Time now to trade the land of 10,000 lakes for the land of 10,000 degrees, where another
dirty job awaits in the Sonoran Desert of Scenic Arizona.
At 721, we're outside of Phoenix and Scottsdale.
We're in Arizona.
Something about scorpions.
Now, you know what I know.
It's easy to understand why folks live alongside a desert preserve.
The natural beauty is unique and majestic, but along with the human population, are a
few million scorpions who just love to sting you.
They also enjoy the arid climate and rocky terrain.
And that's where scorpion sweepers come in.
You look like Justin. Yep.
How are you?
I'm Mike. Nice to meet you, Mike.
Thanks for doing this with us.
Yeah, no problem.
How many people are at Scorpion sweepers?
We have six employees currently.
We do houses all over the valley and all the way down to Tucson.
So you're well versed on what a scorpion is.
I can ask you all sorts of questions and you'll probably have an answer.
Or at least make something up for you.
What are they?
Basically What, like arachnids?
Yeah. So they're.
Arachnids. So they have eight legs, two body segments, and they just happen to have this
really gnarly stinger on the back.
Just like to spend a couple of minutes typically for each episode begins, seeing if
the subject I'm going to be working with is truly well versed on the topic at hand.
You never know sometimes, but Justin Klaus clearly knows what he's talking about.
As long as we're only talking about scorpions.
Yeah, as long as it's on the cue cards over there.
So again, with the jokes.
So it's scorpions sweeping.
Do you literally sweep them?
We sweep with the light. So we use black lights because scorpions actually glow under
UV light. Well, that's.
Fascinating. Why does.
That happen? Part of their exoskeleton just has the right chemical compounds and stuff to
glow, and we're not really sure why.
No one really knows. There's not really a consensus.
It could be to be a warning sign because at night a lot of animals can't see very well at
night, but they can see in UV pretty well.
So it could be a way to advertising, hey, I'm scary and I have a nice, nasty sting.
Don't mess with me. Have you.
Been stung or bit or run into cactus.
Yourself? I've run into plenty of cactus.
It is miserable.
Yeah. Never been stung while working.
I've been stung at my own house.
Not following my rules. But that's.
Ironic. Yeah. You've never been stung on the job, but been stung at home.
Yeah. Funny stuff, Justin.
I'll need to keep on my toes.
Not just for his witty jabs, but for the literal jabs from the many sharp things in
the desert that can poke, stab and bite me.
I'm clearly not dressed properly, am I?
No, not at all.
Okay. Long pants.
Long shirt would be ideal.
Yeah. Yeah.
We'll be going out here in the desert.
So everything's got thorns, Everything's got teeth.
A lot of pricks out here in the desert.
Lots. You know what I like about the desert?
Everything. Huh?
So now we're.
Khaki for you.
Fantastic. You know, before it gets completely dark.
Let's take one more real good look at Justin.
We're going to be here for the next eight hours or so, but this is probably the last
time you're going to see him.
All right. The last time we going to see you, too.
Well, they know what I look like, but this is new for you, so let's just take five seconds,
play some appropriate music, and let's just drink Justin in.
You gotta do, like, a little, little 180.
Justin. Klaus putting the bay in beige like nobody else.
I feel like I'm.
Like, standing under an exit sign.
Or you look like a rotisserie chicken right now.
I feel like one.
I feel like one. Really? If you just ran a little steel up my spine and started spinning
me. I mean, it's about 100 degrees out here still.
Now I'm under a red light.
Scorpion sweeping is pretty straightforward.
Walk around the darkened desert with a black light and see what pops up.
I got the granddaddy of black lights for you.
So scorpions are going to be able to glow under this.
This is how we're going to find him tonight.
You already got your snake gators on.
I do.
We're going to carry one of these guys around.
It's just a watertight box that we can keep all of our scorpions in.
And what are we going to do with them tonight?
We're just going to freeze. So we're a chemical free company.
We don't use any chemicals. You have to freeze them at like really, really cold
temperatures because they will come back to life.
They have an antifreeze built into their blood.
We're ready to go scorpion hunting.
Justin's been hired by a nice couple who feel overrun by scorpions.
Let's meet him. Hi.
How are you? I'm great.
How are you?
Nice to meet you, Mike. Thank you for coming out.
Oh, thanks for having us.
Hey, nice to meet you. We're so glad you guys are here.
Thanks for having us.
How are you? Good to see you, sir.
Mark and.
Chris Jackson.
Jackson.
Yes.
You have a lovely home.
Thank you. Thank you. But we have a scorpion issue.
How big is the issue?
Scorpions are everywhere.
I mean, we're in the mountain preserve, right?
There's we can't always see them, but there's thousands.
I imagine it's you know, it's a nonstop battle of us versus them, basically.
And the Scorpions can go right up our dessert wall and right over into our backyard
sometimes in our house.
Well, you don't mind if we freeze him after we catch him, Do you know.
I would actually love that.
You know, if you like, we'll send it back to you.
You can mount them this way.
To the preserve.
This way? Yep.
And we'll turn black lights on probably right about now.
All right.
There's a lot to worry about as you stumble through the desert after dark.
Tarantulas, black widows, neurotoxic venomous scorpions, cacti, rattlesnakes,
inner demons.
Just make sure you're watching your step.
There's lots of cactus out here.
The rocks and stuff are easy to trip on.
That's definitely one you don't want to run into.
Oh, it's just. It just seems well, in the dark.
Just a harmless little bush.
Yeah. I mean.
You can go hug it if you want.
No, thanks. You know, it's worth repeating.
These things are brown.
Like everything else. They're absolutely invisible by day.
Pretty much. Yeah. Everything in Arizona has got that nice brown color.
You should write travel brochures.
Justin and I are following the home's property line and a scorpion on Mark and
Chris's land is fair game.
Honestly, though, until, like, we started looking for them for black lights, I mean,
they have remained relatively unchanged other than size for about 400 million years.
They were the first predators on land and outside being about three feet long as
opposed to a few inches.
They've not really changed at all.
I do a zookeeping by day and scorpion hunting by night.
Do you really? Yeah.
So how long you been a zookeeper?
About a decade now.
So I have a degree in biology, which is kind of why I do this at night, because I thought
this is a pretty cool second gig.
I found scorpion sweepers seemed like a really good fit because I like educating
people about the environment that they're living in and like, yes, scorpions are a pest
out here, but they're a really cool creature that was here before we were.
And so, you know, dealing with them appropriately is better than just, you know,
spraying chemicals and things like that around that.
We have no idea what they're going to do in ten years.
There's our first one right there.
Look at that little guy.
Yeah. So that's a bark scorpion, one of the three.
We'll find out here.
It's the smallest one, but it's also the most venomous.
Isn't that funny? The way so many things that are small are, like.
Like the worst? Yep.
Forceps. Yep.
Now, is he likely to move evade.
If he feels your vibrations?
Yeah. So usually what I like to do, like to get our box to a nice, secure location.
So when it's full of scorpions, we don't trip on it in a minute because there's
nothing worse than tripping on a box of scorpions.
You say this like a guy that's happened to right there.
So what? Do we do it?
One thing I will warn you.
Try not to put your knee on the ground because you don't know if that rock's got a
scorpion under it or that rock's got a scorpion on it.
So I never go. Needs to the ground.
Right? Always. Look, if you're going under something, look above you first because you
don't want one falling down your shirt.
No. Got it.
And we're going to aim for the tail.
What's that one?
Look, it was quick. Yeah, they're a.
Little faster than that because it's a little warmer.
We just went down a hole.
Yeah.
Oh, you got him?
Yeah. So usually we try to aim for the tail.
They've got a nerve ending in there and just go motionless like that.
Like, they'll just, like, hold their pincers out and whatnot.
Right.
So that's his.
That's his stinger right there.
Note to self avoid that.
And so if this guy were to were to get you.
Yeah. What would it feel like?
It kind of depends on the person a little bit.
But let's say.
Me so anywhere from like a bee sting to like an electric shock.
Uh huh. You can have a variety of different symptoms from just numb, tingly feelings
wherever he stings to increase blood pressure, vomiting, fevers, things like that.
And if you're really unlucky, you could be looking at a lethal sting.
So what you're saying is, don't get.
Stung, Don't get stung.
It's not fun.
It goes without saying that I'm doing my best to avoid getting stung.
All right. There's number one.
But with our first quarry safely locked in the box, that's one less scorpion to worry
about.
There's another one. That one's going to be yours, Mike.
Okay. All right.
So we want to be quick. So once you get those forceps out there, you got to go like a
frog's tongue. There you go.
That's a great grab. Your first scorpion.
Son. You're a man now.
I mean, it looks so completely green.
Yeah, but it's not at all.
If you turn off your black light.
And that's what you're looking at.
I think I've got him right by the stinger.
Yep.
Got control of the danger end, so that's perfect.
So we're up to two.