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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To throw away my bedding and possibly never sleep in my bed again.

100 replies

RafaellaNhaKyria · 21/03/2014 01:39

I just went into my bedroom, all sleepy and comfortable and ready to crawl in and snuggle down to watch netflix.

Only to find a two-inch scorpion had beat me to it and was sprawled on my pillow as if he owned it. I panicked and flushed him down the toilet after a harrowing walk to the bathroom turning the pillow up and down as he ran all over it. I had no idea scorpions could move that fast. I now wish I had taken a picture of the beast but as I said, panic.

I'm afraid to go to bed. Where there is one, there must be more, right? What if it was a mommy scorpion?!!

Fucking hell.

OP posts:
Lj8893 · 21/03/2014 09:43

Oh how I love England Grin

SecretWitch · 21/03/2014 10:55

I was never happier than when my ex got transferred to cold New England..give me ice and snow any day..not having to battle any stinging demons..utter BLISS!

Original poster
RafaellaNhaKyria · 21/03/2014 11:50

"Check your mattress in case it had nested in there." -Booboostu

I'm speechless with dread. And if I wasn't speechless I would tell you that oft repeated MN phrase, "No is a complete sentence". So there. That was just mean, you fucking viper, you!

I woke up on the sofa (fell asleep watching Big Bang and trying to talk myself into getting in the bed) at 3:00am and stumbled off to scorpionville. I did a cursory check of the bed and passed out again. I woke this morning and stretched, just passing my foot over something in the sheets that was scratchy. I shrieked and rose a foot off the bed and jumped out, tearing the bedclothes apart to find the new beast.

It was an anti-snoring strip stuck to the sheet. I lost one off my nose on Monday and forgot about it. How it got down near my feet is beyond me. Clearly I'm going to be a bit jumpy for a while...

OP posts:
Original poster
RafaellaNhaKyria · 21/03/2014 11:53

Who is it on here that changes her be sheets every single day? I thought she was crazy but I bet she doesn't worry about stuff like this. And she would never get scared by a four day-old nose strip.

OP posts:
Catsmamma · 21/03/2014 12:01

oooh ohhh

i was alright cos it wasn't my bed .... or continent till I read the nesting bit.

Although I can't imagine there would be anything less than complete hysterics if I found a scorpion on my bed. I cried for ages when I realised I was IN BED with a spider.

I am going to pass this little snippet of informtion on to dd though, she has a Texan instagram/fb/penpal chum and there's talk of her going to meet her and stay ...she will never go now! HAH!

missuswife · 21/03/2014 12:08

Put your bed's feet in buckets of water. That's what my mum did when she lived in Hawaii. Or move to Wisconsin!

Megrim · 21/03/2014 12:23

We lived in Houston for a while. I'm glad I didn't read up about the wildlife before we went out there - black widows, brown recluses, water moccasins, even the mosquitoes were huge. One house we looked at the owner asked if we had any pets - "don't bother" he said, "the alligators in the drainage channel will take them".

On the plus side, we had humming birds.

wobblyweebles · 21/03/2014 12:26

Crossing California, Hawaii, Georgia, Texas and Florida off my 'possible places to move to' list. And wherever the cobra is. Also Australia.

wobblyweebles · 21/03/2014 12:26

We have hummingbirds in New England... Lovely :-)

HennaFlare · 21/03/2014 12:30

Missuswife that is a stroke of genius!

haggisaggis · 21/03/2014 12:32

We're going to Arizona on holiday this year - panicking now!

Lj8893 · 21/03/2014 12:40

Not that I need to know as I live in good old England but what does the bed feet in buckets of water do?

Vagndidit · 21/03/2014 12:42

Ah yes. Texas.

You have my sympathies. Thanks

Luckily our cats were quite good at hunting them down when we lived there.

SummerRain · 21/03/2014 12:56

I live in the west of Ireland where the only dangerous insects are midges and queen wasps nesting in the turf. I'm not particularly bothered about bugs but the size of the cockroaches in America made even me curl my toes in horror, my poor mother almost had heart failure Grin

We didn't come across any scorpions or she might have died of fright but we did have a hairy encounter with killer bees in Joshua tree national park... Those are some angry little bugs Angry

Original poster
RafaellaNhaKyria · 21/03/2014 13:23

missuswife what an ingenious thing to do.

Rice
Broccoli
Apples
Chicken
Milk
Jalapeño
4 large buckets

That shopping list aught to be a stumper.

OP posts:
BlackeyedSusan · 21/03/2014 13:34

check howw deep you need the buckets. you may need somethign shallower like paint tins.. or cat littler trays.

are you going to dig a moat?

Titsalinabumsquash · 21/03/2014 13:40

I'm sorry.... You found a scorpion in your bed and you're still in the country?! Shock

Then again my solution to finding a maggot in my bin was to holler at DP to call the police and run like the wind... Blush

I possibly should never leave the UK.

Original poster
RafaellaNhaKyria · 21/03/2014 13:50

*ought. Stupid iphone!

OP posts:
Littlegreyauditor · 21/03/2014 13:55

I found maggots in my kitchen bin during some unseasonably warm weather and was discovered by DH pouring kettles of boiling water on top of the half pint of bleach whilst hopping from foot to foot chanting "bastards, dirty wee bastards".

I cannot deal with maggots.

Beachcomber · 21/03/2014 13:59

We used to get loads of them in our old house, mostly downstairs in the kitchen so not too bad, but once I went up to bed and DH was sitting up in bed reading and there was a big scorpion on the wall about 20cms from his head.

I said "don't move. Scorpion. Wall." He did a hilarious (and quite impressive) commando roll off the bed and over the other side of the room.

Once when my dad came to stay he nearly stepped on one in the bathroom. We agreed not to mention it to my stepmum so that she wouldn't pack her bags and get the first flight home.

I don't miss that house.

You have my sympathy, our scorpions were French ones, I bet Texan ones are worse.

bookcave · 21/03/2014 14:20

I once resorted to wrapping the bed legs in duct tape (sticky side out) in the hope that anything that tried to crawl up would get stuck. We'd moved house, in the tropics, and we'd been in the new house about 2 hours before it was clear that we needed the pest control people in to spray. Landlord had said it would be done before we moved in but it wasn't......horrible.

HerRoyalNotness · 21/03/2014 14:29

mmm I'm beginning to think DH's idea of going camping in a TENT in Texas next month is NOT one of his finest. He thinks it will be fun, and we can't spring for an RV just now.

Maybe if we take the dog we will have an advance warning on anything slithering or creeping towards our tent. eek.

Oh yes, and the drainage canals, I've told the boys not to play in them in case they drown, but forgot to mention the alligators to them.

SecretWitch · 21/03/2014 14:50

I almost forgot..I sat my poor 10 month old son down on a pile do fire ants in hell Florida..

honeycrest · 21/03/2014 15:46

I'm in Nevada and when we first moved into the house, we seen a few. One of them was in my DDs playhouse so I went into full on panic mode, obsessively checking everywhere. Got the bug people out and haven't seen any in a few months now although I suspect the cooler weather might be the reason for that. I'll be checking the beds after reading the OP!

ifyourehoppyandyouknowit · 21/03/2014 15:57

A scorpion. In your bed. And you got back in?!?!

I'd never sleep again. And move.

Why does everything in hot countries try and kill cycling you?!

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