If you've been stung by a scorpion, you know the pain can be excruciating. For parents of kids who have been stung, that excruciating pain can quickly translate into a crisis.
For Tony Gonzales, his life changed forever when his son was stung.
"Scorpions like to climb, they climb vertically," said Tony.
These days, Gonzales is fearless around scorpions, but he'll admit one of the scariest days of his life stemmed from the stinger of one of the crawling arachnids.
"There's not a day that goes by where I don't think about it," he said.
Shortly after the Gonzales family moved into their Chandler home, his three-year-old son Jaxson got out of the pool, dried himself off and started screaming in pain.
Tony quickly looked to remedy his son's pain, looking for what caused it. He said he saw a scorpion on the floor and the sting on his son's elbow.
He suspects the scorpion was looking for a dark dry place in the towel.
The Gonzales family rushed Jaxson to urgent care before having to take him to the hospital.
"He's going into convulsions, his eyes turn white, he can't breathe, he starts choking, can't breathe at all. It was the worst experience we'd ever been through," said Tony.
Jaxson ended up okay after an overnight stay at the hospital and two vials of anti-venom.
Tony, however, was not.
"We're still nervous about it," said Tony.
Tony then developed Scorpion Repel, a clear coat you apply like paint around the lower perimeter of your home. Tony said you don't need much for it to be effective.
Wherever there is the clear coating, the spurs of that scorpion can't get a grip on the concrete and climb vertically.
"We're getting a lot of good national exposure, we do intend to launch our product nationally," said Tony.
Some pest control specialists say there's no surefire way to keep all scorpions away.
During monsoon season, they're known to come out to hunt insects and small bugs for food.
Tony says his product certainly helps and works on all kind of creepy crawlers in the Valley of the sun.
Gonzales says, "It works on all climbing pests that can't climb glass."
