Fire ants bite, but that’s not what hurts. They have stingers on their tail ends just like bees and wasps (all hymenopoterans). They just bite to hold on while they sting.
More trivia- only female hymenopterans sting. Be it wasp, bee, hornet, or ant, if it stings you, it’s a SHE!
I’ve been stung by fire ants a bunch of times and I never recall it really hurting. It was like being pinched. Fortunately for me I’ve never been stung by anything other than ants (as far as I know- I’ve found bug bites/stings on my body while showering or whatever without knowing where they came from).
Yellow jacket, right on the knuckle of my left index finger. I accidentally stepped in a nest near Lake Erie, so I’m lucky it was only one sting. I don’t remember it being overly painful, but the location was just terrible. I basically couldn’t use that finger at all for a couple of days because it was stiff and swollen enough that it wouldn’t flex.
Fire ants burn like hell for a bit, then the bites itch like hell. You also get this raised pus-filled blister. Fire ants suck.
I met Prof. Justin O. Schmidt while working out in the AZ desert on a project in college, I think 1976 or so. He described getting stung by the tarantula hawk to us, saying it was the most painful insect sting he had found- and they he had to really work to make the wasp sting him.
I see now he consider the bullet ant to be worse.:eek:
I have been hit by the paper wasp and the red harvester ant, and I agree solidly with Prof Schmidt. The honeybee pales in comparison.
On the Wikipedia page for bullet ants, it says that boys of a certain tribe must be stung on the hand repeatedly for ten minutes by the ants. This cycle must be repeated twenty times before they can be called men!:eek:
I’ve been stung by a couple wasps, it felt like bring injected with fire. I have no idea what kind they were or if they were actual wasps or hornets. I’ve been bitten by fire ants numerous times and when it’s a large number of stings it’s very painful and it seems to linger. I also got stung by some tiny wasp like thing that didn’t hurt much at all but she hung on longer than any of the other wasps.
I’ve also been stung by a jellyfish and a fuzzy caterpillar thing. They were not as bad as the wasps.
Just fire ants here, although not in years. Nothing like playing “outfield” in kiddie kickball, which means you stand around for an hour doing nothing, and realize that you’ve stood in a fire ant mound.
I did quite the dance trying to rip my shoes and socks off to get rid of them. I was rather astonished by how much and how long the stings burned. I was used to insect bites itching, not burning.
Not traumatic pain but not something I’d volunteer to do again.
I don’t know what most of these insects are, and I guess they are local to the USA. But anyway, the worst sting I’ve ever had was from a scorpion. Hurt more and the pain lasted longer than a sting from a bullant, wasp or a honeybee.
I so love her updated pain chart!
–
I’ve been stung twice by yellowjackets wasps, really painful, I don’t wish to experience more intense pain by insects.
I’ve read that the most painful sting is that from the Irukandji jellyfish:
And another interesting aspect:
Sounds like one of these little critters could seriously spoil a trip to the beach.
Anyway, being here in the UK I am not too familiar with many of Schmidt’s stings. My most recent stinging experience probably merited about a 2.0: I was on my mountain bike, flying down a decent hill, with various insects bouncing off my face and chest, including bees. I was just thinking, “Gosh, I hope a bee doesn’t fly down the neck of my T-shirt!” when a bee flew down the neck of my T-shirt.
It made it down just as far as the chest-strap of my rucksack, where it got trapped and stung me just above the nipple. Cue skidding to a stop from 30mph+ while simultaneously trying to rip my T-shirt off over my head. Much amusement from passers-by… 
I’ve been told I was stung on the eyelid by a bee when I was about four years old. The weird thing is that I have no memory of the sting, but I do remember what it felt like to try to see with one eye half-shut for the next few days.
I don’t actually remember being stung, unless you count those vicious little ants that live on the rocks near the cabin we go to every summer. Those things are the reason flip-flops were invented…
I’ve been hit by fire ants, yellow jackets, bees, and paperwasps. Whatever got my foot last night, though, was by far the worst.
Pepsis wasp. so 4.0
Having worked in the exotic animal trade for several years I’ve been bitten and stung by some other invertebrates that surpass that though.
4.5 Bark Scorpion. -Initial searing pain that feels cold, followed by a rush of heat to the area and a persistent dull ache that lasts 12 hrs. The would heals quickly as the swelling recedes so while quite painful, it remains lower on my list.
5.0 Cobalt Blue Tarantula The initial bite was fairly mild, like the sting of a wasp, but the venom made my joints ache for days. It was like having severe arthritis coupled with involuntary muscle cramping.
7.0 Vietnamese Giant Centipede- Ungodly painful. It felt like having your hand slammed in a car door for nearly 14 hours straight. In addition, this animal is large enough that you can feel it punching it’s mandibles into your skin over and over again while it’s biting you. The pain would recede only to suddenly ramp back up to the same level of the initial bite. Curiously, it simply “stopped” and ceased to hurt at all after the 14 hr mark. The wound persisted for about two weeks and blistered up.
The worst I’ve had are paper wasps, but red velvet ants are frequently spotted in my yard so it’s only a matter of time before one of those little bastards gets me.
I was swarmed by fire ants a couple of years ago. I did not think they were all that painful; I felt sudden and extremely intense itching, but not any sharp pain.
If that guy thinks a honeybee hurts more than a yellow jacket, he is wrong; honey bees are like kisses compared to a yellow jacket, at least in MHO. Hornets hurt more than bumble bees but for a new experience in painful stings, I recommend scorpions.
Just call me “boy”, thanks. 
There are people who actually want to own one of those? 
I’ve had friends that would back that up - one compare it to sticking your hand on an electric burner, turning it to high and leaving it there.
That said, I’m pretty sure that photo is mislabeled. It looks like a big Hadrurus to me, probably H. arizonensis - note all the setae on the appendages ( hence the common name of “hairy scorpions” for the genus ). Bark Scorpions are actually much smaller.
ETA:
Oh, certainly :). Not me ( anymore ), but arthropod pet geeks are certainly around and arguably increasing in number ( at least they seemed to be in the 90’s, when everyone wanted a pet Bird-Eating Spider )…
Is it bad if I’ve done the second half of the list? Hydrochloric acid on a paper cut was memorable. Rusty nail that was out in the august sun for a while wasn’t as bad. Face first through a stone wall at 20+MPH is my current record, though.
Also, paper wasp, man-o-war… I really can’t decide which was worse.
