Wasp/Bee Problems!
Question:
- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -I question your medical credentials. You and your lovely wife-to-be should try to live in harmony with this industrious, helpful insect. Understand first of all that you are in no danger with wasps. They may sting you one but only once and it is barely a pinprick. Once a single wasp stings you, you are marked by a special scent that only the strongest males of the swarm will challenge and only then during breeding season when their venom is not dangerous. So getting the first sting is a good thing; it’s like an inoculation against all others. Your wife may develop some minor symptoms but they will quickly subside. It’ll toughen her up. I was once stung by a wasp. It felt like I had been hit in the back of the neck (the bite site) with an iron rod. I woke up in the emergency room. The next time, I was bitten on the hand, and it swelled up so big that the skin split. You need to either go back to medical school (if you ever went), get more information and training, or quit giving dangerous advice on a subject in which you obviously are not trained in enough to give any advice whatsoever. — Steve MHO ONLY….. YMM(and probably does)V
Yeah, Steve is right. Those buggers effect folks differently. I have been stung many, many times with no reactions at all by wasps and other bees, but I have seen some folks almost die from a sting. I don’t know if there is a way to tell before you get stung which category of folks you are in. Bobby
Response:
I assure you I have the credentials to speak on this subject. I went to Harvard Med. You were probably not stung by a wasp the first time as you think. If you have a low threshold for pain, a common mosquito could cause some, especially very sensitive, children to react as though they had actually been severely injured or attacked. When usually it was just a common housefly brushing against their skin. It’s all exaggeration. Let me take a wild guess here, as a medical professional, you were a bedwetter, right? Because bedwetting is usually part of the low pain threshold symptomology. The next time you see some biting insects, you should encourage them to sting you and keep a journal handy where you can record your feelings about each sting. I would guess the journal over time would prove that your reaction to so called "pain" is probably all just your imagination. I’d love to work with you but my caseload is full. There are many good professionals and I urge you to seek one immediately. Therapy is difficult but it will toughen you up.
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I question your medical credentials. You and your lovely wife-to-be should try to live in harmony with this industrious, helpful insect. Understand first of all that you are in no danger with wasps. They may sting you one but only once and it is barely a pinprick. Once a single wasp stings you, you are marked by a special scent that only the strongest males of the swarm will challenge and only then during breeding season when their venom is not dangerous. So getting the first sting is a good thing; it’s like an inoculation against all others. Your wife may develop some minor symptoms but they will quickly subside. It’ll toughen her up. I was once stung by a wasp. It felt like I had been hit in the back of the neck (the bite site) with an iron rod. I woke up in the emergency room. The next time, I was bitten on the hand, and it swelled up so big that the skin split. You need to either go back to medical school (if you ever went), get more information and training, or quit giving dangerous advice on a subject in which you obviously are not trained in enough to give any advice whatsoever. — Steve MHO ONLY….. YMM(and probably does)V
Response:
Just a word to the wise – if they are living in your walls and enter via a hole or crack, do NOT just fill it in. Yellow jackets in particular will chew through your walls and enter the interior of your home if their outside access is blocked. This happened at my house when I was a teenager – more years ago than I care to admit! My dad plugged their outside entrance, and we ended up battling yellow jackets in our house for a couple of months. Dad was too cheap to hire a pro to eliminate the problem! – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Random things to try, before actually searching the web for "wasp control"… If it’s one of the types of wasp that builds nests hanging from the eaves, painting (or otherwise coating, with, say, urathane) the underside of the eaves might help. If you’ve got bushes or trees right up against that side of the house, cut them back away. If they’re living in cracks in the walls, fill the cracks. Move your garbage pails or dumpster farther away from the entry door.
Response:
clipped The mud daubers and paper wasps, though frightening to behold, are not terribly aggressive. Yellow jackets, when they are just out looking for food, are bothersome because they eat what we eat and come after those smells, banging against kitchen window screens, landing on your
There was a bad drought for a year or two – 1980’s? – that made this more often seen. When I had company, using the yard meant having lots of hungry, thirsty insects. The ones attracted by perfumes were so agressive that you could tell, not only who, but where, anyone was wearing "scented products" 
) Any sweet drink would have bees and wasps and hornets flying into the can – had to keep cans covered, as swallowing one of those critters alive is not pleasant and does not "toughen one up". I went to a Sunday brunch with friends at at outdoor cafe and had to try to eat with my eyes closed because they kept swarming around the food and my eyes (anything moist, I guess). – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -food if you’re trying to dine al fresco, etc. The males, by the way, do not sting, but do bite (apparently that was the gender of the one that got into my ventilated straw hat last summer!). But if you get too near their nest, or–heaven forbid–disturb their nest, they attack in numbers and don’t give up. I unknowingly stepped on a nest (just a small hole in the ground) a few years ago. Instantly they were up my pant legs, and shirt sleeves, and stinging like mad–felt like a windmill fell on me! I ran for the house, 200 yards away, whacking with my hat as best I could. My wife came out and helped me tear off my clothes, and they were still clinging to me and stinging! I’d had a pretty severe reaction to a sting (unidentified insect) two years before and so had an EpiPen ready (epinephrine auto-injector), but I just used a couple antihistomines (Benadryl) instead. Had quite a bit of swelling, but no anaphylactic shock. About 20 stings.
My hubby is allergic to bee stings, has had anaphalactic reaction to the point of losing conciousness after severe breathing problems. He is about as far as one can be from "needing to toughen up", so it wasn’t an emotional, "gee, that hurt" kind of thing. I did a search and found some articles about yellow jackets. Northerners forget that Florida doesn’t freeze often, and it is extremely rare for the ground to freeze, so we have lots of pets year round that others do not. http://www.naplesdailynews.com/00/11/florida/d544002a.htm http://www.emedicine.com/med/topic1058.htm The second article discusses the differences between anaphalactoid reactions and direct effects of venom, rather than allergic reactions. The person who posted saying kids should toughen up be being stung was either ignorant or has a sick sense of humor. I’m all for kids climbing trees and having other adventures appropriate to their ages, but I sure as hell would not want any of mine with many bee or wasp stings. Honey bees are extremely painful, and that is the only kind I’ve ever suffered. I really p—– me off to have someone pose as a "medical professional" and give such advice. I’m a nurse, for almost 40 years, live in Florida. I’ve never seen anyone who had been struck by lightening, but I sure as heck believe it happens. Don’t go dumping poison all over the first time you see a bug. Lots can be gotten rid of with very simple means, and most pesticides will kill some good critters, too. There are many insects besides honey bees that are beneficial; some plants depend on one kind of insect. Honey bee populations have declined greatly due to mites and pesticides, to the point that produce growers have to rent hives to raise food crops. Be careful – it’s a jungle out there )
Response:
PLONK. Another twit to the killfile. — Steve MHO ONLY….. YMM(and probably does)V
Response:
Harvard Medical school or not, this is a very dangerous suggestion. Our next door neighbour’s mother DIED of a wasp sting. Many people have serious allergies and go into anaphylactic (?) shock after a wasp or even bee sting. I too feel bad about destroying such a magnificent work of nature as a wasps’ nest, but it is necessary if they are close to the house. An exterminator (In Toronto) also told me that there are some especially nasty and aggressive wasp and hornet species which have come from Central America. I’ve had good results with pressure can Wasp Blasters. You can fire from several feet away. Just be sure to wait until dusk when the wasps return to the nest. One thing not to do is put a hose on them! I foolishly tried that once because I didn’t have any wasp blaster in the house. Jeez. Were they pissed off! ds
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – PLONK. Another twit to the killfile. — Steve MHO ONLY….. YMM(and probably does)V
Response:
Zoinks! I didn’t mean to cause so much drama! Firstly, I’m the wife to be and I must admit that I am terrified of those buggers!! I have a trap but need to get my fianc
