Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,487
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Post by Sabre52 on Jun 29, 2011 23:14:17 GMT -5
Man, I just went out on the front porch and got popped by one of them dang wasps right in the armpit. Very unlike the little yellow jackets we had back in Cally as these boogers are pretty big. I guess most us southern states have them. Initial sting feels like a hammer blow and then it just gets kind of swollen and uncomfortable until a couple of days later when it itches like a son of a gun. Oh well, that's life in Texas. Get stung, stuck or bitten by something almost on a daily basis *L*.....Mel
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elementary
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since February 2006
Posts: 1,077
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Post by elementary on Jun 29, 2011 23:59:26 GMT -5
"Get stung, stuck or bitten by something almost on a daily basis"
Sounds like my classroom...
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Post by tkrueger3 on Jun 30, 2011 10:47:32 GMT -5
I feel your pain, Mel! I managed to "let" one of them drill into my leg when I was about 12, and the scar is still there, some 56 years later! I recall there was a wager between my sister and me that I couldn't knock down the basketball-sized nest (which was at the top of the gable on the 2nd story of the barn) with my BB gun. I won the bet, and boy, did I pay for it! My grandfather had always told me that if one of the big ones lights on you, you can just freeze and after a bit, she'll fly off because if you're not moving, she doesn't know she's found a victim. Yeah! Right! Tom
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carloscinco
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since July 2008
Posts: 1,639
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Post by carloscinco on Jun 30, 2011 12:26:56 GMT -5
I was trying to knock one of their nests off the back patio with a sling shot once. I told my wife to stand back while I fired china berries. All of a sudden I heard a thwack and a scream behind me. One of them boogers had smacked into my wife's forehead and stung her. It was funny for a short period. The she smacked me!
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peachfront
fully equipped rock polisher
Stones have begun to speak, because an ear is there to hear them.
Member since August 2010
Posts: 1,745
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Post by peachfront on Jun 30, 2011 12:53:08 GMT -5
Put white vinegar on it within 10 minutes of the sting if the irritant is formic acid, which it usually is with ants but I don't know these red wasps. Knock on wood, I guess I have a good relationship with the wasps, I didn't know they sting. Hope I have not just tempted fate...I use it with fire ants all the time and whenever I catch it in time, then I don't get the bumps/itching. It has to be less than 10 minutes though, or I guess the formic acid is already in your system.
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Post by Toad on Jun 30, 2011 15:11:38 GMT -5
What were you doing on the wasp's porch anyway?
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Post by frane on Jun 30, 2011 15:29:39 GMT -5
That really sucks Mel! I hate bug bites and I never get the scaring to go away! Fran
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,487
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Post by Sabre52 on Jun 30, 2011 16:19:47 GMT -5
Man, I was at them gym this morning and ran into one of my riding buddies. He was trying to spray a nest at the stable and got stung on the nose. I know this sounds awful but it made my sting seem not quite as bad. The venom involved is not formic acid but the sting can be neutralized a bit with a quick application of ammonia. It is a tissue destroying venom though as there is definitely a crater of dead cells at the sting site. Just to give you an idea of the size of the stinger these guys pack, the sting site actually bled freely after the stinger was withdrawn almost like a snakebite.....Mel
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Post by Toad on Jun 30, 2011 17:32:09 GMT -5
Wow. Now that is a stinger.
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Post by Jack, lapidaryrough on Jun 30, 2011 17:35:07 GMT -5
1st the killer Bees, Now the Killer Wasp!
Mel thanks for being a test subject........
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peachfront
fully equipped rock polisher
Stones have begun to speak, because an ear is there to hear them.
Member since August 2010
Posts: 1,745
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Post by peachfront on Jun 30, 2011 19:25:09 GMT -5
Very funny thing...after seeing this post, I had to go out and there was a red wasp in my car! I thought of you and wondered if I'd called down a "cuss" on myself by saying wasps let me alone...but it let me alone. Sounds like I'm very, very lucky with these guys! Knock on wood. They do appear to have a big stinger. Maybe our Louisiana red wasps are not the same species as Texas. There are lots of wasps and bee species, I bet. Our guys seem non aggressive. Knock on wood double!
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snuffy
Cave Dweller
Member since May 2009
Posts: 4,319
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Post by snuffy on Jun 30, 2011 19:44:30 GMT -5
I have mainly the what I call yellow jackets all around my house.They dont bother you unless you mess with their nest.I had one nest under my carport about six feet beyond where anyone walked,I figured no one could get close enough to be stung.Well,my 9 year old grandson blew through the back door hollering and screaming. I went outside and a long paint roller stick was laying there.He got educated purty quick.Wont be doing that anymore.
snuffy
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Post by tntmom on Jun 30, 2011 19:46:55 GMT -5
Ugh! I don't like wasps very much, even the small ones we have in WA!!! Their stings haven't had harmful affects on me or my kids but I've been to the hospital a few times when my mother got stung and before her epipen took affect, her throat began to close. Glad you're ok Mel!
~Krystee
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,487
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Post by Sabre52 on Jun 30, 2011 21:37:41 GMT -5
Yeah, not doing too bad. The venom and itching have spread below the elbow now. No pain, just annoying at this stage.
Peach: yeah, I think ours are a different type as I bought one of the new pheramone traps and it did not work on this species. I contacted the makers and they said the problem is there are a large number of types and each is a bit different. These are not aggressive when out hunting caterpillars but ultra nasty around the nests. I actually got stung three times in the temple when I was here house hunting and my head looked all loppy sided and crooked like for about a week *L*.
Snuff: I hit a yellow jacket nest when I was weedwacking cutting fire breaks back at the raptor center in California. Individually the stings weren't awful but in concert, when they got inside my shirt, an unpleasant experience I'll not forget *L*.....Mel
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blessed
spending too much on rocks
Member since January 2010
Posts: 329
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Post by blessed on Jul 1, 2011 19:32:03 GMT -5
I got one undet my glasses while mowing.That&%#^*(#%$!@)(*& wasp stung me three times on the lower eye lid. Now that hurt for a long time. Krystee: My brouther lives in Olympia, Wa. Them little wasps built a big nest on the dash of his boat. I thought it was funny, he didn't. We used about four cans of wasp spray on them. The nest was the size of a basketball.
James
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