Scorpions are good pets in general.

Lethality vs. HarmfulI already conceded that scorpions are largely not lethal.The crux of my argument comes from the fact that scorpion stings are dangerous, painful and require a hostpital visit if they happen to small children or elderly people. Just as red ants aren't lethal, you wouldn't want your child playing with red ants because their bites are painful. Something can be harmful without being lethal. I have already shown with a reputable source (The Mayo Clinic) that if small children are stung you need to seek medical treatment. While pet scorpions may not be lethal, not only is the possibility of being lethal there, they have a sting that is harmful to three very distinct groups of people pointed out by the Mayo Clinic.ElderlyChildrenPetsTheir venom can cause shock in some victims and there is a population of those allergic to scoprion venom much like bee venom. [1] They are not safe pets. All I'm saying, is that the general public might not want to have a scorpion as a pet because of these warnings of potential harm to distinct groups of people which would eliminate the "general" clause of the resolution when it comes to scorpions as pets. Ease of CareThe point I was trying to make with the ease of care remark was that most common pets (cats, dogs, hamsters, fish etc) are all realatively easy to take care of. Ease of care in a scorpion does not set it above other pets which are also easy to care for.Also, scorpions are not as easy to care for as my opponent makes out. They require strict habitat control with temperatures near 100 degrees at all times (via heat lamp) and a strict humidity level to keep them happy or else you'll have problems."[T]he habitat should be maintained at a high humidity level by regular (daily) misting. The substrate should be kept damp, but not wet. If there is mold on the substrate or condensation on the walls of the tank, the humidity is too high." [1]That seems pretty picky for a pet "easy to take care of". You have to mist the cage, keep the humidity to a correct level. That sounds more intensive that dropping a few crickets in now and again. LongevityYou compared scorpions to popular pets (cats and dogs) and used longevity as the common denominator. Therefore you were insisting that longevity is what made cats and dogs popular which would make scorpions popular as well. However, I was saying that longevity is not necessarily an important factor for some people and for others longevity is a deal breaker.Each pet owner is different. Some want long living pets, others want short 1-2 year pets. Either way, longevity alienates short life pet fans again making them fit a specific market and not "general" pet owners. Most Popular Pets My opponent forgets that I did not make these assumptions about beauty and personality appeal from the top of my head. I derived it from the top ten list of most popular pets in the US and came up with them using common factors between the ten of them. My observations about the appearence is derived from 10 popular sources. All of which have common factors. All of these things were derived from data. The resolution driving this debate is whether or not scorpions are good pets in general. In general meaning they have to appeal to everyone or just about everyone. While some things are indeed subjective, I was trying to find common traits that are accepted by the general majority and in doing so have shown they do not coincide with the likes and wants of the general public. Sure, scorpions can be a good pet for a small group, an individual, a niche but the debate calls for the defense of scorpions as good pets for the general public. As for the other points:- Watching your scorpion eat might be cool once, twice maybe even three times but more than that? Probably not. Things get old eventually.- It's interesting because it's not general. Scorpions are uncommon for a reason.- Like the eating thing, watching them burrow and climb will only be interesting for so long.- A general pet should not require gloves to operate. As for the cuteness of scorpions, you yourself said it's subjective. I pointed out that the things that make a scorpion cute would not go over well in general.Also, they would turn off people who are afraid of insects or spiders. There are those out there (quite a few actually) who are afraid of anything small with more than four legs. This crowd would be completely shut out from the scorpion pet crew. They wouldn't be able to handle one. Because if you really look at it simply, a scorpion is merely a bug.Scorpions are not good pets in general. They exclude too many groups of people such as overprotective mothers, people who find fuzzy pets cute, those who are afraid of insects or spiders, those who want a short term pet. The resolution is negated. [1] http://exoticpets.about.com...