Beeeeeeees... they're being fuzzy at me... ::runs::

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I’m very, very frightened of bees. I’m not frightened that they’ll sting me, although i wouldn’t welcome it, it’s just that they’re so… fuzzy

::shudder::

And they buzz. That horrible, horrible noise. You just have to make that buzzy noise in my ear and i run screaming like the big girl that i am. And soon it will be summer and i shall be stuck indoors due to their reign of terror. They’re so… bumbly

::more shuddering::

I can’t look at pictures of bees or wasps. If the word “bee” is written down somewhere, i can look at it (and i can type the word myself obviously), but i can’t touch the word on the page. I find it hard to even touch the page upon which the word is written. I’m so lame. I know they won’t hurt me. But they always seem so damn angry. What do i do to stop being so jumpy this coming summer?

Fran

2

If it helps, a fear of bees is called apiphobia.

Not sure what a fear of fuzz is, though…

3

Well, you could learn more about them. Sometimes fear is caused by a lack of knowledge and maybe that would help.

They’re pretty amazing creatures, actually. Even wasps, that have been demonized, are important parts of our ecology. Bees are absolutely vital to the pollination of some plant species. Some wasp species are predators upon common garden pests and are much more efficient at controlling them than insecticides.

Here’s a quick search I did at About.com on bees. There should be some link in it that will provide some information for you! Good luck!

4

Francesca

Is your fear limited to the fuzzy types, i.e. bumblebees, or is it more generalized to anything with a hint of yellow on it that flies?

Can you remember when your fear of them got so bad you actually want to be indoors rather than risking stepping out and possibly encountering them or just hearing them?

Is this issue 90% humorous post, and 10% serious issue, or more 50/50, or even 90% serious, you won’t leave the house fear, 10% humorous, just because you happen to be a good writer?

-Doug

5

If this really puts a serious crimp in your life, you might consider treatment. The most successful type of phobia treatment uses relaxation techniques combined with gradual introduction of the object in question. For example, you might start by learning to relax while you look at a picture of a bee and gradually build up to going for a walk in a grassy field.

6

And I am afraid of evil buzzing flying things, too. Do you have junebugs where you are? They aren’t fuzzy, but they buzz and have these dreadful sticky legs that get in your hair and you can’t easily flick them out.

I have run whimpering (I’ve at least advanced past the screaming) into the house and given up working in my garden many times because of bees or wasps. Yes, they do always look angry, but maybe thats just how we percieve them. I cannot look at a hive, whether there are critters in it or not. It makes my skin crawl. Pictures in books of hives are not quite so bad, but they ain’t so good either.

I know why I am afraid of them. When I was 3 or so, while walking under my gramma’s fig tree, I hit my head on a branch. Unfortunately this branch held a rather large yellow jacket population. The offended yellow jackets flew underneath a little loose shirt I was wearing and started stinging me. All I could think to do (remember I was 3) was to try to crush them by squeezing my arms down at my sides. thus even more yellow jackets stung me. My mom says I had around thirty-five stings. I fainted when they carried me into the house. It was awful.

Has something like this happened to you?

Let me share with you what I’ve done to try to deal with it, if not get over it.

  1. Watch what sort of hair care products you use before going outside. I had been using a cholesterol/protien conditioner and wondered why I was getting dive bombed by wasps all the time. Then I learned that they are carnivores, and they probably thought I smelled like a Steak&Ale.

  2. Learn more about them. Really. You’d be suprised how indifferent they really are to us. They truly don’t want us, but some of the things we do make them think they do.

  3. Watch out for pheremone perfumes. I dont have a cite, just past experience. But the ‘lure your man the biochemical way’ perfumes seemed to translate into ‘lure all winged stinging things in a four mile radius’ when I wore them.

  4. Get stung. No, wait, come back!! Listen, really, two years ago I got stung by a bee for the first time since I was a kid. You know what I learned? Its not that bad. I was suprised at how little it hurt.

Jeez, this got long. Francesca, I just wanted you to know you aren’t alone in this. If all else fails, you can always come to my house and we can stand at the window and watch BunnyPapa eradicating wasp nests. Its a dirty job, but he has to do it. :slight_smile:

7

I am also terrified of bees and wasps, and I love gardening. So you can see my dilemma. The big bumble bees don’t bother me as much as the wasps, but I am still a big baby. I know the stings don’t hurt very much, I usually get stung a few times a year, it’s just the thinking about it. I think I was worse a few years ago, I bought a few books and did some research. Bumblebees will not sting while they are actively collecting pollen unless you actually grab them. They will go to great lengths to protect the nest. They like to sleep on flowers and you can get close and even pet them in the cool of the morning while they are still asleep (or take pictures, the most I could manage)

I was chased by a bumblebee. It chased me into the house and then repeatedly banged into the glass patio door thwap thwap thwap until it finally flew away. The bumblebees seem to have a path they fly to get back to their nests, like a straight line. I have been struck on the head before by a bumblebee that didn’t fly around me, they’re big and it hurts.

Wasps are my bigger phobia. They are silent and meaner than the bumblebees, especially in the fall when the food supply is dwindling. ::shivers::

8

Count me down as another person who is afraid of the yellow and black critters. My fear dates back to when I was five years old, we were visiting my maternal grandmother and she was standing in a field of clover. She had her arms open and she called me to her, I ran into the field and got stung on the arm, since then I have had a fear of bees.

Once or twice a year a bee or a wasp gets into the place I work. They usually end up bumping against the glass trying to get out. I have to get rid of the darn things so I try and kill it. I tend to step on my tip toes and stretch my arms out veeeeeeeeeery far as I either throw a book or spray the insect. As soon as I am finished I runlikehelltryingtogetawayincasehecomesaftermeandstingsme… I have a feeling that it looks pretty damn funny to the people walking down the streets, but I don’t care, I didn’t get stung and that is all that counts.

My five year old nephew adores bees and has many paintings and ceramic sculptures of bees in his bedroom…I get a bit creeped out when I go into his room :shudder:

Keith

9

Count me among the bee non-friendly. I’ve got no problem with honeybees or bumblebees, they’re not agressive. Throw a yellow jacket or hornet at me and I’ll run screaming like a girl. They just give me the willies. Yellow and black, it’s ingrained as a sign of danger. You think that warning police tape is yellow and black by coincidence?

10

I dislike them immensely. I’ve NEVER been stung. I want it to stay that way.

One time in fourth or fifth grade, I was on the playground at school and I felt some movement on my arm. I look down. It was a wasp. I noticed it just sitting there, it’s mouthparts moving a little. I got freaked out and started shaking my arm around as much as possible. It flew away. There was a little pit of skin missing, about the size of a BB. Yep, the wasp ATE me. It ATE some of my arm! That was weird.

Anyway. My $00.02.

11

Do the buzzy thing in my ear and I freak out, too. You’re not alone.

Anyway, about 5-6 months ago, I decided to take part in a trail run dubbed “Your Worst Nightmare” that was part of a larger “Nightmare” series. Basically you expect to be running in mud, water, up hills, in hot weather, or whatever other grueling course the psychotic trailseeker can find for you.

We’re all gathered 'round at the start - there are about 12 of us, and there are only 2 of us gals. The guy says something to the effect of how great the trail is, “unless you have a problem with bees.” Not to make myself look like a scairdy cat, I keep mum. I’m thinking maybe we’ll run by lots of flowers, and there will probably be bees buzzing around pollenating all of them. I’ll be fine.

Wrong. About 1-2 miles into it, I come upon a length of trail with lots of white little boxes on either side. Hmm. Those boxes are buzzing. Holy *&@%, it’s a bunch of beehives. I stop running, start breathing a little heavy, wondering how in God’s name to get out of this. Speed, I think, that’s got to be the key. Just run like a bat out of hell until you pass on through. About halfway past the boxes, a bee gets lodged in my ponytail, right about where the hair brushes the back of my neck. I start to really panic. I’ve passed all the hives by now, but the bee hasn’t shaken loose yet. I stop running, and try to shake my head a little bit, hoping to shake it loose without pissing it off. I start doing a little “bee dance” which involves a bit of crying, shaking, some sort of Irish jig type movements, you get the picture. Somehow the bee gets lose, and I am on my own again. (Quite thankfully, the rest of the people in this race are much faster than I am, so I’m alone - no one has witnessed this event) “Oh, God,” I think, “this is like my worst nightmare.” (you may note that is indeed the NAME of this actual event - you can imagine the look that I must have had on my face as I realized the sheer irony of it all)

Well, the rest of the run is happily bee-free, and I managed to have a really great time with the rest of it. After finishing, I walk up to the guy who marked the trail, shake his hand and say, “thank you very much. You have succeeded in actually creating my Worst Nightmare.”

Last time I run with those chumps…

12

I’m with Tommy. I don’t so much mind honeybees, although I do try to avoid them, and I think Bumble bees are downright cute cause they’re fuzzy little guys, although I try to avoid them too.

Wasps? Yellow Jackets? Hornets? Whole 'nother ballgame folks. Gimme a big shoe or some insecticide cause that mofo is going down!!

shivers just thinking about wasps My sister and I have always thought that wasps looked like little deranged, homicidal angels because of their little hangy legs . . .

If I have nightmares tonight, you people are in trouble.

13

Oh, and I almost forgot this fun little tidbit of info.

If you scream when a bee is near you, it will fly towards your mouth because they are attracted to dark colors.:eek: Sounds a bit questionable to me, but I don’t risk it by hollering around bees either.

14

Bumblebees and wasps: I’m fascinated but wary.

Hornets: I stay far, far away.

Honeybees: Used to live with them. A rather ahem eccentric old lady lived upstairs from the room I was renting, and had been in possession of a jar of honey that had tipped over and leaked (judging from the dust on it when she moved out, several years before). It soaked into the floorboards, and was starting to seep through the plaster of my ceiling. It attracted and created a beehive in the walls of the house. They used to get into my room through cracks in the plaster, could not find their way out again, and would collect in the windows (navigate by the sun, they would). By the time my alarm would go off in the afternoon, it would sound like I was at the center of the hive, and the windows would be dark with bees two or three layers thick.

I finally got wise and took the screen out very carefully so they had free access in and out. No more problems, but lots of visitors. I consoled myself with the fact that worker bees are female and sterile, so I had more virgin girls in my apartment than the entire rest of the population of the city put together. Curiously satisfying…which is rather sad, now that I think about it.

And yes, you can pet them at night. They seem to not mind it.

15

Francesca I’ll try to put your mind at rest. Up until christmas this year I worked in a honey factory and twice a year worked extracting the honey (3 months at a time) I wasn’t to enamoured about working with the (sometimes hundreds) of bees that were in the extracting room, but I quickly learned that they aren’t in the least bit interested in you (unless your trying to nick there honey of course :wink: They flew about all day around our heads (all we wore was a plastic apron so no protection) and left us alone. I’m not saying I wasen’t stung, but the times I was stung was when they had landed on something (usually sticky with honey) and I put my hand on them. I actually became quite fond of the little buggers because they were son non-aggresive. So its true what they say, the best thing to do is to stand still when their around, but I know thats easier said than done.
*

They will fly at you when you scream, but its because their attracted to the carbon monoxide from your breath. Also when people say the “smell” fear they do in a way, in that you breath faster and they are attracted even more to the carbon monoxide. After a while I actually learned if they were flying about my head, to hold my breath and they flew off. So thats a tip, if their buzzing about and you can bare to stand still, hold your breath they’ll go alot quicker, honest! :slight_smile:

16

Even reading some of these posts made me shudder. Especially yours, scout1222 - you’ll see why in a mo.

Thank you for your concern dublos - it’s mainly the fuzzy things that do my head in, but i’m not overly enamoured with wasps and hornets wither. By “overly enamoured” i mean that i can cope with being within 50 feet of them.

Yes i can remember how the fear got so bad. When i was little i loved bees - we had a couple of lavender bushes in our back garden and i used to catch them and play with them. We even had a wasps nest in the attic that didn’t bother me (it was fumigated eventually). But one day (i must’ve been about 7 or 8) i went outside with no shoes on and trod on a bees - it stung me of course and put me off them a little, but that wasn’t so bad. Then later, when i was about 9, i saw some old film (can’t remember what it was) where a guy was sick in hospital and having hallucinations and all he could see was this giant human-sized wasp hovering over his bed buzzing and ready to stike. That freaked the fuck out of me.
Then when i was 13 or 14 i was walking along a woody path to get to our local supermarket when i felt something in my hair. I put my hand up and this thing was buzzing and vibrating frantically, trapped in my hair. I did the “aaaaahhhhh beeeeeees” dance and it got free. Oddly enough, it wasn’t actually a bee, just a big fly (i don’t like big flies either) but that totally, totally freaked me out. So now, when there are buzzy things near me i have to have my eye on them all the time because if i don’t i become convinced they’re stuck in my hair and stand there like a mentalist running my fingers through my hair.

So now i can’t have windows open in the summer in case they get in. If a bee got in my house i would rather sit outside all damn night than share a room with it. I dread bar-b-qs, and while i can go outside, i’m always jumpy and on the lookout for the nasty things. Just the thought of those buzzy, fuzzy things with their nasty little wings [sub]touching me[/sub] is horrible. Go on, point and laugh at the mentalist.

So the post was probably 20% humerous it was about 80% serious.

I know i should probably get some treatment but i’m poor and besides, they’ll make me look at beeeeees! That’s why, while it might be useful to learn something about them, i’m far too frightened to click on the links given above because i can’t even look at pictures of them. I try to believe they’re indifferent to me, but i just can’t. They attack! Ladybugs don’t attack (well, they might). Worms don’t attack. Bees divebomb you like some miniture fuzzy Spitfire. They want to get in my mouth and ears! ::runs away::

I don’t think i could cope with living in the US - you’ve got some giant mofos over there ::shudder::

Fran

17

oops should have read your post again Francesca it’s not the sting your afraid of its the fuzzy bit. Well, all I can tell you there is uummmm well not alot! :wink:

18

[Izzard moment] “I like my women like I like my coffee – covered in bees!”[/Izzard moment]

Right. There’s only one thing to do.

I’m calling for any volunteers to go round to Francesca’s neighborhood and shave all the bumblebees. Hey, how hard could it be? :smiley:

19

Heehee jr8… that’s what i was thinking of everytime i typed beeeeeeees. Help! I’m covered in beeeeeees!

Shaved bees. I think I could cope with that. You’d have to use very little razors though. Or perhaps mini-shears. But then people might start wearing bee-fur coats. It’d be like Planet of the Bee People.

20

Have you tried spraying them with Nair?