Oregon Scorpions

gataloco

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Dec 5, 2002
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I live in Washington and a friend of mine had a scorpion that came from the westerned mountains in Oregon. Does anyone have any information on this species?

Thanks, Fred
 

scorpio

Arachnodemon
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Theres probably more than one species of scorpion in Oregon. Do you think you could get maybe a description, or a picture:?
 

gataloco

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Dec 5, 2002
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It was a small chocolate brown scorpion. It was very docile and lived in damp wood litter. Great little species.
 

Kugellager

ArachnoJester of the Ancient Ones
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Sounds a lot like Uroctonus mordax though I believe there are one or two other possible species.

John
];')
 

Straxus

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Oct 3, 2005
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Hello, I am a newbie to the forum...
I also am in search of the name of the species of an Oregon scorpion. I just got four of them. I tried taking a picture with my digital camera but due to lack of quality of camera I cannot get a picture of any decent quality at the moment.
All four of them are a light tan in color but the segments are a bit darker.
They were captured near Christmas Valley, Oregon (south central oregon).
The area is sagebrush high desert region.

From some information I have found I am guessing it might be a Paruroctonnus boreus, but there are others in the Boreus subgroup that they look similar to. Any suggestions on how to more accurately match them?
I will try to find a way to get non-fuzzy picture of them soon.

I have had a member of the same species (or one very identical) from same area as a pet at one time. It lived for a year in captivity.

I also was wondering if anyone knew of any species of scorpion that might possibly exist west of the cascades in oregon, specificly in the areas surrounding Portland. I know of a seudo scorpion species that exists there, but would love to know if there are actual scorpions that hide in that area.
 

drapion

Arachnobaron
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I know that there is 4 spieces of scorp in Oregon.I live in southern Oregon and we have U.mordax here.there dark brown to black
 

TheNothing

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only scorpion that can be found on the west side of the Cascades is U. mordax (as everyone else has mentioned). There have been very occational U. mordax findings in the Mt. Hood National Forest and in the Columbia River Gorge. They are very few and far between though. There have also been reports coming from Troutdale and Sandy... About as close to Portland as you can get and find scorps

There are several other species that can be found sporaticly across the eastern side of the state though:
- Anuroctonus phaiodactylus
- Hadrurus spadix (Snake River area)
- Paruroctonus boreus
- Vaejovis confusus (unconfirmed)
- Vaejovis hirsuticauda (unconfirmed)
 

Straxus

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Oct 3, 2005
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Very cool! Thanks for the help guys!
That last list will drasticly help me narrow down the species I have.
If they are Paruroctonus boreus, does anyone know the danger level of the toxin involved (no worries, I go with the philosophy of the best way to handle your scorpion is NOT to handle your scorpion) Its mainly for safety reasons and so I can keep record (should they be that species)
 

cacoseraph

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Straxus said:
Very cool! Thanks for the help guys!
That last list will drasticly help me narrow down the species I have.
If they are Paruroctonus boreus, does anyone know the danger level of the toxin involved (no worries, I go with the philosophy of the best way to handle your scorpion is NOT to handle your scorpion) Its mainly for safety reasons and so I can keep record (should they be that species)
none of the scorpions on TheNothing's list are dangerously venomous or medically significant

odds are the Hadrurus would hurt a lot to get stung by, but it's only pain :)

the other ones can be painful to get stung by, but also can do nothing, even with an envenomation

there are probably sting reports on a number of the species
 

cacoseraph

ArachnoGod
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TheNothing said:
only scorpion that can be found on the west side of the Cascades is U. mordax (as everyone else has mentioned). There have been very occational U. mordax findings in the Mt. Hood National Forest and in the Columbia River Gorge. They are very few and far between though. There have also been reports coming from Troutdale and Sandy... About as close to Portland as you can get and find scorps

There are several other species that can be found sporaticly across the eastern side of the state though:
- Anuroctonus phaiodactylus
- Hadrurus spadix (Snake River area)
- Paruroctonus boreus
- Vaejovis confusus (unconfirmed)
- Vaejovis hirsuticauda (unconfirmed)
heh, i kept messing the thread link for confusus up... linked to an amusing variety of things while i was working on it, sorry for the confusion, if there was any :)

sting reports:
[thread=263]H. spadix or arizonensis[/thread]
[thread=13489]H. ariz[/thread]

[thread=33866]P. silvestri(?)[/thread]
[thread=27436]P. gracilor[/thread]
[thread=27435]P. maritimus[/thread]

[thread=446]V. spinigerus[/thread]
[thread=27433]V. confusus[/thread]

- - - - -

[thread=265]U. mordax[/thread]
 
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Straxus

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Well that helps me feel safer (not that I would get rid of the little guys anyway, I would just use that much more safety precautions)
Unfortunately my roommate is terrified by the concept of scorpions in the house and it wont do much to reassure him...LOL.
What I love about this species is how active they are! All four are moving about in their enclosures, though probably due to fact that I need to run to local feed and seed and see if I can find suitable crickets for them.
I have only had three types of scorpions so far, the species I currently have (pretty sure same as one I caught years ago), Black Emperors and Giant Hairy Arizona (sorry cant remember scientific names at moment and my books are burried somewhere.) So far these are the prefered ones. I am sure in near future I might get more experience with other scorpion species.

Where is best location to locate U. mordax? next spring I might do a road trip to find some. Thanks for the help everyone! I love this site!
 

TheNothing

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yeah
I love US natives because they are so active, especially Vaejovis species.

U mordax can be found at a variety of locations along the western foothills of the cascades... I got mine on a trip to Medford with prang11 and drapion
 

drapion

Arachnobaron
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I could tell you right were to go to Find U.mordax.Or I could just show you.I have a hill down here I go to to collect them for my self or people who want them.There are hundreds of them!
 
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Empi

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gataloco said:
I live in Washington and a friend of mine had a scorpion that came from the westerned mountains in Oregon. Does anyone have any information on this species?

Thanks, Fred
Hey we are practically in the same town. I live about three miles from Lynden. Funny how that works somtimes. :D
 

Scorpiolion

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Jun 17, 2013
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I could tell you right were to go to Find U.mordax.Or I could just show you.I have a hill down here I go to to collect them for my self or people who want them.There are hundreds of them!
Drapion I just so happen to be coming into medford on wednesday the 3rd from klamath falls and naturally I am from arizona (arizona bark, desert hairy, devil, twin striped) so I love scorpions and I was wondering if I could help you with your infestation so is there anyway we could meet up for a scorpion hunt
 

josh_r

Arachnoprince
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only scorpion that can be found on the west side of the Cascades is U. mordax (as everyone else has mentioned). There have been very occational U. mordax findings in the Mt. Hood National Forest and in the Columbia River Gorge. They are very few and far between though. There have also been reports coming from Troutdale and Sandy... About as close to Portland as you can get and find scorps

There are several other species that can be found sporaticly across the eastern side of the state though:
- Anuroctonus phaiodactylus
- Hadrurus spadix (Snake River area)
- Paruroctonus boreus
- Vaejovis confusus (unconfirmed)
- Vaejovis hirsuticauda (unconfirmed)
To clarify here... I know this comment was made in the stone age....but, Uroctonus mordax is found north of Portland into Washington state.... And they are actually quite common if you know when and where to look :) I have found them in Washington with no problems.
 

MomOfMany

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Oct 1, 2021
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do you have some pics of the scorpion ?
Hi, I’m your local thread Rez fairy. 😂

Okay we keep coming back here in our scorp search so I might as well join and add to this great topic.

My 19yr old found this scorpion under a log on our property yesterday. We live west of Portland on the north/ western side of Bald Peak above the Laurelwood community (Gaston).

I’m hoping to get some more in depth shots because there are a great many people who have live here a very long time (some 60 years) and never saw or knew they lived here!
6CFE48FE-14BC-441E-B667-A29E4EFA9DF7.jpeg 7FAC2700-C293-4BDB-87DF-B7B0C8150FC7.jpeg A3E45C0E-3692-4244-9E21-7CB4A6706C03.jpeg
-MOM
 
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