I was curious as to the bite of a scorpion.
I scored a neonate speckled king before the cold front moved in.

"While Darwinian Man, though well-behaved. At best is only a monkey shaved!"
W.S. Gilbert

I'm not that familiar with scorpions, but I heard somewhere (can't remember where) that they can bite as well as sting. I'm not sure what their mouthparts are like so I don't know how bad it would be. I don't even know if its true or not...

The question to me is not if they bite, of course they can. Does the bite contain venom? We all know the sting does, and the bite "could" be like a grasshopper or something. Those pinching claws could hurt if the animal is big enough. I guess I need to live up to me signature and give it all a test.  :shocked: [size=18NOT[/size. Sounds like it sucks, Glen.

Im certainly glad I never had that happen while hauling hay when I was growing up. lol

Scorpions can't really bite as they don't have fangs but chelicerae which look like two mini-claws pointing down. The mouth parts are too small on most scorpions to do much but break up food. I've been stung by several different scorpions when I went bug collecting in Arizona. After being tagged on the hand I can honestly say I would take it over a wasp or bee anyday. The worst of it passed in a few minutes and swelling was much more mild. I know the ones we have around here are Centruroides scorpions so the sting packs a bit more of a wack. I've handled a few of them out turning rocks and they are pretty mild mannered and seem to rather try to run than stand their ground which is more than I can say for the hairy scorpions in AZ.  They actually make pretty interesting pets and unless you apply pressure to them, you can pick them up quite easily.

Toooooooo funny Ryan.

I must disagree with you on that. I think it hurts less than a wasp or 17 yellowjackets (17 yj's at the same time, very painful. My Ecology class thought I was mad then they ran bc they realized I was in a yellowjacket nest).
I also think the pain is related to where you get stung. I have been stung on the foot [3 stings at the same time] and the end of the thumb and I can say the foot stings were MUCH worse than the thumb sting. At the time I had never cursed in front of my mother-in-law but, the 2 stings on the foot were enough to let the words fly! She was shocked at first then realized that I had fallen on the floor [dropping the contents of the boxes I was carrying everywhere] because I was stung.
The sting on my thumb occurred while putting on my shorts, it was in the waistband and the singer went right in, OW!!!!

The fact that it got stuck in your shirt and let you have it had to suck...

being allergic to most stingy things, I always fear it. When Im stung, it swells like normal people and then makes me sick. The site stays swollen and itchy for months. I stepped on a dead bumble bee when I was young and it didnt stop itching for almost a year. I dont know what I was stung by last summer as I didnt SEE the blasted thing- but whatever it was sent its poison seering through the top of my toes and it graduated in a spike through my ankle, up the leg and did not stop until it reached my ribs... my whole leg was twitching and burning and thats never happened to me before.

Ack... its okay to call me Torry online, Melissa... HAHAHA.. and thank you for letting me know about that bug- I remember at the time I was trying to avoid touching it. I've been stung by sweat bees, bumbles, reds, dobbers and yellow jackets and none of them did what this one last summer did. I wonder if either my allergy has advanced to one of those species or if it was something else.