The vile creature was discovered amongst a pallet of roofing slates which had been transported from South America to Plymouth, and it was only after the scorpion was captured that roofers realised just how dangerous it could be.
A group of roofers in the West Country were stunned when they accidentally discovered a Brazilian yellow scorpion, notorious for its deadly sting, hiding out inside a box of tiles.
The venomous creature had been transported all the way from South America to Plymouth hidden inside a pallet of roofing slate, and Jamie Cook, owner of Ocean City Roofing, confessed that “it was an adrenaline rush,” but later added, “But there was no way we could kill it.”
Jamie told how his brother Ben Cook discovered the dangerous stowaway while unpacking around 600 tiles during a roofing job in Derriford. Describing the encounter, he said: “It was a strange little thing, moving around inside the box. It was on the sixth pallet we opened.”
“We put it on the edge of a slab and slammed it into a nail trough. I looked it up online and found out it’s one of the most dangerous scorpions out there.”
The Brazilian yellow scorpion, scientifically known as Titius serlatus, is extremely venomous and is the most dangerous scorpion in South America, being the number one cause of death from scorpion stings. Despite its fearsome reputation, Jamie pointed out that the scorpion he found was surprisingly small, reports Plymouth Live.
“It was only about an inch and a half long. If it had been any bigger I would have been concerned. It wasn’t fully grown yet so I think it was a juvenile.”
Jamie revealed that the sea traveller had survived the long journey from Brazil to the UK before reaching Plymouth. He explained: “Scorpions are quite common in Brazil and can survive for months without food, so that’s how it managed to survive. It’s probably been in the shop for a while.”
The lucky scorpion has now found a peaceful home at Catdown’s Plymouth Reptile Aquarium, and Jamie added: “We’ve been told it needs to be given a bit of heat straight away. We’ll all be coming over to see it in a few days.”
Despite the recent surprise appearance of his scorpion buddy, Jamie is keeping an eye out for any hidden freeriders among his roofing stock, but isn’t expecting any more surprises. “I’m heading back to the site now to move the remaining slates, and we should have a couple more pallets arriving next week,” he muses.