# Bumble Bee Bite, or the 3 B's



## hibiscusmile (Aug 1, 2009)

:huh: I was outside about 6:30 last night and was a bit sweaty, with my grandkids, a bumble bee came flying by and landed on my Grandson Chase, it walked up his back and buzzed around his neck and then his face and he brushed it away and I yelled for him to run, and he did. It followed him and he kept flailing his hands and it came back to me and Maddy, my granddaughter, It started to fly around her and I yelled for her to run away, it follower her and then came back... now can u guess the rest of the story? &lt;_&lt; Thats right, the bloody thing came right back at me and went right for my ear and bit it! I mean what the heck! I of course started to flail my hands at it and ran away yelling to! Lordy did it hurt! Had to go inside and put ice on it for quite awhile, it burned. I thought maybe it stung me, but my son did not see any sign of it, it was bleeding a little too.  Did I tell yous I was not a summer happy camper? :huh:


----------



## [email protected] (Aug 1, 2009)

That stinks i guess you all just smell too good.   

P.S. Chase i really like that name for some reason……


----------



## Rick (Aug 1, 2009)

Dont' run from em.


----------



## Katnapper (Aug 1, 2009)

You've obviously just got animal magnetism, Rebecca! :lol:


----------



## superfreak (Aug 2, 2009)

haha sounds like youve been having quite a few animal run-ins lately. have you changed your shower gel or anything? something seems to be attracting them!


----------



## pohchunyee (Aug 2, 2009)

Bees goes crazy with banana extract. Eaten any banana lately?


----------



## hibiscusmile (Aug 2, 2009)

haha, lot of good advice a little late!!! No havent changed anything lately, and I eat bananas a lot, so nothing new there. Thanks Chase! Rick, the kids were safe cause they ran, I stood still and got bit! So I think I should of ran to, cause standing in the same place where it started didn't help. Yea, animal mench... what u said! An I the lucky girl or what?


----------



## kamakiri (Aug 3, 2009)

Can't you just stay out of trouble?  :lol:


----------



## [email protected] (Aug 3, 2009)

wow Bumble bee's dont bit they dont have the mouth to do so they only have a toung I've seen? they also dont have barb so they can sting more then once also did you know they are used in green house tomatos becuz of the frequency of the buzzing they make they releas the pollen "cool hu"  , you don't think it was a hornet they have the mouth parts? :huh:


----------



## hibiscusmile (Aug 3, 2009)

kamakiri said:


> Can't you just stay out of trouble?  :lol:


I dont think so, when I was young I was a handful, I guess I still am!

and it bit me, I dont know about no tongue, but it bit me!


----------



## [email protected] (Aug 4, 2009)

well what I had found is that they can sting over and over, but I could find anything saying that they have mandibles to bit with. So IDk I have always played with any kind of bee Iv'e held them peted them never had any sting me ever.


----------



## [email protected] (Aug 4, 2009)

well what I had found is that they can sting over and over, but I could find anything saying that they have mandibles to bit with. So IDk I have always played with any kind of bee Iv'e held them peted them never had any sting me ever.


----------



## [email protected] (Aug 4, 2009)

well what I had found is that they can sting over and over, but I could find anything saying that they have mandibles to bit with. So IDk I have always played with any kind of bee Iv'e held them peted them never had any sting me ever.


----------



## gadunka888 (Aug 4, 2009)

did it really bite you? or was it a sting? I nver heard of bees biting but hornets can. They have huge ''mandibles of death'' lol :lol:


----------



## superfreak (Aug 4, 2009)

im looking at my ento collection and i say that bees have mandibles. the palps have been modified into a 'tongue', if i remember correctly, but the mandibles are still there. i believe you were stung though, and not bitten - the toxin would have been responsible for the prolonged, painful, burning sensation. if it bit you it would have still hurt, but not for long at all.

i hope you got your lil ones to kiss it better. ive heard the best remedy for bumble bee stings is lots of love


----------



## [email protected] (Aug 4, 2009)

Knowing you it bit, stung then bit again :lol: And our cure when I was little and got stung every other day was mud fresh mud applied liberally.


----------



## PhilinYuma (Aug 4, 2009)

As several people have suggested, I think that you were stung not bitten, because bees and wasps don't need to bite as a defensive measure since they have stings and your pain lasted for a while.

Second. Bees only sting in defense of the hive or if they are riled up. Unlike wasps, their stings are barbed and cannot be removed by the bee, who loses its venom sac and dies. I think that you were stung by a wasp (it is the right time of year for them in the Frozen North).

The only reason that I mention this five days after the incident is that I think that you should print out this thread and place it somewhere on yr person.

If your natural antihistamins are still at war with the venom inside you, and I don't know whether they are or not, when you suddenly go into anaphylactic shock, the ER doctor will be able to read the wise and perceptive comments on this thread and decide whether or not to operate.

Good luck!


----------



## jameslongo (Aug 4, 2009)

PhilinYuma said:


> Second. Bees only sting in defense of the hive or if they are riled up. Unlike wasps, their stings are barbed and cannot be removed by the bee, who loses its venom sac and dies. I think that you were stung by a wasp (it is the right time of year for them in the Frozen North).


Right you are in saying that bees sting in defence. But I'll have to pull you up on a bee's stinger. Not all bees have barbed stings. In fact, Becky, you could have been stung by a queen bee. Female bees destined for the throne have curled, smooth stingers, which they selfishly use to kill her opposition. Interesting, huh? And there can be multiple queens to one hive   I'm sure Olga knows more than me, so I'll stop here &amp; we can pick this up at a more appropriate hour.


----------



## hibiscusmile (Aug 4, 2009)

humm, some sites show the matibles and some dont, so who knows. But it was a bumble bee, and I havent any experience with them, my dog catches them and eats them, so I dont get to catch them to fee to the mantis. Just happens, she was sitting at the screen door wanting out at that time, figures dont it? Also I didn't think a sting would bleed?

Thanks Phil, I might do that :lol: But the er is used to me~


----------



## Emile.Wilson (Aug 4, 2009)

hibiscusmile said:


> humm, some sites show the matibles and some dont, so who knows. But it was a bumble bee, and I havent any experience with them, my dog catches them and eats them, so I dont get to catch them to fee to the mantis. Just happens, she was sitting at the screen door wanting out at that time, figures dont it? Also I didn't think a sting would bleed?Thanks Phil, I might do that :lol: But the er is used to me~


When i have been stung in the past, after removing the stinger I sometimes would bleed.


----------



## PhilinYuma (Aug 4, 2009)

jameslongo said:


> Right you are in saying that bees sting in defence. But I'll have to pull you up on a bee's stinger. Not all bees have barbed stings. In fact, Becky, you could have been stung by a queen bee. Female bees destined for the throne have curled, smooth stingers, which they selfishly use to kill her opposition. Interesting, huh? And there can be multiple queens to one hive   I'm sure Olga knows more than me, so I'll stop here &amp; we can pick this up at a more appropriate hour.


Haha, James! You've been Googling again, haven't you?  The queen does use her sting for that one, sinister purppose. In a queenless hive, there will be a number of "queen" cells. When the first virgin queen is about to emerge, she 'pipes." When more queens try to emerge, though, their piping causes the first born queen to sting them through the wax covering of their cells. Gives a whole new dimension to "sibling rivalry," dunnit? Still, to be fair, she kills off all her daughters as well.

I'm not sure where you got the idea of multiple queens in one hive, though. The only time I've seen that is on those big hives that contain several, seperated colonies. Only one queen per colony, though.

Oh, and for those who were wondering if a bee has mandibles, the answer is yes.


----------



## hibiscusmile (Aug 4, 2009)

Yea. like Phil says, an they hurt!


----------



## jameslongo (Aug 5, 2009)

PhilinYuma said:


> Haha, James! You've been Googling again, haven't you?  The queen does use her sting for that one, sinister purppose. In a queenless hive, there will be a number of "queen" cells. When the first virgin queen is about to emerge, she 'pipes." When more queens try to emerge, though, their piping causes the first born queen to sting them through the wax covering of their cells. Gives a whole new dimension to "sibling rivalry," dunnit? Still, to be fair, she kills off all her daughters as well. I'm not sure where you got the idea of multiple queens in one hive, though. The only time I've seen that is on those big hives that contain several, seperated colonies. Only one queen per colony, though.


Actually I just remembered that little fact from last year's Molecular Biology &amp; Genetics. Olga &amp; I had to do an assignment about the selflessness/selfishness of the hive. One of our professors was 'The Bee Man.'  



> Oh, and for those who were wondering if a bee has mandibles, the answer is yes.


Especially bumble-bees.

Hibiscusmile: I personally haven't had a bee sting bleed. Now that I think about it, I've only ever been stung once when I was a young &amp; kind boy, trying to rescue a bee from drowning in the backyard pool. That kind little boy died that day :lol: Considering that a bumble bee is much bigger than a honey bee &amp; a sting acts kinda like a knife (or icepick?), bleeding from a sting ain't outta the question.


----------



## hibiscusmile (Aug 5, 2009)

Well I hope the bee died that day too! I have been stung a few times, but my dad use to get it all the time, must like our blood line :lol: he use to get bit from wasps and usually on his shins. Poor daddy!


----------

