard, you should call pest exterminators or specialists to come to solve your scorpion problems for you.
Pest professionals will not just kill the scorpions; they will also give you useful tips to help you repel them next time.
Make sure that you stick to the advice of the pest exterminators so that you can be free from scorpions.
Remember That It Takes Time
No matter the technique that you choose to repel the scorpions from your yard, remember that the scorpions will not leave your yard in one day.
You need to be consistent in removing, killing, and repelling scorpions before you will be free from them.
Also, remember that you do not have to use only one technique. You can combine multiple methods until the scorpions are finally gone.
Now you can live comfortably in a place free from scorpions.
Do Dryer Sheets Repel Scorpions?
Dryer sheets may or may not repel scorpions according to the condition of your yard. Remember that scorpions enter your yard in search of insects.
Dryer sheets can repel certain insects like food-infesting weevils and beetles, certain mites, German cockroaches, and fungus gnats.
Dryer sheets do not repel all types of insects, so if there are insects that dryer sheets cannot repel, scorpions will enter your garden.
Some examples of insects that dryer sheets cannot repel are praying mantises and wasps. If these insects are anywhere near your garden, you cannot keep scorpions away with dryer sheets.
You’ll need to find another way to get rid of the scorpions’ food to get rid of the scorpions.
Are All Scorpions Dangerous?
First of all, every scorpion stings, and their sting always has venom in it.
However, the damage of the sting can be classified as highly venomous (or dangerous) and mildly venomous (or non-dangerous) according to the type of the scorpion.
Of about 1,500 scorpion species, only about 30 are dangerous.
To differentiate dangerous from non-dangerous scorpions, you will need to observe the tails and pincers (front limbs with claws):
The tails of dangerous scorpions with a lot of venoms are thick while their pincers are small. However, non-dangerous scorpions have thick pincers and small tails.
In Africa, an example of a highly venomous scorpion is the Rough Thicktail scorpion (Parabuthus granulatus), while an example of a mildly venomous one is the Giant Rock scorpion (Hadogenes troglodytes).
An example of a highly venomous American scorpion is the Arizona Bark scorpion (Centruroides exilicauda).
Well, you do not need to observe the scorpions in your yard before you remove them. Remove them as soon as you see them.
Conclusion
Scorpions are dangerous, and you do not want them anywhere near you. The best way to prevent scorpions from entering your yard is to remove everything that attracts them, such as insects (food) and debris (shelter).
We hope you stay safe and do not get stung!
Resources
- https://www.wikihow.com/Naturally-Deter-Scorpions
- https://www.angi.com/articles/how-get-rid-scorpions.htm
- https://www.preventivepestcontrol.com/scorpions-how-can-i-keep-them-out-of-my-yard
- https://www.wikihow.com/Get-Rid-of-Scorpions
- http://www.venombyte.com/venom/scorpions/arizona_bark_scorpion.asp
- https://www.thespruce.com/do-dryer-sheets-repel-insects