A Manitoba woman now has an unusual kind of visitor from South Africa holed up in her home. Theresa Arnott told CBC she spotted a little black scorpion in her bathroom after returning home to Stonewall, Man. from a vacation in South Africa. She figures the stowaway must have hitched a ride in her luggage after visiting family over the Christmas holiday.
”I went upstairs to clean the bathroom. I picked up my wicker basket next to the tub and lo and behold, there was this little black scorpion,” she told CBC on Jan. 7. “At first I couldn’t quite believe it, then I realized the little critter must have snuck into my suitcase.”
The scorpion, which she has named Harold, is pretty resilient. It survived four flights to Canada and a week in her suitcase, which is how long it took Arnott to unpack.
She scooped it up in a sandwich bag and is housing it in a fishbowl terrarium. The critter, which appears to be an emperor scorpion according to an expert quoted by CBC, isn’t that dangerous, with a sting not much worse than a bee and is pretty simple to take care of. Still, Arnott is looking for another suitable home for the critter.
h/t CBC Photo Theresa Arnott
