What type bug freaks you out? Most painful?

[KidCthulhu]

Ticks. Hands down. I hate mosquitoes and horseflies because they bite me, but the only insect that truly oooks me out is the tick. It's the way those little legs keep swimming long after they're bloated like a raisin. And the blood sucking. And the swelling.

This from a woman with two retrievers who has to pick the evil little buggers off the dogs every day from March to November. Greater love hath no owner.

 

[diaglo]

Greater love hath no owner.

my wife says the same thing about me.

 

[Angcuru]

I go by the general rule of "If it's bigger than my thumbnail and/or spiney/spikey, get out of Dodge." Or squish the bugger. With a big rock. From at least 5 feet away. Regardless.

I realized that I hadn't been stung a single time, despite carryign out crying kids getting stung several times.

You must be the zoological reincarnation of Wyat Earp.

 

[Hand of Evil]

Thanks for all the replies and pics!

I think I've seen a velvet ant before; I didn't know what it was at the time. It was kind of furry and the same color as in the pic. I encountered it a Boy Scout camp while storing supplies in a wooden shed. There was a box full of bug spray in the shed, and being fearful (and a little curious, I suppose), I sprayed the ant.

To my surprize, it started making a rather strange noise that was pretty loud for something that small. It looked like it was trying to sting itself. I felt bad at that point and left it alone.

It was the first time I ever felt sorry for killing an ant.

It is not really an ant but a wingless ground wasp.

 

[carpedavid]

Spiders of medium size. Those that are bigger than a thumbnail but too small to perform jujitsu on. Tiny ones I tend to leave alone, and giant ones I don't conceptualize as spiders - but those medium size ones make me shiver.

Anything with its front parts on its back parts freaks me out, too. Like earwigs - the little pincher things are on the wrong end, and that's just not right.

 

[WayneLigon]

Wasps. I have a terrible irrational fear of them, even though I know in my head that the sting will be painful only for a few minutes. If I see them, I lunge for the Raid and douse them until they're dead dead dead.

Bees I hate but at least I have the comfort of knowing that if stings me, half it's guts are coming with the sting and the little %^^*& will die later.

 

[Raging Epistaxis]

I've read (and heard) that either Velvet Ants (Cow Killers as I knew them growing up) or Cicada Killers had the most painful stings, due to size, volume and plain irritation from the sting.

Here's a FAQ

I've had the good fortune to never be stung by either, though. Despite about a decade or so of insect collecting as a young'un ...

I suppose I have developed a dislike of grasshoppers, of all things. Ever since The MOAG* tried to crawl/hop her way (spiking me the whole time) from my ankle to my stomach inside my coveralls when I was about 14...

Not that I react irrationally to them or anything. No, not at all.

Unless they are heading for an opening of my clothes.

Hey, that'd be a good stunt for Fear Factor!

R E

*Mother Of All Grasshoppers

 

[Tinker Gnome]

Wasps and Spiders. I live in Texas so I get a bunch of both around my house. Wasps outside and Spiders inside. There is usually a couple of wasps nests on my houses balcony, which is right outside my room. In fact I can see a couple of wasps through the windows in the balcony door every once in a while. SPiders like to hide in my pillows, so I have to check them before I go to sleep every night. I aalso get big tree roaoches in my room too.

 

[freebfrost]

Freebfrost:

Wow, I don't blame you in the least. Where (as in the geographic location) were you bitten?

West Virginia.

And yup, it was a brown recluse. Oh, the fun! :\

 

[Wormwood]

An old girlfriend's mother lost the lower half of her leg to a brown recluse bite (Tampa, FL). Nasty little buggers.

Personally? The common moth. Maybe because one opf them flew into my ear when I was 13 and I thought I was going insane until a doctor flushed it out.

I kill every insect I can.