To bee.....or what?
Jul 12th 2007 | 12:59 pm
#32
Powder Maggot
Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 4,452
From: Nuevo Mexico
Re: To bee.....or what?
Sounds like a hornet, Sod. And quit acting like a Yank - yellowjackets and hornets are wasps, not bees. 
Jul 12th 2007 | 1:30 pm
#36
Sursum corda
Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 38,860
From: Richmond Hill, GA USA
Re: To bee.....or what?
Seems like everything is this country has got something and wants to bite something else, how did these people cope when they first got here? I'd have been on the first scurvy ridden, rat infested leaky old boat back to the filth of London and a good old fashioned dose of religious bigotry.
No wonder they died off like flies.
Jul 12th 2007 | 1:42 pm
#37
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 1,828
From: UK-Indonesia-US
Re: To bee.....or what?
Imagine all those long skirts the women had to wear all year round! They were a lot hardier than we are these days I think
Jul 12th 2007 | 2:10 pm
#38
Account Closed
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 8,266
Re: To bee.....or what?
I can't live without a/c wearing shorts and a t-shirt! Never mind that type of clothing. I see the purdah ladies walking around sometimes and really feel for them. 
Jul 12th 2007 | 2:14 pm
#39
Thread Starter
Bugger Off!
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 2,858
From: Michigan
Re: To bee.....or what?
Thats what I am most feared of. Bees only get one shot and tend not to be too aggressive, wasps are like the skinheads of the insect world, vicious little thugs!!! That said, back in the 1st world even the waps seem rather genteel compared to these fly fortress's!!!
Jul 12th 2007 | 2:20 pm
#40
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 2,542
Re: To bee.....or what?
So glad its not just me have had 2 visits to ER with infected bites,
I went out this week to sit in my new gazebo - thought it might stop em, huge swollen bites next day.
Even OH who is native came in from grass cutting tonight with big welt on his arm from some bite.
Lily white friends visiting next week from UK its hard to explain that sitting outside is not a good idea.
I went out this week to sit in my new gazebo - thought it might stop em, huge swollen bites next day.
Even OH who is native came in from grass cutting tonight with big welt on his arm from some bite.
Lily white friends visiting next week from UK its hard to explain that sitting outside is not a good idea.
Jul 12th 2007 | 2:34 pm
#41
Thread Starter
Bugger Off!
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 2,858
From: Michigan
Re: To bee.....or what?
So glad its not just me have had 2 visits to ER with infected bites,
I went out this week to sit in my new gazebo - thought it might stop em, huge swollen bites next day.
Even OH who is native came in from grass cutting tonight with big welt on his arm from some bite.
Lily white friends visiting next week from UK its hard to explain that sitting outside is not a good idea.
I went out this week to sit in my new gazebo - thought it might stop em, huge swollen bites next day.
Even OH who is native came in from grass cutting tonight with big welt on his arm from some bite.
Lily white friends visiting next week from UK its hard to explain that sitting outside is not a good idea.
Jul 12th 2007 | 2:40 pm
#42
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 2,542
Re: To bee.....or what?
Mrs Sod got a bite on her arse last summer while sitting on the jetty watching me jet ski (yes, those were the good old days) it swelled up as big as a footy ball. I was saying we should go to A n E while her family were just saying things like - oh rub a bit of cream on it/rub some spit on it/get bit again to get immune - generally no big deal. In the UK I would have had her booked in at the bleedin morgue!!!!
I was so close to going to ER this week but that would have been the third time for bites in last year, first time they were really serious cos someone had died week before of reaction to mossie bite!
and skin so soft and wearing tumble drier sheets in your pocket doesn't work.
Jul 12th 2007 | 2:41 pm
#43
SUPER MODERATOR
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 89,088
Re: To bee.....or what?
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?
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?
They freak me out because the male flies right up to your face and hovers...glaring at you.
Was it like a large bee...fat or more like a large wasp...thinner?
Last edited by Jerseygirl; Jul 12th 2007 at 2:44 pm.
Jul 12th 2007 | 2:45 pm
#44
Account Closed
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 8,266
Re: To bee.....or what?
Mrs Sod got a bite on her arse last summer while sitting on the jetty watching me jet ski (yes, those were the good old days) it swelled up as big as a footy ball. I was saying we should go to A n E while her family were just saying things like - oh rub a bit of cream on it/rub some spit on it/get bit again to get immune - generally no big deal. In the UK I would have had her booked in at the bleedin morgue!!!!
Jul 12th 2007 | 2:45 pm
#45
Thread Starter
Bugger Off!
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 2,858
From: Michigan
Re: To bee.....or what?
Sounds like a carpenter bee...I had a problem with them last year. The male guards the nest while the female bores through the wood. Don't worry the male may look threatening but it is harmless...it cannot sting. The male doesn't stray very far...so take a look around for a round hold about 3/4" dia in the woodwork...if will usually be facing downwards. The female will be in there laying eggs...the problem is the young will return each year.
They freak me out because the male fly right up to your face...glaring at you.
They freak me out because the male fly right up to your face...glaring at you.
