Let’s come back to a painful (literally) topic, that many people don’t like at all…stings! Bees stings? Wasps stings? Is there any difference? Yes! Which one? We had already spoken about stings, but we didn’t speak about the difference between bees and wasps stings, especially about what happens to the wasp and to the bee in that specific moment…I must admit that I didn’t know this me neither, it’s something that I found out this summer and I would like to share it with you.
So, today with this article we’ll look deeper into this matter! Would you fancy it?
Wasps stings…are they like the bee ones?
From where did I get the idea of writing such a article? Let’s have a step back. In July Maya and I were on holidays with my family in Sardinia. Wonderful land full of traditions, unforgettable tastes, crystal sea and wild nature. We deeply enjoyed it…the only thing that was not that nice was the beach full of wasps. I was pretty sad everytime I could hear (always) people sending them away and telling ‘God, there are so many bees!’. No, they were simply wasps, I didn’t see neither a bee actually. Anyway…
but why so many wasps?
Nothing strange, the season that was poor of nectar had started and they were simply looking for food where there was. They were definetely much annoying in any case, this we can’t deny it! And…I got my first wasp sting, and not only! Maya too, she twice!
Whaaat??
Yep, so my very first time with wasps stings too. I was able then to compare them with the bee ones and I had the occasion to ponder about it. Here the main conclusions:
- No pain difference between bees and wasps stings: it’s not more or less painful than the bee one, I didn’t perceive any difference (it’s similar to a little electric shock or a big pinch), you don’t die with pain but you definetely feel it. After some minutes it was already gone anyway and the same for Maya: she cried very much at the beginning – poor! -but then she was like nothing had happened (what is sure is that we are not allergic)
- and the sting?: when Maya got stung, I was desperately searching for the sting, so as to take it out as soon as possible. Since she is so little, she couldn’t explain me where it was of course and I was getting more and more anxious since I couldn’t really find it. Where was it? Where did she get stung? Nothing, it wasn’t there. No idea. When I spoke about it to papá Basti later, he told me „wasps don’t lose their sting!“ (facepalm/sigh for relief) and now we move to the 3rd point…
- What happened to the bee or to the wasp once they sting?: the bee dies, the wasp not. As we already explained, when bees sting they lose their sting that is stuck in the skin of the person, but this means that the bee will break her body when flying away. While wasps not, they sting and they fly away whistling. Therefore, a good difference that may make you understand if it’s a wasp sting or not is the presence of the sting. If you find it, it was a bee; but if you can’t, it was a wasp.
Did you know about this important difference? And you, have you ever been stung by a wasp?
Let us know with a comment, pls!
A hug,
the Gaeblini