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Arizona problems: How a black light is keeping a Mesa family safe

A Mesa mom has been collecting scorpions she says have been infesting her apartment.

MESA, Ariz. - Now that it's starting to heat up again, exterminators are fighting one of Arizona's most menacing pests. Scorpions are out and about all over the Valley keeping pest control companies busy.

"They start coming out in mid March," Jeremy Miller with Urban Desert Pest Control said.

Miller doesn't need to tell Kayla Balodis that this is prime scorpion season. Balodis is practically collecting the critters outside of her apartment.

"We have them in here because i know they can't climb up the glass," Balodis said while holding up a glass fish bowl filled with scorpions. She started looking for the scorpions after first finding them inside her apartment, figuring the best way to stop them from getting inside is to catch them outside first.

"I just don't want to find them every single day. I just can't get a break, and now that the summer is coming, I'm worried," Balodis said.

Her main tool for finding these pests is something we can all buy at most grocery stores, a black light.

"If I get up to go to the bathroom, I shine it on my path, shine it on the kids' floor just to make sure they're not there," Balodis said.

Miller agrees it is one of the most effective ways to hunt scorpions, which in turn can curb an infestation.

"Even if you've never used one before, it stands out like a sore thumb. It glows just like a glow stick and you can't mistake it."

Miller says pest control is absolutely essential to being proactive with any scorpion infestation, but even killing one can make a huge difference.

"Any individual female can birth anywhere between 30 and 50 (scorpions). So every single one you kill can prevent an infestation," Miller says.

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