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So stepped on a hornet an hour ago that'd somehow gotten inside and was crawling around on the floor. Ow. Ow. Ow ow ow. Ow.
Soaked my foot in ice water for awhile. Checked, no stinger visible. Took ibuprofen for pain/swelling. Put a baking soda/vinegar paste on at a friend's suggestion.
It's still pretty sore and swollen -- it's my big toe -- though think the swelling's starting to go down a bit. I'll go to sleep soon, hope this won't keep me up.
Having fun reading up on treatments. My fave so far is for putting a wet teabag on it...
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I've done baking soda before, but I'm not sure how effective it is. Benadryl's good if you're having an allergic reaction.
Posts: 9945 | Registered: Sep 2002
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We have sooo many hornets out here. I find that if I immediately put ice on a sting, it keeps it from swelling up like it otherwise would.
Posts: 16551 | Registered: Feb 2003
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Ick. I do a lot of walking around since I'm on a farm, so hoping I'll be better off by the morning. (But tomorrow's Sunday and I can take it easy if needs be...)
Posts: 2911 | Registered: Aug 2001
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You could try introducing a colony of these guys to your yard. They'd massacre the sissy American hornets and then you'd be left with...oh wait.
Posts: 14316 | Registered: Jul 2005
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I feel for you, plaid. When I was four, I stepped on a honeybee while walking outside. It took me almost 25 years to be willing to walk barefoot outside again.
Posts: 3354 | Registered: May 2005
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Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee I keep getting those FIENDS in my room! There's been about 10 so fair! AUGH!
AUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH THAT'S SO HUGE! REMIND ME TO NEVER GO TO JAPAN IF THAT'S WHAT I'LL FIND THERE! THAT'S TOO BIG! Insects with stingers SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED TO BE BIG!
Posts: 9942 | Registered: Mar 2003
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quote:Originally posted by Synesthesia: Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee I keep getting those FIENDS in my room! There's been about 10 so fair! AUGH!
AUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH THAT'S SO HUGE! REMIND ME TO NEVER GO TO JAPAN IF THAT'S WHAT I'LL FIND THERE! THAT'S TOO BIG! Insects with stingers SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED TO BE BIG!
Just stay away from the mountains and rural areas (ha! As if Japan has many rural areas) and you will be fine.
Posts: 14316 | Registered: Jul 2005
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I reckon they aren't likely to be at a Dir en grey concert but still. *shudder* I'll never live in the mountains in Japan, that's for sure.
Posts: 9942 | Registered: Mar 2003
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Much better now. My toe's still a bit swollen and sore, but I can do short walks with it OK.
And true to the intents of hornet evolution, I'm looking very carefully where I walk, so that I don't step on any more large yellow/black insects. Posts: 2911 | Registered: Aug 2001
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quote:Originally posted by BlackBlade: You could try introducing a colony of these guys to your yard. They'd massacre the sissy American hornets and then you'd be left with...oh wait.
THEY WILL HAUNT MY DREAMS FOREVER.
Posts: 4313 | Registered: Sep 2004
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quote: The hornets can devastate a colony of honey bees: a single hornet can kill as many as 40 honey bees per minute, thanks to their large mandibles which can quickly strike and decapitate a bee. It takes only a few of these hornets a few hours to exterminate the population of a 30,000-member hive, leaving a trail of severed insect heads and limbs. The European honey bees Apis mellifera have small stings which do little damage to such hornets that are three times their size and twenty times their weight. Also as the honey bees are they are unable to mount any collective defense, making futile solo attacks, the hornets can pick them off easily.
Does anyone else think that sounds like it'd be intensely cool to watch?
Addit: It gets even cooler in the next paragraph when it describes how Japanese honey bees fight back, also there's a typo in the above paragraph but I'm not sure what the missing word is to fix it, in case someone else wants to volunteer to make the internet a better place.
quote:When a hornet scout locates a Japanese honey bee hive and approaches the nest, the scout will emit specific pheromonal hunting signals. When the honey bees detect these pheromones, a hundred or so will gather near the entrance of the nest and keep it open, apparently to draw the hornet further into the hive or allow it to enter on its own. As the hornet enters the nest, a large mob of about five hundred honey bees surround the hornet, completely covering it and preventing it from moving, and begin quickly vibrating their flight muscles. This has the effect of raising the temperature of the honey bee mass to 47 °C (117 °F). Though the honey bees can narrowly tolerate such a temperature, it is fatal to the intruder, which can handle a maximum temperature of about 45 °C (113 °F), and is effectively baked to death by the large mass of vibrating bees. Often several bees perish along with the intruder in this way, sacrificing themselves for the survival of the colony, as the death of the hornet scout will prevent it from bringing reinforcements
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I just stepped on one yesterday, put up my foot for an hour with ice and I'm fine today. It's no fun though.
Posts: 2711 | Registered: Mar 2004
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My toe's still a bit swollen and sore, but I can do short walks with it OK.![[Angst]](graemlins/angst.gif)
