If it makes you feel any better - I live in New England. (for some of you - yes, it's in the continental United States)
Anyhow, I visit some family in California, my first day there, I woke up to a NEON Green Scorpion, about TWICE the size of that thing - in my SHOES.
If not for my niece dropping her toy near my shoes (which scared it out - which than scared the (#*$ out of us) I wouldn't have known, and put them straight on. Needless to say, after that, everything I put down, got spiked on the ground several times before I'd even consider putting it back on.
I don't know why, but those things freak me out.