A sting in the tail for couple after honeymoon
ACOUPLE returned from their honeymoon, started unpacking their clothes and discovered a potentially deadly scorpion had hitched a ride in their dirty washing.
Oliver Lane said at first it didn’t move when it landed on the floor of their home in Bishopston in Bristol after their honeymoon to Mexico.
He thought it was a bit of fluff so went to pick it up before realising it had big pincers and a tail that started rearing up.
He quickly ran to get a glass to put over the creature to contain it.
Oliver said he and his new wife Alex then tentatively and carefully went through each item in their washing bag.
“It was quite a scene,” he said. “Alex was standing on the bed armed with the vacuum cleaner, while I gingerly pulled out each item of clothing and shook it.”
Only once they had reassured themselves that their stowaway had travelled alone were they able to relax.
The couple got married in Glastonbury and then set off for a honeymoon in Mexico, spending time in Mexico City first before travelling to the far south of Mexico to Oaxaca.
“It was an amazing trip. One of the places we stayed in was this little hotel and it was surrounded by the jungle, so we think that’s where the scorpion came from,” explained Oliver.
“It was pretty small and we thought it would be harmless, but we got in touch with a friend who’s a biologist on FaceTime, and he took one look at it and said ‘ah it’s the small ones that are the ones you’ve got to look out for, they are the most deadly’.”
In the end, they took the decision to humanely destroy the scorpion. “I was worried that we’d get in trouble for bringing an alien species back to this country and I didn’t know what else to do. I wasn’t exactly going to release it onto Horfield Common,” he said.
Without a confirmed identification, it’s difficult to know just how deadly the scorpion was. There are around 280 different species of scorpions in Mexico, of many colours and sizes, including several species of little black ones whose stings are no worse than bee stings, while there are also little black ones whose stings regularly kill people in Mexico.
The experience hasn’t put the couple off returning to Mexico, but Oliver said they would be more careful packing their suitcase for the return trip.
“It was an amazing country, full of life, colour and friendliness - we’d definitely go back,” he added.