Originally Posted by another bloody yank (Post 5061691)

Here's something funny, I just felt one crawling up my leg! I must have picked it up walking to the car this morning! He had not grabbed on yet and met a quick end...

Originally Posted by Silly Sod (Post 5047360)

Help Michiganders!!!

I have just killed the biggest bee type creature I have ever seen in my life. It was in our yard when I pulled up and almost flew in the car widow. It seemed pissed right off by the car and kept dive bombing it. I ran away leaving the keys in the car. I had to attack it with a broom and it took some killing.

It is about an inch long dead, alive it looked as big as my thumb. I have googled it and am wondering if it could be a queen yellowjacket? A site I found said they tend to be half inch long while the queen is almost an inch (this is an inch at least). What I am wondering is - and this may sound dumb but I have a total phobia of bees and especially wasps and even more especially dinosaur sized wasps!!! - is there any way it's buddies could know it is dead and start looking for revenge or something, I mean like, do they give of any distress chemicals and stuff. I am sitting here shivering and imagining them crawling all over the house.

Anyway, anyone had experience of these gargangtuan monster insects and am I right to be fearful?

Originally Posted by another bloody yank (Post 5061826)

I scratched my head last week during a meeting and felt one. Bad luck, he had already attached!:curse: I had to pull and kill him without anybody figuring out what I was up to. I was worried I wouldn't find him again if I waited till later. :rofl:

Originally Posted by Irn-bru (Post 5061890)

Where do you live getting all these ticks? :ohmy:

Originally Posted by another bloody yank (Post 5061934)

In the woods in Missouri. There's all kinds of bugs and vermin here that you have to get used to. We don't even use bug or tick spray, it's too much of a PITA as we'd have to wear it 24-7. We just pull 'em off as we get them.

I am looking forward to Fall and Winter when I can go outside without things crawling all over me.

Originally Posted by Irn-bru (Post 5061945)

And I thought living near the woods etc would be lovely oh I'd hate the bugs. Guess you must wear long sleeve t-shirts and not shorts when out and about.:(

Originally Posted by Nu-Shooz (Post 5061847)

I hate bees, wasps or anything that stings:eek: i swell up if i get stung, very frightening.

Originally Posted by Irn-bru (Post 5061945)

And I thought living near the woods etc would be lovely oh I'd hate the bugs. Guess you must wear long sleeve t-shirts and not shorts when out and about.:(

Originally Posted by another bloody yank (Post 5061979)

Actually, I like short sleeves and shorts. It's easier to remove a tick on your legs or arms when you can see them. Nothing worse than having to stop what your doing and drop your jeans when you feel a tick on the inside of your thigh heading north! ;)

Originally Posted by special ed (Post 5061965)

I've been put right off going into the woods after a guy I work with got bitten by something nasty on a training exercise with the marine reserves in Tennessee. he noticed a huge bump appearing on his shoulder and figure it was just a mosquito bite he'd had a bad reaction to. He only got worried when the bite began to visibly wriggle a few days after he got back. Not being the sort to run to the doctors every time he felt under the weather, he poked a knife into the now rather large boil on his shoulder and produced a large white grub/larva/maggot of some description. He said he's not going back into the woods either and preferred it in Iraq where the low humidity meant no mosquitoes!

Originally Posted by another bloody yank (Post 5061979)

Actually, I like short sleeves and shorts. It's easier to remove a tick on your legs or arms when you can see them. Nothing worse than having to stop what you're doing and drop your jeans when you feel a tick on the inside of your thigh heading north! ;)

BTW, your area is relatively free of nasty stuff.

Originally Posted by special ed (Post 5061965)

I've been put right off going into the woods after a guy I work with got bitten by something nasty on a training exercise with the marine reserves in Tennessee. he noticed a huge bump appearing on his shoulder and figure it was just a mosquito bite he'd had a bad reaction to. He only got worried when the bite began to visibly wriggle a few days after he got back. Not being the sort to run to the doctors every time he felt under the weather, he poked a knife into the now rather large boil on his shoulder and produced a large white grub/larva/maggot of some description. He said he's not going back into the woods either and preferred it in Iraq where the low humidity meant no mosquitoes!

Originally Posted by Irn-bru (Post 5062013)

:eek:


It goes through jeans? :blink: If I felt one doing that I'd drop my jeans even if I was in the middle of a mall, but glad my area is OK :o :D

Originally Posted by another bloody yank (Post 5062057)

C' mon now.... are there no bugs in Great Britain?:p