How to Rid an Outside Shed of Scorpions

Scorpions in your shed can be a serious hazard.

Many homeowners take precautions to guard their home against unwanted scorpion invasions, but often stumble upon these pesky creatures inside garages and sheds. Scorpions often enter sheds in search of food or nesting spaces, and may sting if startled. Scorpion stings aren’t typically fatal, but they are extremely painful. Ridding your shed of scorpions takes work, but keeps your family safe from stings.

Things You'll Need

• Gloves
• Garbage cans
• Caulk
• Drywall knife
• Mesh screening
• Hammer
• Nails
• Bug bombs

Instructions

1. Straighten up the interior and exterior of the shed. Rake and clean up garbage and yard waste, and remove old sticks and piles of wood. Scorpions often take refuge in debris, so removing all hiding places will reduce the number of scorpions in your shed. Make sure to wear a pair of heavy gloves to prevent stings if you stumble upon a scorpion as you clean.

2. Keep the shed door closed at all times. During hot summer days, scorpions will crawl into dark sheds to lower their body temperature, and keeping the door closed reduces the likelihood of a full-blown invasion.

3. Caulk up any cracks in the wall or foundation of the shed. Squeeze enough caulk into the hole to completely fill it, and smooth over the surface of the crack with your fingers to close the hole. Scrape away excess caulk with a drywall knife.

4. Screen over windows to keep scorpions out of your shed. Cut a piece of screen a little larger than the window, and hammer it to the interior window frame with nails or staples. Scorpions will squeeze through even small gaps, so hammer a nail in every inch to keep scorpions outside.

5. Bomb your shed with bug bombs to kill off small insects. Most bug bombs won’t kill scorpions, but they will eliminate the smaller insects scorpions feed on. Shut the windows on the shed, press the trigger on the bomb and place the bomb on the floor in the center of the shed. Close the door and leave it shut for at least four hours. Open doors and windows to ventilate the shed, and dispose of the bomb and any dead insects in the trash can.

Tips & Warnings

• Bomb your shed in the spring and fall to kill as many bugs as possible.

References

• Good Housekeeping; How to Get Rid of Scorpions; Heloise
• The Best Control 2; The Best Control for Scorpions and Imagination; Steven Tvedten
• Walter Reed Biosystematics Unit: Scorpion Control