Alex Blumenfeld traded a New York City banking career for conservation fundraising at a rural Zimbabwe wildlife reserve. Her July 15 TikTok, posted under @alexblumy, shows the trade-off in the most visceral way possible: a live scorpion crawling around in her bed. She spends the video asking“Are you kidding?”and turning to her comment section for help identifying whether the scorpion is actually venomous.
The response has been massive, with over 99,200 likes and 2,426 comments as of publication. Commenters turned the replies into a scorpion safety seminar, debating venom potency and sharing the classic warning to shake out your shoes. One popular claim holds that smaller scorpions carry stronger venom, and a 2022 University of Galway study published in Toxins found that smaller scorpions with narrow pincers do tend to have more potent venom. The Daily Dot could not independently verify the species or danger level of this particular scorpion.
This story lands because it mixes two things we all love: a bold life pivot and a genuinely terrifying wake-up call. It’s also a practical reminder for anyone traveling or living in scorpion-prone regions. Check your bedding, shake out your footwear, and know what you’re dealing with before you panic. Would a scorpion in your bed be a dealbreaker for the whole adventure?
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Local Lawton
Local Lawton is a contributor to LocalBeat, covering local news and community stories.