USVI-On-Line

OK, as many of you know I am a long time visitor to STJ and I have NEVER, repeat NEVER had an experience with any scorpions anywhere. Not in the villa, not on a hike, not on a beach. Seen all other kinds of critters-- no problem as far as I am concerned- I'm a visitor, they're not. We even had a frog living in the drain of a sink. Again, not an issue for me. Little lizards, no problemo. Iguanas, cute.

Anyway, we're staying in Catherineberg this time-- a first for us. We usually stay on Choc Hole. We're staying at Anole in a few weeks and I was combing through reviews of the villa on the net and came across a post that someone staying at our villa (not too long ago) found a scorpion in one of their beds.

OK. Deeeeeeeeep breath.

I thought, let me do some more investigating. Are there REALLY scorpions on STJ or is someone exaggerating? SO I saw another post on Barnako's site about someone have a "scorpion under their pillow."

OK. Another DEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP breath.

So I did some more searching for an authoritative source and found documentation of reserach of "Insects and Invertibrate species of St. John." And indeed there is at least one confirmed species of scorpion on STJ and another photo of something that looks like a scorpion that is "Yet unidentified" and a note that there are two other species that are confirmed on STT and STX.

OK. Another DEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP Breath.

Add to this the fact that I watched "A Good Year" with Russel Crowe this week-end where these little scorpions showing up in the bedrooms each morning unless boxes of lavender were placed in the window sills.

Now, I know there are ALLLLLLL kinds of critters on island. And usually I do not have a problem with this. But I gotta be honest and say that I am FREAKED OUT by the idea of getting stung by one of these critters a.k.a. scorpions unknowingly. And even more freaked out by the thought of one cuddling up to me in the middle of the night.

MORE searching on line revealed a company in Texas which makes the little "Anti-Scorpion" lavender bags (3 for $12) that they say they use under beds, around shoes etc. to keep these guys out of their way.

SO here are my questions and what I need help with:

1) Anyone staying at Anole recently who experienced this problem first hand (I don't want any "my second cousins, brother's girlfriend said..."-- I want, "I saw it with my own eyes")?

2) To anyone living in areas populated by scorpions (I don't know where that would be -- I'm guessing desert areas, cause I KNOW we don't have this issue in Northern Virginia) -- How do you deal with this issue? In other words, does this lavender thing really work? (Some checking on line did not reveal any scientific and definitive information on this subject). I would especially appreciate hearing from someone (ST JOHN RUTH!!!) on island about this subject.

3)Is this a problem in just the Catherineberg area?

4) Am I just freaking out unnecessarily?

5) Can anyone offer me some helpful suggestions to help me not freak out?

I am not the freaking out type, but if ANYONE can help me with this issue I will be eternally grateful!

Hi Gromit. My wife and I encountered a scorpion in our Coral Bay Villa, the Spy Glass. It scammpered across the floor as we were watching TV one evening, my wife freaked out and scared the crap out of me! I was a little wierded out by it too... I captured it and let it outside.
So... we called our villa people the next day and they informed us that they are in fact scorpions, but are NON venomous, and not to worry about them being "dangerous".
I have no idea what species they are or anything like that, I didn't know scorpions could not be dangerous, who knew!? Anyway, not to worry I suppose!

Good Luck!

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Gromit, in our two stays in Catherineberg (at Cinnamon Tarn) I can report NO scorpions. Other bugs, yes.

The only encounter with a scorpion I've had in all my trips was this past June, we found one in the sliders to the downstairs pool view room at Argonauta. It was small, and we threw it over the cliff. No big deal.

If I found a tarantula though , I really think it would be getting the sturdy shoe smackdown.

I never saw a scorpian in St. John though stayed at Mar De Amores and a couple people wrote in the guest log that they saw a scorpian. I did, however, see one in Tortola - my brother had found it and caught it in his bedroom actually. It was more his fault - the room they stayed in was on the ground floor and they kept the door open all night every night. They even woke up with one of the neighborhood dogs lying on the rug at the foot of their bed.

As for the scorpian I think that when you actually see them, if and when you get past their prehistoric eerie look, you realize that its a "bug" and if need be nothing that a book or shoe won't take care of. They sure are freaky looking though!

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We always pull the sheets/bedding down and look before crawling into bed in STJ. I've found little Geckos but never a scorpion. I only wear Tevas while on STJ, but if I wore sneakers I'd probably inspect them before sticking my feet in them. Same rules applied when I used to camp in south Florida. While at Island Blues one night a guy came in and had been bit by one on his leg. He said it was much less painful or irritating then a bee sting.
Henry, a guy that cooked at Skinny's for a long time, told me that late at night you find rather large tarantulas keeping warm by lying on places in the road that are exposed to direct sun all day. Can't say whether that's BS or true. Some of the locals like to try to be rather colorful with the tourist!
Hey, Gromit, you've already been bit by much worse then a little, itsy bitty spider. You've been bit by the Saint John Bug!

5 years of living on island and I never saw one. I knew that there were on island but I never had a single encounter with one.

I don't think I've ever seen a scorpion with my own eyes anywhere. I've been here twelve years. I've heard of people seeing them, but I've never seen one. I am hoping this continues to be true.
-Ruth

We had two in our villa week before last.

leslie saw one of them when she was in the bathroom and I went in and killed it.

The next morning when she got out of bed to walk to the living room she heard something go "crunch" under her foot.

Yep - (dead) scorpion #2.

They were both rather small, and like someone said, not the venemous variety, and only dangerous if you're allergic to their bite.

Could you NOT have waited to post this for another 17 days or so? I am gonna totally lose my you know what if I see a scorpion. At least they won't be able to hide in my flip-flops.

I haven't seen a scorpion on island yet. I am much more freaked out by those huge, tarantula-like spiders. I DID find one of those under my bed.

I'm not helping, am I?

flip-flop wrote:Could you NOT have waited to post this for another 17 days or so? I am gonna totally lose my you know what if I see a scorpion. At least they won't be able to hide in my flip-flops.

I never saw any at the house, if that helps you get through your days.

Of course, I didn't know to look for them. Our trip was relatively bug-free except for skeeters.