Wasps and Bees

[MaggieTheCat]

Since when? I've held tons of ladybugs before and I've never been bitten.

I think there are different species of ladybugs and some of them bite. I don't know the difference, I just know the ones where I come from in Wisconsin do indeed bite. I got a HUGE welt from one that bit me once. I knew it was a ladybug 'cuz I was carrying it outside and it was the only critter on me, and I actually felt the bite itself. When I got back inside the house after letting it go, I had a red spot on my had that quickly grew. I've never touched them since!

[Flyndaran]

There are many species of ladybugs. I get bitten by the ones that supposedly never bite. As carniovores, they have some heathy jaws.
My family just says that I must smell like an aphid or something as they've never had my issue.

[Lace Neil Singer]

Never been bitten by any creepie, a friend of mine was bitten by a spider once. Not a poisonous one, just a spider.

And it's not my personal experience re wasps, just the experience of everyone in my area. Maybe we just have savage wasps over here. O_o

[Skunkle]

I, too, have a wasp phobia, despite never having been stung. And unfortunately, my chances of having a first (and more) times are high. My phobia works thusly: If I see a wasp coming my way, I run. Fast. If one APPEARS, say, in a car, or flying in front of me, I am instantly paralyzed with fear, and can do only one thing, even if I don't want to: stand in one spot, flail my arms frantically and scream over and over and over again. There's nothing I can do - phobias are a bitch. Also have a needle phobia.

[Flyndaran]

Never been bitten by any creepie, a friend of mine was bitten by a spider once. Not a poisonous one, just a spider.

And it's not my personal experience re wasps, just the experience of everyone in my area. Maybe we just have savage wasps over here. O_o

You mean venomous. Poisonous means it needs to touch or be eaten by you to have effect.

I think I may have been bitten by things in my sleep, but they've never woken me up. I have thick skin and don't react much to venom. The only thing that ever caused a real skin reaction was airplane lavatory soap.

[AFPheonix]

We do have a bit of a spider problem here, my roommate and husband get bitten a fair amount, and the bites get pretty swollen and nasty. My roomie's son has a big bite on the top of his foot that broke open and bled for awhile too.

I haven't had one in a long time, I probably taste bad. The last one must have been a result of me rolling over one in my sleep, there was a line of fang marks down my fanny. Heh.

[violetyoshi]

I actually have a phobia about wasps, and I'm allergic to bee stings. However, I find that whereas a lot of people would sympathise with someone's arachnophobia, and happily squish a spider for them, the same people will bellow in rage if I do the same to a bee. -.-

I know that bees are useful, and that they pollenate flowers and all; I also know that if one stings me, I am going to be extremely ill so basically, it's them or me. Wasps I just have a horrible fear of to the extent that if one flies into the petrol station at work, I'm basically shaking in terror and running to the back room.

I sometimes hate summer cuz of both of these insects flying recklessly around the whole time; roll on winter. -.-

I dislike bees and wasps too, although I have made peace with bees for the fact that they make honey and that honey is delicious. Wasps however, well I think they're just scary.

[Lace Neil Singer]

You mean venomous. Poisonous means it needs to touch or be eaten by you to have effect.

Now that's just nitpicking. Anyway, it was one of those big patterned spiders; she picked it up and it bit her. I however have picked up spiders many a time and never been bitten.

Also, I'm sure if you ate a black widow or another venomous spider it would have the same effect, so there.

[Flyndaran]

Now that's just nitpicking. Anyway, it was one of those big patterned spiders; she picked it up and it bit her. I however have picked up spiders many a time and never been bitten.

Also, I'm sure if you ate a black widow or another venomous spider it would have the same effect, so there.

One man's nitpicking is another's linguistic necessity.
Actually, the black widow's VENOM is a neurotoxin and likely would be digested without any ill effects, assuming no breaks in the skin along the way.

[Rapscallion]

One man's nitpicking is another's linguistic necessity.

That's on the lines of grammar flaming. This isn't a technical document. Please cease.

Rapscallion

[Lace Neil Singer]

Ugh... a wasp flew in thru my window last night. I didn't even know wasps flew around at night. O_o Anyway, I eventually managed to drown it in Dettol; it was either that, or I leave the house.

[PepperElf]

bees buzzing around my head make me flinch
but i don't attack them cos i know they won't bother me if i leave them alone

my boyfriend was going to shoot wasp killer into the "nest" he found on my deck. until he told me where the nest was... it was a small hole in the overhang above the deck.

me: that's where the bee lives.

i haven't seen the bee for a while though. maybe it's sleeping or something. just a big fat bee, which is one of the more harmless ones i think too.


but ... i try not to squish either bees or wasps because
if you miss they try to sting you

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Actually, Boozy, I can tell you with eyewitness, ground-zero authority that bumblebees do too sting, and they are pretty painful when they do.

There are bee flys that look exactly like bumblebees that do not sting, but you had better believe that the fat, cute, roly-poly bumbleBEES will sting the shit out of you if you give one reason to (both times, I stepped on one barefooted).

Rudy, the naturalist I used to work with at Public TV, used to do this "Stupid Naturalist Trick" by picking a bee fly out of a group of bumblebees and snatching it out of the air with his bare hand. He'd open his hand and let it fly off, and never got stung. He showed me how to tell the difference, but I'm not good enough at it that I am willing to risk a sting to the palm.

Personally, I don't like to kill any pollinator, including bees, but I will if I have to. I killed a bumblebee last week that refused to stop going after my kid. I tried to drive it off, but it kept coming back at her, so I ended up swatting it.

Wasps, on the other hand, I will go after with extreme predjudice. Ever been stung by one of those bitches? To me, that's the most painful sting. And they can do it more than once, so, bye-bye, wasps.

Some people are allergic. You have to do what you have to do. My friend V will DIE if one stings him and he doen'st get an immediate epi dose. I certainly can't fault his aversion to them.

[Flyndaran]

...
Wasps, on the other hand, I will go after with extreme predjudice. Ever been stung by one of those bitches? To me, that's the most painful sting. And they can do it more than once, so, bye-bye, wasps.
....

I've been stung by a yellowjacket. It didn't hurt. Do you have worse wasps over there?

[RecoveringKinkoid]

I dunno, yellowjackets hurt, but I'm talking about Paper Wasps. They are not the same thing as yellowjackets.

Yellowjackets are a mildly painful annoyance. Paper Wasps can bring tears to your eyes. And the sumbitches don't usually stop at one go. Feels like someone putting a cigarette out on your skin.

They aren't particularly aggressive, but they are territorial, and if you invade their space they WILL become aggressive. Nothing to fool around with.