Bees?

[JohnRoberts]

I have half considered getting into bees, because of the colony collapse drama, but I'm too cheap to buy one of the canned honey bee colony solutions (hundreds of dollars), and don't need yet another time consuming hobby anyhow.

I took no pleasure from squashing the one bee/wasp(?) that stung me (leaving a stinger in my arm for a few days, that yellow jackets reportedly don't do.) But that is my personal cognitive dissonance to struggle with.  :

The colony I wiped was definitely yellow jackets so no regrets.

JR

PS: I suited up with jacket and long pants just to spray poison at the yellow jacket hive from tens of feet away... at night. Never give a sucker an even break.

 

[alexc]

The only insects I have a kill on sight order for are fire ants. I am pleased to report that I was successful "nagging" the fire ant colony with a shovel to leave my compost pile without using poison that would hurt beneficial flora and fauna.

I haven't been stung or bit in over a week.  ;D

I hear that! Here in southern Tas, we have ants called 'jumping jacks'    .... *bad ants*   

They are large, agressive ants with a horrible sting ...  not a bite, but a really bad sting .. you know the kind, causing ulcers and other necro BS of surrounding tissue ...  some kind of nasty toxcin

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_jumper_ant

They like to jump off the ground, onto and up the legs, stinging repeatedly ...  sigh.

*Luckily* I haven't come across, but they are in this region .. Tas has more venomous, agressive nasties ..  of all kinds  ..  imaginable. Don't start me on *snakes*.

It's a who's who  ..  or a plethora ... of the most toxic, aggressive and *common*  creatures available, down here!

...

I do get another 'wasp-bee-ant' related critter ..  it's harmless to hoomans and very pretty ...  a 'differently' evolved wasp - no sting to speak off and *no wings*, so it looks like an ant  ...  a *big*, irridescant ant ..  but it's not, it's a flightless wasp!

http://www.ozanimals.com/Insect/Blue-Ant/Diamma/bicolor.html

Absolutely beautiful thing it is ...  I get them here and am happy to see them on the odd occasion.

 

[Gene Pink]

> get yourself a bee suit and smash them with your bare hands.

Hah! Not that expensive!

They are cheaper than I thought.

Might be worth it just for the practical joke angle. Go to a population center with busy sidewalk traffic during the workday, Don the suit out of sight, and then come running out and down the sidewalk at full steam. ;D ;D ;D

Gene

 

[desol]

I recall hanging out by a friend's cement pond, (pool) with a lot of frogs in the area... yes they can get painfully loud at night.

I wanted to connect a microphone to a pitch shifter, to capture a frogs mating call, then shift it down lower in pitch, as if it was a much larger frog answering, and play that back over a loud speaker to scare the initial frog..  8)

Never tried it, but suspect it might work... or not.

JR

Well, in frog-land mating calls are different than aggressive calls so you may want to capture that instead, unless you want to attract instead of deter. Don't ask me which is which.

 

[PRR]

I think the link for your Ant is this:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_jumper_ant

The venom is not so poisonous per se; but allergies develop and this has led to fatal allergic shock. In some of their territory, most humans have been exposed at least once.

 

[alexc]

Thanks PRR - duly corrected and updated 

The bad ants not to be confused with the good jumping exercises!