A woman discovered South America’s deadliest scorpion – running along skirting boards.
Payge Aitchison, 29, spotted the Brazilian Yellow tailed scorpion – in her hallway in Wokingham. In their native country the species kill more humans than all other venomous animals, including snakes and spiders combined.
Payge first thought it was a spider but when she took a closer look she spotted its venomous stinger. Payge, a senior import export co-ordinator, used a Tupperware box to collect the scorpion – sealing the box and leaving it on her table while she figured out her next steps.
“I came home from the gym on Tuesday evening, and something caught my eye on the skirting board as I opened the door,” she said.
“Our front porch light doesn’t work, but there was a streetlight behind me, so everything was dark with a little bit of light cast on it. My first thought was that it was a spider, because that’s the kind of thing you’d expect to find in your house.
“I FaceTimed my friend and asked what she thought it was and she said she thought it was a scorpion – that pretty much confirmed what I’d thought at that point! I hadn’t shut the door by this point, because I wasn’t sure if it was going to leave or if I was.
“It had started walking back into the house, so I got a Tupperware box and shoved it over it. I got a bit of card, put it underneath, and flipped it upside down. I put the scorpion on the dining table, and just looked at it in the box for a while.
“I was thinking ‘what am I going to do with this?’ I can’t keep it in a box forever, and I’m not going to kill it, because it’s not its fault it’s in my house.”
After making a post on her local Facebook page, and a helpful neighbour offering up a link to the National Centre for Reptile Welfare, Payge phoned for help.
Payge says the centre answered “immediately,” and began requesting photos and answering questions to identify the scorpion’s species – and quickly determined that it was highly dangerous.
The centre dispatched a volunteer located in Berkshire, who was able to reach Payge in around 90 minutes to retrieve the creature.
“I gave them a call and they answered almost immediately,” she said. “I had been speaking to a lady originally, and then Chris, one of the owners came on the line.
“He asked if it was in a sealed box, and I said yes. He said that was good – he told me not to go near the box, not to touch the box, and not to open the box.
“He said that if he’s right about the species, they’re extremely venomous, and if it stings me, I’d die. They sent out a guy called Graham from the Berkshire Reptile Centre.
“It was probably an hour or so between me ringing them, and the collection – it was extremely efficient. It was really nerve-wracking having something like that on my table for that hour.
“Even though I knew it was in a sealed box and it couldn’t get out, there was still something on the table that could have killed me. What could have happened? All that started to sink in. As much as Graham thinks he rescued the scorpion, I think he rescued me!”
The scorpion stayed with volunteer Graham for several days, before being moved to the sanctuary at the National Centre for Reptile Welfare, where it will live out its days.
Payge says the team believe the scorpion may have hitched a ride on a parcel sent to her – but says they have no way of knowing for sure.
“One of the questions that Chris asked was if I’d had any parcels delivered recently,” she said. “I said nothing that day, but I’d had a couple a few days beforehand.
“Their theory is that a lot of them come over in parcels from Shein and Temu, but this scorpion he thinks is of Brazilian origin, so we’re not sure how this one specifically has come over.
“Most ones are found inside parcels, but this was slightly different, because it was found in my hallway itself.
“People should be careful when opening up parcels and look before they open them – if these creatures are coming over in parcels, you might be putting yourself in harms’ way.”