Little yellow and black bleepers
orraloon
Posts: 9,914
Wasps!
4 stings yesterday, both ankles, back of the knee and back of the hand while swiping one of the wee b'tards away.
Itching like anything, back of hand swollen the most.
Any tips, folk remedies or that? Using the usual after bite lotions and potions, to limited benefit so far.
4 stings yesterday, both ankles, back of the knee and back of the hand while swiping one of the wee b'tards away.
Itching like anything, back of hand swollen the most.
Any tips, folk remedies or that? Using the usual after bite lotions and potions, to limited benefit so far.
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whilst this may not be good to you now, i find if you don't swipe them away they tend not to sting you.
Aye but... I had them on me in the bit at top of shoe laces stinging through my sock, so was a case of grab, squash, attack, attack. Guess one of them got on my glove then to sting me through glove before I terminated it with extreme prejudice. Aggressive little b'tards.
Ice cubes and painkillers on the day helped to ease the pain, later I found applying a very hot flannel helped to ease the irritation. The reaction spread downwards, and for the next 2 days both eyes were very swollen and itchy. Eventually went to the pharmacist and she suggested antihistamines, Piriton I think. Seemed to help; wish I'd got some sooner.
I'm generally quite relaxed around bees and wasps, but it sounds like you were getting stung whatever you did.
I'm an ex-beekeeper.
The sting and venom sac that you removed from your head is marvellously nasty piece of work. It's made up of a needle bit that injects, which has two barbed sections either side. The barb sections move independently up and down the central needle part and pull the sting into the skin. This happens even after the sting has detached from the bee, and with each pulse it also injects the venom.
As you say, scraping the sting off quickly is the first thing you have to do, a finger nail is usually okay, a blunt knife even better. Tweezers, no, you stand a good chance of injecting the entire venom sac into you.
I always had Piriton in the house, and I'm certain I had that as a lotion in the past (30 yrs ago), but I've not found it since.
The older I get, the better I was.
A few weeks back I got stung by a wasp in same circumstances, slammed the brakes on and whipped the helmet off and wasp was still pulsing the venom out, flicked it off the helmet and carried on riding to work. Virtually 24 hours later my eye swelled up cause of the sting, luckily I had the following day off work so went to the local eye hospital and they diagnosed the wasp sting as the cause so off to the chemist for Boots own brand Piriton. Got some more tablets in the house just in case now.
Bianchi Impulso
BMC Teammachine
“When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race. “ ~H.G. Wells
Edit - "Unless it's a BMX"
why do that?
trap them under a glass with a bit of card to let them go when possible, otherwise kill and flush away, or their mates head your way to seek revenge
i ve never been stung by a wasp, only bee's once in the mouth and another time on the eye lid - also got a hornets nest in my shed, they are very friendly.
Our can recycling attracts a lot of wasps drawn to the heady mix of syrupy drinks, especially in late summer. We can have literally hundreds buzzing around but no-one has ever been stung (touch wood). As long as they are not threatened, they seem fine. A bee keeper told me that they can get aggressive when their food source dries up (no pun intended).
One day a wasp landed on my daughter's cheek whilst sitting on the couch doing nothing, quite passive at the time (for a 18 month year old) and stung her! Poor sausage.
That looks like a pet locust T47. I'd pop it in the frying pan turning it gently for a couple of minutes, cover it in ketchup and then chuck it in the bin 'cos they taste awful.
Aww - he looks so playful.
What are you going to feed them, or are they lunch?
Holiday makers
Got stung under the same circumstances today
Everyday Commuter
My, he's a handsome beast. Pass me my newspaper :twisted:
Bianchi Impulso
BMC Teammachine
“When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race. “ ~H.G. Wells
Edit - "Unless it's a BMX"
Sitting in the garden one evening, I saw a wasp catch and kill a grasshopper about twice the size of the wasp. After biting off the legs, it then cut off the head, and cut the body into three pieces, and flew off with one of them. Having recently discovered that the cruising speed of a wasp is 12mph (one was flying alongside me one day, so I matched its speed) I timed the wasp and when it returned for the next piece of grasshopper worked out that its nest must be about half a mile away. Impressive. Then, while it was away again, I moved the remaining pieces a couple of feet away. The wasp arrived at the spot where the pieces had been, couldn't find them, and began circling outwards until it discovered the new location. Off it went again with another bit. When it returned - remembering the new location - it struggled to get airborne with the last, largest, piece. After a couple of crash landings, it had a rethink, and bit the piece in half, and flew off with one of the halves. When it came back for the final piece, it again remembered exactly where it was, ie several feet from where I'd put it, and from the original location. I think all that's pretty smart for something with a brain the size of a pinhead.
I've never been stung by one when out riding, but if one gets trapped by clothing, you can't really blame it. I did get stung by a bumble bee last year when one crashed into my mouth and got stuck between my teeth and bottom lip. It didn't hurt much and I learned something - unlike honey bees, bumble bees don't leave their stings behind.
Catch up on OP. Back of hand swelled up over 24 hours to resemble a boxing glove. When I eventually, too late, went to the pharmacy, pharmacist said "hmm, anti-histamine for you". And suggested take one now, here have this bottle of water on the house, take the tablet now... Took another 48 hours to reduce to something like normal.
Been told best to suck out the venom immediately and spit it out; bit difficult to reach my ankles at my age.
As I am particularly allergic to bee stings, this thread has prompted me to put a couple of antihistamine tablets in with the spares/tool kit that I take on every ride.
That is pretty clever. So why is it when I have an apple tree full of apples they don't pick an apple an eat the whole lot? Instead they eat a small hole in every one of them :twisted: I guess they are laying eggs inside them all.
Along with the waterproof, CO2 cartridges/dispenser, tyre levers, spare 'missing link', inner tubes, allen keys, pen-knife, screwdriver, mobile phone, small change, Haribo, house keys...?