# Do bumblebees sting? Once or many times? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [December 7, 2006, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-bumblebees-sting-once-or-many-times/383248 "2006-12-07T18:24:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2006, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-bumblebees-sting-once-or-many-times/383248/1 "2006-12-07T18:24:57Z")
[http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mbeesting.htm](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mbeesting.htm) Nice column. :dubious: So, do Bumblebees sting? 'Cause, you didn’t actually answer the question. You wrote about **Honey** Bees, Wasps, Ants…but not **Bumble** bees. Not if they stung, nor how many times they stung, nor how much it hurt when they stung. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2006, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-bumblebees-sting-once-or-many-times/383248/2 "2006-12-07T18:30:21Z")
Behaviorally, Bumblebees are rather docile UNLESS you are disturbing their burrow, in which case they WILL get very POed at you. Just my personal experience… ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2006, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-bumblebees-sting-once-or-many-times/383248/3 "2006-12-07T18:34:20Z")
I’ve stepped on a bumblebee and got stung. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2006, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-bumblebees-sting-once-or-many-times/383248/4 "2006-12-07T19:00:13Z")
I have been stung by a bumble bee when I ventured too close to the nest. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2006, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-bumblebees-sting-once-or-many-times/383248/5 "2006-12-07T19:00:56Z")
[QUOTE=Bosda Di’Chi of Tricor] So, do Bumblebees sting? 'Cause, you didn’t actually answer the question. [/QUOTE] Yeah! I was sort of hoping for a line like this > [@Doug's Staff Report](#): > > Female bumblebees most certainly can sting, and can do so repeatedly. 😉 I was just wandering in to mention that carpenter bees are often mistaken for bumblebees. The male carpenter bee is very territorial, but without a stinger, they just hover in front of you and look mean. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2006, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-bumblebees-sting-once-or-many-times/383248/6 "2006-12-07T19:08:27Z")
[QUOTE=Cheesesteak] Yeah! I was sort of hoping for a line like this 😉 [/QUOTE] You are indeed correct. I was wrong. ---
**Author:** ![AtomicDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ac91a4/32.png) [@AtomicDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AtomicDog)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2006, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-bumblebees-sting-once-or-many-times/383248/7 "2006-12-07T19:11:44Z")
Sting? Hell, they can’t even _fly!_ What? ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2006, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-bumblebees-sting-once-or-many-times/383248/8 "2006-12-07T19:59:37Z")
\*\* To Have And Have Not (1944) \*\* > [@](#): > > Eddie: Say, was you ever bit by a dead bee? > Beauclerc: I have no memory of ever being bit by any kind of bee. > Slim: (interjecting) Were you? > Eddie: You’re alright, lady. You and Harry’s the only one that ever… > Morgan: Don’t forget Frenchie. > Eddie: That’s right. You and Harry and Frenchie. You know, you got to be careful of dead bees if you’re goin’ around barefooted, 'cause if you step on them they can sting you just as bad as if they was alive, especially if they was kind of mad when they got killed. I bet I been bit a hundred times that way. > Slim: You have? Why don’t you bite them back > Eddie: That’s what Harry always says. But I ain’t got no stinger. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2006, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-bumblebees-sting-once-or-many-times/383248/9 "2006-12-07T21:52:00Z")
> [@SDStaff Doug](#): > > The only way to know which sting hurts more is to let yourself get stung. That’s exactly what one researcher, Justin O. Schmidt, tested on himself several years ago, and he published his findings as the now-infamous “Schmidt Sting Pain Index.” Among the worst he tested were tarantula hawk wasps, bullet ants, and velvet ants. That may not be the suckiest job I’ve ever heard of, but it’s way up there. ---
**Author:** ![lazybratsche](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ba8739/32.png) [@lazybratsche](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lazybratsche)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2006, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-bumblebees-sting-once-or-many-times/383248/10 "2006-12-08T00:42:44Z")
[QUOTE=Skammer] That may not be the suckiest job I’ve ever heard of, but it’s way up there. [/QUOTE] I dunno. He seemed to enjoy it. See the [wikipedia entry](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schmidt_Sting_Pain_Index) . ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2006, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-bumblebees-sting-once-or-many-times/383248/11 "2006-12-08T02:52:16Z")
From the article: > [@](#): > > Queen honeybees have non-barbed stings… > Males can’t sting at all (the sting is a modified ovipositor, and only females lay eggs) So how can queens sting? Don’t they need their ovipositors in the original, un-modified form? ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2006, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-bumblebees-sting-once-or-many-times/383248/12 "2006-12-08T05:19:38Z")
About 20 years ago, a tribe of extremely grouchy bees built a nest under the fence in my back yard. They had the brawny shape of bumblebees, but they may have been carpenter bees. When I met them, I was always screaming and running, so I wasn’t looking for details. They didn’t like it when I mowed next to the fence, and 2 to 5 of them would nail my ankles when it happened. I have been stung by honeybees, paper wasps, and the garbage-eating wasps we call yellow-jackets. These barrel-chested bees ranked right up with the nastiest ones. I can’t relate to the Jason Schmidt scale, but I’d compare it to a ball-peen hammer. :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: I finally bought some wasp & hornet spray, and I killed the nest. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2006, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-bumblebees-sting-once-or-many-times/383248/13 "2006-12-08T15:14:54Z")
Just as another note of their docility, I used to work in a garden center and certain shrubs would always attract clouds of bumblebees. Many a time, I’d slowly walk into a block of bee-covered shrubs, pick out a plant and carry it out onto the walkway without incident. The bees would follow the plant along but I was never stung in the couple years of working the job. We used to joke that you could probably pet them if you wanted to. ---
**Author:** ![RiverRunner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/977dab/32.png) [@RiverRunner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RiverRunner)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2006, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-bumblebees-sting-once-or-many-times/383248/14 "2006-12-08T15:38:36Z")
The only time I was ever stung by a bumblebee was – of course – about ten seconds after mentioning that I had never been stung by a bumblebee. I was helping my brother work under his mobile home and when I saw a bumblebee nearby and made the aforementioned remark, at which point I put my hand under the house to pull myself under. Unfortunately, I put my hand directly on another bumblebee who, naturally, stung me for all he/she was worth. Can’t say I blamed it, really. RR ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2006, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-bumblebees-sting-once-or-many-times/383248/15 "2006-12-08T15:48:34Z")
[QUOTE=Skammer] That may not be the suckiest job I’ve ever heard of, but it’s way up there. [/QUOTE] Heck, that has nothing on this initiation rite: > **[Paraponera](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paraponera)** > > Paraponera is a genus of ants and the only genus in the subfamily Paraponerinae. The name means "near-Ponera". It consists of two species: the extant Paraponera clavata, also known as a bullet ant, found in the Neotropics, and the very small fossil species Paraponera dieteri known from Dominican amber (Early Miocene; 16-19 million years ago). Bullet ants are so named for the pain caused by their venomous stings. The intensely painful sting is toxic to invertebrates as well as vertebrates and a m... > [@](#): > > Bullet ants are used by some indigenous people in their initiation rites to manhood (Bequaert, 1926). They are first knocked out by drowning them in a natural chloroform, and then hundreds of them are woven into sleeves made out of leaves, stinger down. When the ants come to, boys slip the sleeve down their arm. The goal of this initiation rite is to keep the sleeve for a full ten minutes without showing any signs of pain. When finished, the boys’ (now men’s) arms are temporarily paralyzed because of the venom, and may shake uncontrollably for days. ---
**Author:** ![RiverRunner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/977dab/32.png) [@RiverRunner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RiverRunner)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2006, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-bumblebees-sting-once-or-many-times/383248/16 "2006-12-08T16:07:00Z")
[QUOTE=lazybratsche] I dunno. He seemed to enjoy it. See the [wikipedia entry](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schmidt_Sting_Pain_Index) . [/QUOTE] How bizarre. I have never heard anyone describe pain with phrases like: “Light, ephemeral, almost fruity.” “Hot and smoky, almost irreverent.” “Rich, hearty, slightly crunchy.” Nifty. RR