QRI HEART · 2026 Tepoztlán Retreat · Field Reference
Scorpions in Tepoztlán
Field reference for scorpion stings at the retreat. Not medical advice. If stung and symptoms are systemic, call 911 or Andres.
Grade III
- Slurred speech, drooling, swallowing trouble
- Blurred or roving eyes
- Chest pain, vomiting, breathing trouble
- Jerking limbs, severe agitation
- Any child going feral after an unwitnessed cry
Call 911. Say “Picadura de alacrán” (scorpion sting)🔊. Give the house address.
Grade I
- Pain, redness, swelling at the sting site
- Maybe numbness or tingling around the spot
- Nothing spreading. Nothing systemic.
- Healthy adult. Not pregnant. No prior cardiac history.
Take paracetamol. Cool damp cloth on the sting. Watch for two hours. If anything from the red side appears, switch sides.
Read the right one to the dispatcher
Casa Cosmic Avenida Morelos 10, Tepoztlán, Morelos. CP 62525, México.
Casa del Sol, Xolatlahco Xolatlaco 18, Huilotepec, 62525 Tepoztlán, Mor., México.
Casa Blau Antiguo Camino a Santo Domingo Ocotitlán 2, Tepoztlán, Morelos, 62520, México.
Andres’s house Cerrada del Rosario #10, Ixcatepec, Morelos, 62525, México.
Severe signs can show up between five minutes and four hours after the sting. Don’t stop watching at thirty.
Three habits
Shake your shoes. Tap them upside-down before putting them on. Every time. Shoes are where most indoor stings happen, and the habit has to survive sleep deprivation.
Look in your bed. Pull the covers all the way back before getting in. Bed off the wall, bedding off the floor. For a problem room, set the four bed legs in glass jars. Scorpion feet can’t grip polished glass.
Sweep with UV. A 365 nm flashlight makes a whole-room sweep take thirty seconds. They glow blue-green from a meter away. Two dozen portable UV lights will arrive by May 23rd.
On telling species apart
Don’t rely on it. Visual ID by colour and shape is not reliable for scorpions in Tepoztlán. Local scorpions that look like the harmless species in field guides can turn out to be medically significant on closer inspection. If stung, treat as a clinic call regardless of what the scorpion looked like. For a species ID after the fact, photograph it and ask iNaturalist or a clinician.
If you call
| Who | When | Number |
|---|---|---|
| 911 | Any Grade III sign. Any unconscious patient. Any small child with a systemic symptom. | 911↗ |
| Andres | Anything after a sting, day or night. After 911 if severe, first if mild. He handles Spanish, transport, and the ride home. | Call Andres. |
| Hunter on Signal | If Andres is unreachable. | Call Hunter on Signal. |
| Rtx Independencia | Local taxi we’ve been using. Use for Grade I or II runs when you don’t need an ambulance. | +52 777 189 8649 |
| Centro de Salud Tepoztlán | Grade I or II in daytime, if you can drive yourself. Av. Ignacio Zaragoza, Colonia Centro. | +52 739 395 0260↗ |
| Cruz Roja | Backup ambulance if 911 ETA is long. | 065↗ |
| ERUM / Protección Civil Tepoztlán | Local rescue squad. 911 usually dispatches them, but a direct call shaves minutes. | +52 739 395 2412↗ |
| Hospital General de Cuernavaca | Referral target for confirmed Grade III. ICU capacity if needed. “Dr. José G. Parres”. | +52 800 911 2000↗ |
When you call, state right at the start that this is a medical emergency. In Spanish that’s emergencia médica🔊. Tepoztlán, like the rest of Mexico, uses the word ahorita, which literally translates to “right now” but in everyday use can mean anything from five minutes to several hours. Without an explicit emergency framing, a dispatcher or driver may read your request as a routine call and pace the response accordingly. Saying emergencia signals that this is the exception and gets it routed as one.
What to say
Spanish if you can, English if you have to. Lead with the trigger phrase.
- “Necesito ayuda. Picadura de alacrán.” “I need help. Scorpion sting.”🔊
- House address. Read from the panel above. Do not improvise.
- Patient age and rough weight in kilos. Convert from pounds beforehand.
- Time of the sting in 24-hour.
- Current symptoms, in order of severity.
- Whether you have a driver and a car, or whether you need an ambulance.
- “Hablo poco español, por favor hable despacio.” “I speak little Spanish, please speak slowly.”🔊 Gets you a slower or bilingual dispatcher.
What to bring
The patient first. If anything below is missing, leave without it.
- Phone with the photo of the scorpion, if you took one.
- Passport or ID. Insurance card if any.
- Patient’s medications and allergies. Hunter and Andres have these from the participant surveys, so reach out to either one.
- A Spanish-speaker if at all possible. Otherwise WhatsApp Andres while you drive.
- Pesos in cash and a card. Smaller clinics ask for partial payment upfront.
- Water and a light snack. Antivenom infusion plus observation runs three to six hours.
Severity grades
| Grade | What you feel | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| I, mild | Sharp local pain, redness, swelling, sometimes numbness around the sting. Nothing beyond the bitten limb. About two-thirds of cases. | Supportive care. Monitor 2–4 hours. |
| II, moderate | Pain or paresthesias spreading away from the sting. Sneezing, runny nose, sweating, mild abdominal cramps, restlessness. | Clinic. Antivenom usually given. |
| III, severe | Cranial-nerve or autonomic signs. Eyes, speech, drooling, swallowing, chest, vomiting, jerking, agitation, breathing. | Hospital. IV antivenom. ICU if small. |
Children skew to grades II and III. Watch for restlessness, opsoclonus (irregular eye movements), tachycardia, drooling. A toddler who can’t sit still after being out of view is an emergency until proven otherwise.
More prevention
- Closed shoes inside, especially at night. Sandals count.
- Shake out towels and clothes that have been on the floor or a chair overnight.
- Headlamp on after dark when walking to or from the kitchen or pool.
- Don’t lift loose stones, leaf piles, or bark by hand. Use a tool or gloves.
- Keep food sealed. Less prey, fewer scorpions.
At the clinic
The drug is IV F(ab’)₂ antivenom (Alacramyn in Mexico, Anascorp in the US, both from Instituto Bioclon). Dosing decisions belong to the treating clinician. Treatment in Mexico is roughly US$100 a dose, often free at the public Centro de Salud. See the Medscape and StatPearls links in Resources for clinical detail.
Resources
- Medscape: Scorpion Envenomation. Clinical reference, full management cascade.
- StatPearls: Scorpion Toxicity. NCBI reference, dosing and severity staging.
- FDA Anascorp prescribing information (PDF). Antivenom dose, indications, monitoring.
- Boyer et al. 2009, NEJM. The pivotal pediatric antivenom trial.
- Chippaux et al. 2020, Toxicon. Modern Mexican incidence and mortality data.
- Soria et al. 2021, LAJCSM. Mexico state-level scorpion-sting epidemiology, 2017–2019.
- Santibáñez-López et al. 2016, Toxins. Mexican scorpion species diversity and venom.
- Riaño-Umbarila et al. 2022, Toxicon. Centruroides limpidus venom neutralisation.
- Guzmán et al., JPHE. Adjunct pharmacology for scorpion envenomation.
- Centruroides limpidus on Wikipedia. Species overview.
- iNaturalist scorpions in Tepoztlán. Local species-by-frequency. Submit your sightings.
- Insect Welfare Research Society. Welfare protocols for invertebrate handling.
- Bakker et al. 2026, Animals. Invertebrate euthanasia methodology review.
- UV blacklight detection guide. 365 nm sweep protocol.
This page is a field reference for retreat participants, not medical advice. In a sting emergency call 911 or contact Andres. Treatment decisions are made by clinical staff.