How wide is the Scorpion's habitat and what is the scorpion bite treatment, is it even relevant?

  They are closely related to spiders, mites and wood ticks, thought of as desert dwellers living in hot dry areas they have been here for hundreds of millions of years. They are often depicted on the big screen as purveyors of torture to get people to "talk". These anthropoids live almost any place there is soil, Brazilian rain forests, the Himalaya's, southeastern United States and British Columbia are a few of the climates they can live in. I am talking about the notoriously dangerous and reclusive Scorpion.
Learn about poisonous insects, click here.
 

They vary in color from dark black as this one is all the way
to a light sand color depending on their environment.

There are about 1,750 species of scorpion in the world, not all are poisonous, in fact the vast majority are not, only 25-40 have venom strong enough to cause a human to die. Their venom is custom designed to the individual scorpions life style, highly effective against the given species food source. Typically eating small insects, however they are such survivors their diet is very flexible. That flexibility is the key to their survival over the millions of years they have inhabited planet earth. During drought or other events that bring a shortage of food the Scorpion is capable of slowing it's metabolism to 1/3 the normal rate for scorpions. It makes it possible for the anthropoid to use very little oxygen, able to live by eating one insect a year. It does not slow the scorpion down at all, unlike hibernators the scorpion can leap to action to capture food when needed. This adaptation allows the scorpion to live in extreme environments, in fact they have been frozen overnight in lab experiments. Thawing out the following morning and walking away as if nothing at all has occurred, extremely adaptable creatures. Scorpions must have soil to survive, in places where the ground freezes or there is high grass they may not be able to survive, they must burrow into the soil.
  Scorpions have 8 legs, two lobster like claws (pedipalps) for grasping their prey and burrowing. In an arc over the back is the tail, it is segmented with a "stinger" prominently displayed appearing set like a spring trap. They range in size from about 3/8" (Typholchactas mitchelli) up to an impressive 9" (Heterometrus swammerdami) in length. They first appeared in the fossil record 430 million years ago, Scorpion habitat is every continent on earth with the exception of Antarctica. Read about the difference between scorpions and spiders, click here.

Scorpions live in the not green shaded area. (What color is that anyway?)

  Scorpions will sting humans, but as stated above the chances of dying are remote, only 25-40 of the species are capable of injuring humans. The stings are extremely painful and for the North American species not treatment is normally needed for healthy adults. If a child or elderly person get stung by a scorpion medical care should be sought. It is a different story if a person gets stung in South America, Africa or Western Asia where the venom is strong enough to kill a human, medical care in these areas should be sought. Trade and commerce have been introduced (unintentionally) to Great Britain, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand and many Oceania islands. The northern most occurrence of scorpions (northern scorpion) are found between the latitudes 23'N and 38'N above these latitudes the diversity decreases.
  Most of the time when a scorpion stings a person it will not cause death or illness. However if a person has an allergy to the venom some or all of the following symptoms may present themselves:
  1) Double vision, vertigo is a good comparison.
  2) Breathing difficulty
  3) Breathing has stopped
  4) Rapid breathing
  5) Drooling from the mouth
  6) Voice box spasms, changing of the voice.
  7) Tongue feels thick
  8) Unable to hold urine
  9) Decreased urine output
 10) Muscle spasms and cramps
 11) Convulsions
 12) Paralysis
 13) Random uncontrollable movements of the head, eye or neck
 14) Restlessness
 15) Seizures
 16) Stiffness
 17) Abdominal cramps
 18) Inability to hold stool
  Seek medical attention as quickly as possible, have all of the details ready for the examiners and if possible bring the insect that bit the person in with you for identification purposes. Other information to have on hand prior to contacting 911 is:
  1)The person's age weight, and physical condition.
  2) The exact type of scorpion, or bring it with you in a plastic zip lock
  3) The time it occurred, very important.
  4) Call the National Poison center hotline: 1-800-222-1222, for further advice 24 hours a day.
  When you get to the hospital the following test and examinations will most likely take place;
  1) Blood and urine samples will be taken.
  2) Breathing support will be included, oxygen via a tube in the nose or the mouth.
  3) You will get a chest xray
  4) EKG will be administered
  5) An IV will certainly be introduced, mainly for hydration.
  6) Medicine to reverse the effects of the scorpion venom will be used.
  7) Medicine to treat symptoms.
 

Seek medical help if symptoms
are severe. 

If symptoms worsen in the first 2-4 hour period a bad outcome should start to be expected, however very few people over the age of 6 die from a scorpion sting. Symptoms sometimes last for for several days or even weeks, and some of the rare deaths have occurred weeks after the initial sting. Advise from the FDA on what action to take if you are stung and experience symptoms, click this link.
  This is the second of three blogs I have decided to write on poisonous spiders, tomorrow's will be on the Brown Recluse and after that I will give it a rest to be persuade at a later date. I have a long list of subjects to write about, I like to mix them up. Thanks for reading, I hope you learned a few things by reading the blog, please leave a comment or a suggestion. Thanks

jacquesandkate  emergencykitsplus.com