Deadly yellow scorpion that can kill you in 30 seconds is found in Wokingham, as terrified woman reveals her surprise

A WOMAN was terrified when she discovered the deadliest scorpion in South America running along the baseboards of her house.

Payge Aitchison spotted the Brazilian yellow scorpion in her hallway in Wokingham, Berkshire, but has no idea how it got there.

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In its native country, the species kills more humans than all other venomous animals, including snakes and spiders, combined.

Payge first thought it was a spider, but when she looked closer she saw its poisonous stinger.

Payge used a Tupperware box to collect the scorpion, sealed the box, and left it on her table while she thought about her next steps.

“On Tuesday afternoon I came home from the gym and when I opened the door something on the baseboard caught my eye,” he said.

“Our front porch light doesn’t work, but there was a streetlight behind me, so it was dark with little light.

“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 her what she thought it was and she said she thought it was a scorpion – that pretty much confirmed what I had thought at the time.

“At this point I hadn’t closed the door because I wasn’t sure if he was going to come out or if I was.

“He had started to come back into the house, so I grabbed a Tupperware box and put it on top of him.

“I took a piece of cardboard, put it underneath and turned it over.

“I left the scorpion on the dining room 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 him in a box forever and I’m not going to kill him, because it’s not his fault he’s in my house.”

After posting on her local Facebook page and a helpful neighbor offering a link to the National Center for Reptile Welfare, Payge called for help.

Payge says the center responded “immediately” and began requesting photos and answering questions to identify the species of the scorpion, and quickly determined it was very dangerous.

The center sent a volunteer located in Berkshire, who was able to reach Payge in about 90 minutes to retrieve the creature.

“I called them and they responded almost immediately,” he said.

“I had originally been talking to a lady, and then Chris, one of the owners, got on the phone.

“He asked me if it was in a sealed box and I said yes.

“He said it was fine, he told me not to go near the box, not to touch it and not to open it.

‘EXTREMELY POISONOUS’

“He said that if he is right about the species, they are extremely poisonous and if it stung me, I would die.

“They sent a guy called Graham from the Berkshire Reptile Center.

“It was probably about an hour between me calling them and the pickup – they were extremely efficient.

“It was really stressful to have something like that on my table for that hour.

“Even though I knew it was in a sealed box and couldn’t get out, there was still something on the table that could have killed me.

“What could have happened? All of that started to sink in.

“As much as Graham thinks he rescued the scorpion, I think he rescued me!”

The scorpion remained with volunteer Graham for several days, before being moved to the sanctuary of the National Center for Reptile Welfare, where it will live out its days.

Payge says the team believes the scorpion may have traveled in a package sent to it, but says they have no way of knowing for sure.

“One of the questions Chris asked was if I had any packages delivered recently,” she said.

“I didn’t say anything that day, but I had had a couple a few days before.

“Their theory is that many of them come in Shein and Temu packages, but this scorpion believes it is of Brazilian origin, so we are not sure how this scorpion specifically arrived.

“Most are found inside packages, but this was slightly different, because it was found in my hallway.

“People should be careful when opening packages and look before opening; if these creatures come in packages, you may be putting yourself in danger.”

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