all you arachnophobes can relax now

[Hutch]

I saw slo-mo HD footage of a dozen or so of the Japanese hornets slaughtering honeybees in a hive.  It was absolutely horrifying.  They seemed to be invulnerable and remorseless, chomping bees in half at will.<shiver>.  Iirc, the killed ~12k bees, for no losses of their own.

Edit: found it on YouTube again.  30 hornets, 30 THOUSAND dead bees.

[MechAg94]

For anyone bothered by it. You can confirm you're relatively spider-free by going out on a dark night, up around your house and shining a bright tight beamed LED flashlight into the bushes and plants up against your house.

You can see the little dew-drop reflections of their eyes, and guesstimate how many there are.

You're welcome. 

Let the grass get a little long along the side of your house, then weed eat.  See how many spiders are running around in the grass.  We used to have tons of Wolf type ground spiders around the house.

[HankB]

You have to Capitalize "THEM!" if you are going to post that pic.   

Would have been too obvious . . . but it still didn't take long for someone to catch the reference. 

[RoadKingLarry]

Ya just got to know the good guys from the vermin.
Spiders and snakes that eat other pests are good. Venomous spiders and snakes too close to the house get whacked.
I lost count of how many Blackwidow spiders I killed last year, it was more
Than 20 though. I'm sure they'll be back this year.

[LadySmith]

Y'all are scared of little ol' wasps, spiders and snakes?
Chickens.

 

J/K. You all are simply sane, whereas I on the other hand... 

[RoadKingLarry]

[roo_ster]

This is my bucket.  There are many like it, but this one is mine.

[roo_ster]

Y'all are scared of little ol' wasps, spiders and snakes?
Chickens.

 

J/K. You all are simply sane, whereas I on the other hand... 

Not so simply sane?

Orthogonally lucid?

[BlueStarLizzard]

Y'all are scared of little ol' wasps, spiders and snakes?
Chickens.

 

J/K. You all are simply sane, whereas I on the other hand... 

I don't like things that can sting or poison me.

I really don't like things that sting. I am not allergic (rather the blow up like a blimp and can't breath type), but I do have a pretty nasty reaction when I get stung. Not nice.

[RoadKingLarry]

but I do have a pretty nasty reaction when I get stung. Not nice.

So do I. When I get stung by something the entire population of the offending species that is on my property is forfeit. The only exception would be honey bees, you get stung by a honey bee it's probably your fault.

[Battle Monkey of Zardoz]

Spiders and scorpions make me hike up my monkey skirt and run screaming.

Dealt with the Tarantula Hawks in CA during a year long oilfield hitch. Asked the safety gal what the sting was like, response was it feels like an electrical wire hits you twice, then you fall down and scream for half an hour. Filthy bastards

[Scout26]

<---- I will once again point out that Northern Illinois is poisonous snake, scorpion, tarantula hawk, giant spider, fire ant and huge wasp-free.  Yes, we have spiders, bees, wasps and hornets, but generally if you leave them alone, they leave you alone.

[BlueStarLizzard]

<---- I will once again point out that Northern Illinois is poisonous snake, scorpion, tarantula hawk, giant spider, fire ant and huge wasp-free.  Yes, we have spiders, bees, wasps and hornets, but generally if you leave them alone, they leave you alone.

Wasps and hornets are not in the catagory of "generally leave you alone."

Everytime I get stung by a wasp it was in the house, flew into the ceiling and fell on me. And then it stung me.
And one little booboo with a hornet and the bastards chase you!

[Battle Monkey of Zardoz]

<---- I will once again point out that Northern Illinois is poisonous snake, scorpion, tarantula hawk, giant spider, fire ant and huge wasp-free.  Yes, we have spiders, bees, wasps and hornets, but generally if you leave them alone, they leave you alone.

I will gladly deal with the above, IL has more dangerous critters running around the state, democrats.

Hornets. Yep. Those bastards will chase you, and they sound like a pissed off Huey. I was 16, clearing out brush around a deer stand near Apple Springs TX. Guess I disturb a hornet, the damn thing chased me 100ft or more, I was running to the truck for cover. He nailed me right between the shoulder blades. Knocked me to my knees. Hurt like hell.

[BlueStarLizzard]

I will gladly deal with the above, IL has more dangerous critters running around the state, democrats.

Hornets. Yep. Those bastards will chase you, and they sound like a pissed off Huey. I was 16, clearing out brush around a deer stand near Apple Springs TX. Guess I disturb a hornet, the damn thing chased me 100ft or more, I was running to the truck for cover. He nailed me right between the shoulder blades. Knocked me to my knees. Hurt like hell.

And it's not like you really need to do all that much to piss them off. I've been just walking along and the wake in the air of my passing has set them off.

[AJ Dual]

When I was about 11, I was at a relatives house, and was watching him mow the lawn, he had a small garden that was outlined in brick, that had been overtaken by the grass, so he just kicked the bricks out of the way and ran the mower over it too.

There was a wasps nest in there.

It was a side-ejection chute mower.

I was standing straight in line with the chute. So the wasps were not only angry, and in complete "defend the nest mode" but they were all blade/propeller driven right at me. It was at least 25 stings initially, then roughly 7 more over the course of the next hour or two as ones hidden in the folds of my clothes or under my shirt got bumped or agitated and stung me some more.

I didn't feel so good, shaky and was vomiting, but I was OK overall.

Funny, even back in the 80's people didn't take their kids to the ER for "every little thing". 

[BlueStarLizzard]

When I was about 11, I was at a relatives house, and was watching him mow the lawn, he had a small garden that was outlined in brick, that had been overtaken by the grass, so he just kicked the bricks out of the way and ran the mower over it too.

There was a wasps nest in there.

It was a side-ejection chute mower.

I was standing straight in line with the chute. So the wasps were not only angry, and in complete "defend the nest mode" but they were all blade/propeller driven right at me. It was at least 25 stings initially, then roughly 7 more over the course of the next hour or two as ones hidden in the folds of my clothes or under my shirt got bumped or agitated and stung me some more.

I didn't feel so good, shaky and was vomiting, but I was OK overall.

Funny, even back in the 80's people didn't take their kids to the ER for "every little thing". 

Reminds me of a story about my boss, katie.

She grew up on a horse farm that specialized in Eventing. She also had her own tractor, and one of her favorite things to do was "jump" her tractor down a bank jump, next to the barn and in full veiw of the road and the outdoor ring. One day, she was happly driving off the bank and landed her tractor on a bees nest. Hundreds of the suckers and they managed to get inside her clothes.
Her sister came running, and started trying to srip Katie to get the bees off her, but Katie refused and fought back because she would rather get stung by angry bees then have the cute riding instructor and anyone passing by on the road see her nekkid.
 

Morals of the story: Don't give an eleven year old a tractor, and don't expect her to strip, even if she is in severe pain if a cute guy can see her.

[MrsSmith]

Aww, you just need a hug!

<shudders> Um, no. I don't.

If you're afraid of spiders and read an arachnophobia thread you have no one but yourself to blame...

The title implied there was some sort of miraculous discovery that would eradicate spiders from the face of the planet forever. 

[BlueStarLizzard]

<shudders> Um, no. I don't.

The title implied there was some sort of miraculous discovery that would eradicate spiders from the face of the planet forever. 

Face your fears and try AJ's trick.

We all know, thanks to Ben, you have plenty of flashlights to choose from.
 

[220_SWIFT]

I'll be over here in the corner putting together a flamethrower in between fits of the heebies *and* the jeebies....

You got room in that corner for another wrench turner to help with that flamethrower?  I'll watch your back, if you watch mine!

[vaskidmark]

.... The title implied there was some sort of miraculous discovery that would eradicate spiders from the face of the planet forever.

Ummm, no.  You inferred that all on your own.

The title states that aracnophobes can now relax.  The implication being that fear of arachnids is, in comparison, not such a big thing.  The featured wasp is, however, such a big thing.  A freaking big thing.  A freaking big thing that can probably fly faster than anyone can run and therefore capable of not only catching up with someone but maintaining the chase whilst utilizing the wasp's ability to sting repeatedly as opposed to, fer instance, the bee's loss of stinger and subsequent death due to having it's guts ripped out as punishment for stinging you.

What you imply may not be what I inferred.  As an editor you ought to know better (he boldly says from a position of cover several states away).

stay safe.

[RocketMan]

The summer before my senior year, I was helping a friend put up a dipole antenna on the wooded easement below his house one evening about dusk.  While holding a length of coax, I looked up to see my small dog leaping around in a curious fashion.  I thought to myself, "The last time I saw her do that, she was being stung by bees."
Then my leg was on fire.  I looked down at my leg, fully expecting to see it on fire, and was baffled by the lack of flames.  It was on fire, I could feel it burning like hell, but no flames?  Then I finally put it together.  I was standing over a ground hornet's nest, and they had gone up my pant leg.
More to the story about a suddenly amazing athletic ability, disappointed paramedics, a cop that knew where I lived, and being naked on the back patio in full view of the neighborhood.
Suffice it to say, 30-plus hornet stings [bleeping] hurt.  A lot.

ETA:  In keeping with the theme of the OP, here's the little fellow I caught in my garage last year.

[MrsSmith]

Ummm, no.  You inferred that all on your own.

The title states that aracnophobes can now relax.  The implication being that fear of arachnids is, in comparison, not such a big thing.  The featured wasp is, however, such a big thing.  A freaking big thing.  A freaking big thing that can probably fly faster than anyone can run and therefore capable of not only catching up with someone but maintaining the chase whilst utilizing the wasp's ability to sting repeatedly as opposed to, fer instance, the bee's loss of stinger and subsequent death due to having it's guts ripped out as punishment for stinging you.

What you imply may not be what I inferred.  As an editor you ought to know better (he boldly says from a position of cover several states away).

stay safe.

*Juvenile response deleted* Skidmark. You wear me out. Though the image of you being chased by a giant flying wasp was entirely amusing. 

And damn you RKL. You posted that same photo last summer and I don't find it any more entertaining now than I did then.

[LadySmith]

Not so simply sane?

Orthogonally lucid?

 

Out of all the forementioned phobia-inspiring critters, I've never had a wasp for a pet.
Hmmm...

[RoadKingLarry]

*Juvenile response deleted* Skidmark. You wear me out. Though the image of you being chased by a giant flying wasp was entirely amusing. 

And damn you RKL. You posted that same photo last summer and I don't find it any more entertaining now than I did then.

I got a new one for this morning.
I was moving some lumber around and felt something wiggle under my hand.