Insects you really don't like?

[Dave Jay]

I'm not too fond of leeches!
I was reading a care guide the other day where it said they are simple to feed,just attach it to your arm and it will fall back into the tank when it's full! Not me!!!
There was an interesting (in a weird way) documentary about leeches living in peoples sinus cavities because larval or just tiny leeches are inhaled while people are swimming. Years later a huge leech living in their sinus cavity is found to be the source of their headaches and discomfort!!! Yuck!
And although not an insect or invert, I don't think I'd be too keen on those Urethra Catfish either!!!

 

[Godzillaalienfan1979]

Urethra Catfish

after seeing that river monsters episode....UuuuUUUUUGH

 

[Jurdon]

So much mosquito-ism in this thread! What about Sabethes cyaneus, the iridescent blue, paddle-footed mosquito that courts with its mates? Or the elephant mosquito, Toxorhynchites? I suppose they are nasty little buggers, what with the blood-sucking and whatnot. I can’t say there are any inverts I hate, but I used to be scared of stag beetles for roughly a year after a traumatic incident when I was like, 5ish.

 

[Godzillaalienfan1979]

stag beetles

What happened?

 

[Garth Vader]

I really dislike yellow jackets. 2 years ago while in my garden pulling blackberry vines, I apparently pissed one off and disrupted whatever demonic activity it was doing. That little jerk stung me SEVEN times in just a few seconds. It got STUCK IN MY PANTS and continued to sting. I swear I heard it chanting about Beelzebub while it stung my nether regions. Evil little thing!

My husband heard me wailing and thought it was the baby crying. Nope! Just me! Just a grown adult wailing and flailing, with a yellow jacket attached to the butt.

Those stings were so painful. And that was MEAN and EXCESSIVE. One sting could be enough to tell me to go away. But Seven? That's not necessary. My husband forced me, my hysteria, and my welted bottom into a baking soda bath. I then took benadryl and passed out for the rest of the day. I was surprised at how painful it was.

Also, this happened the same weekend I had to say goodbye to my beloved cat and have him put down.

Not cool, yellow jacket.

 

[Jurdon]

after seeing that river monsters episode....UuuuUUUUUGH

Ah, the Candiru. That was a fun thing to learn about as a kid.

 

[Dave Jay]

Ah, the Candiru. That was a fun thing to learn about as a kid.

I remember as a kid reading an issue of Tropical Fish Hobbiest with Axelrod mentions being told by the natives to tie a thong onto his penis to stop the fish lodging there.

 

[Jurdon]

What happened?

Well, long story short, little me had caught a very impressive male stag beetle. When I decided it was time to let it go, I took the cup it was in and wound up to toss it out of said cup (think trying to put out a fire. I was going to thrust the cup forwards and expel the beetle inside. Probably could have been done better, but I was like 5). I wind up, cup over my head ready to fire like a loaded gun, and fwoop! The beetle slips out of the upside-down cup and onto my back. I was horrified, but, according to my mom, it was hilarious to watch me try to shake the thing off.

 

[NYAN]

centipedes just creep me out....They literally raise the hairs on me like a spooked cat.
Going to have to get one eventually so I can get over it I suppose.

Centipedes are my favorite animals. My heros in my profile pic is such a sweetie lol. If you get one I would recommend a new world species first since the venom and disposition is better.

 

[AnimalNewbie]

Fruit flys, mosquitoes and grasshoppers.
While in Costa Rica was walking around with a lamp admiring a huge cane toad we don’t get those in CA. And then I hear a buzz and literally a grasshopper about 7 inches is on my shoulder and I absolutely flip.

 

[Ilich]

It is interesting how the dislike of insects varies according to locale. And within locales, regions, it gets divided into 'urban legend', both real and imagined, and actual encounters.

Around here, Thailand, and most of SE Asia, it's interesting and informative. Mosquito dislike is mostly urban legend with just about everyone has had or knowing someone who has had Dengue while in rural areas mossies are just a fact of life annoyance. For rural laborers the big bitch is mostly heterometrus and some scolopendra. Just about everyone has had a close call or two with the big blacks and the pede is automatic wham if it gets on you. Then everybody hates Cimex and most have been chomped now and then. Mites are another fact of life and if you can afford them, mite proof sheets are on sale everywhere.

Then moving into the remote jungle regions, the deathly fear and hate is caterpillars while Ts and Scorps are considered toys for the kids. Many people have run foul of the caterpillars and numerous species pack a major wallop. As a child my wife suffered clinical death from getting several on her arm. Typical hilltribe. Decades later she casually picks up any spider, corrals the scorps for me to deal with, goes stomp monster with the pedes, is wary and cautious with cobras but anything resembling a caterpillar is freak out city.

Toxicologically speaking, the big bad bang of the tropics would be the caterpillars. The urticating hairs pack a toxin from hell. A friend brushed against one and the effect was equivalent to a rattler bite. He went down on the spot in agony. Instant diaphoresis, tachypnea, with cyanosis developing in about a minute. Classical toxic shock syndrome.

We have tent caterpillars in some places in northern america and they're very parasitic, my girlfriend's mother loves plant-life and absolutely hates these things because the reproduce like crazy and kill trees.

Maybe, but it just feels cruel.

I rather like Dubias, that's why I don't use them as feeders. I also keep Domino roaches as pets and they are very cute, it's just the red runners I dislike.

I can understand that, I wouldn't want a Tarantula to suffer in any way, it would break my heart.

Because they're very cool. Just like most parasites, honestly. Again, I'm sure it'd be upsetting if I or a friend or family member got one, but we haven't.

There's at least one member on here who reared a botfly (I think in his arm) to adulthood. They're beautiful flies.

Interesting, I'm really in no place to judge anyway, I respect your interests as I would expect you to respect mine, even if they seem weird. I don't think however that I could ever let a botfly feed off of me tbh, the idea makes me uncomfortable.

For me, it's head lice. Like @The Snark said, they have virtually no purpose other than to annoy people. I had an infestation like last year and we're still recovering from it. Ugh.

I know they're beneficial and feed thousands of small animals, but I also loathe mosquitoes

I've never had them nor seen them, I'm more-so worried about ticks where I live. I'm not an expert on ticks, but I know they cause Lyme disease and serve no real purpose to my knowledge.

I'm not too fond of leeches!
I was reading a care guide the other day where it said they are simple to feed,just attach it to your arm and it will fall back into the tank when it's full! Not me!!!
There was an interesting (in a weird way) documentary about leeches living in peoples sinus cavities because larval or just tiny leeches are inhaled while people are swimming. Years later a huge leech living in their sinus cavity is found to be the source of their headaches and discomfort!!! Yuck!
And although not an insect or invert, I don't think I'd be too keen on those Urethra Catfish either!!!

That sounds a bit uncomfortable, wouldn't want to be a food source either but if I were to keep leeches for whatever reason it wouldn't really bother me. Urethra catfish? No thanks, I'm good, I like my genitals the way they are.

So much mosquito-ism in this thread! What about Sabethes cyaneus, the iridescent blue, paddle-footed mosquito that courts with its mates? Or the elephant mosquito, Toxorhynchites? I suppose they are nasty little buggers, what with the blood-sucking and whatnot. I can’t say there are any inverts I hate, but I used to be scared of stag beetles for roughly a year after a traumatic incident when I was like, 5ish.

Well I don't know anything about any of those mosquitoes, but I'm pretty sure most of us are referring to the ones that bother us here in our native lands and spread disease. What happened with the stag beetle if you don't mind me asking?

I really dislike yellow jackets. 2 years ago while in my garden pulling blackberry vines, I apparently pissed one off and disrupted whatever demonic activity it was doing. That little jerk stung me SEVEN times in just a few seconds. It got STUCK IN MY PANTS and continued to sting. I swear I heard it chanting about Beelzebub while it stung my nether regions. Evil little thing!

My husband heard me wailing and thought it was the baby crying. Nope! Just me! Just a grown adult wailing and flailing, with a yellow jacket attached to the butt.

Those stings were so painful. And that was MEAN and EXCESSIVE. One sting could be enough to tell me to go away. But Seven? That's not necessary. My husband forced me, my hysteria, and my welted bottom into a baking soda bath. I then took benadryl and passed out for the rest of the day. I was surprised at how painful it was.

Also, this happened the same weekend I had to say goodbye to my beloved cat and have him put down.

Not cool, yellow jacket.

God I have so many blackberry vines in my yard right now it's not even funny. They're growing up underneath my deck as well. Yellow jackets are really mean! They try to sting me all the time and all I'm doing is minding my own business and trying to smoke a cigarette. Like I said a few days ago one tried to attack me from behind while I was just standing there. Last year three of them got into my bathroom. One while I was using the toilet, I ended up squishing it when I noticed it on the ground and two in the light fixtures, I noticed them at like 2am. Wasn't very fun.

Fruit flys, mosquitoes and grasshoppers.
While in Costa Rica was walking around with a lamp admiring a huge cane toad we don’t get those in CA. And then I hear a buzz and literally a grasshopper about 7 inches is on my shoulder and I absolutely flip.

Lots of people don't seem to like grasshoppers, I don't mind them, they can't really do anything. However, that being said, a dead one won't be missed.

 

[AnimalNewbie]

We have tent caterpillars in some places in northern america and they're very parasitic, my girlfriend's mother loves plant-life and absolutely hates these things because the reproduce like crazy and kill trees.


I can understand that, I wouldn't want a Tarantula to suffer in any way, it would break my heart.


Interesting, I'm really in no place to judge anyway, I respect your interests as I would expect you to respect mine, even if they seem weird. I don't think however that I could ever let a botfly feed off of me tbh, the idea makes me uncomfortable.


I've never had them nor seen them, I'm more-so worried about ticks where I live. I'm not an expert on ticks, but I know they cause Lyme disease and serve no real purpose to my knowledge.


That sounds a bit uncomfortable, wouldn't want to be a food source either but if I were to keep leeches for whatever reason it wouldn't really bother me. Urethra catfish? No thanks, I'm good, I like my genitals the way they are.


Well I don't know anything about any of those mosquitoes, but I'm pretty sure most of us are referring to the ones that bother us here in our native lands and spread disease. What happened with the stag beetle if you don't mind me asking?


God I have so many blackberry vines in my yard right now it's not even funny. They're growing up underneath my deck as well. Yellow jackets are really mean! They try to sting me all the time and all I'm doing is minding my own business and trying to smoke a cigarette. Like I said a few days ago one tried to attack me from behind while I was just standing there. Last year three of them got into my bathroom. One while I was using the toilet, I ended up squishing it when I noticed it on the ground and two in the light fixtures, I noticed them at like 2am. Wasn't very fun.


Lots of people don't seem to like grasshoppers, I don't mind them, they can't really do anything. However, that being said, a dead one won't be missed.

Yeah but one larder than your own hand appears out of nowhere and is suddenly on ur shoulder it’ll give u quite the scare

 

[Ilich]

Yeah but one larder than your own hand appears out of nowhere and is suddenly on ur shoulder it’ll give u quite the scare

I don't think I'd be scared, it'd probably be more like "ah, yes, hello there . . . go away"

 

[pannaking22]

So much mosquito-ism in this thread! What about Sabethes cyaneus, the iridescent blue, paddle-footed mosquito that courts with its mates? Or the elephant mosquito, Toxorhynchites? I suppose they are nasty little buggers, what with the blood-sucking and whatnot. I can’t say there are any inverts I hate, but I used to be scared of stag beetles for roughly a year after a traumatic incident when I was like, 5ish.

Toxorhynchites doesn't blood-feed, larvae feed on other mosquito larvae and adults are nectar-feeders. Uranotaenia is a nice looking US genus that only feeds on frogs (suspected that they key in on calls rather than CO2 to find hosts). Sabethes cyaneus is a gorgeous species, but they take a bit of a hit with the whole vectoring yellow fever thing. Some of the Aedes are nice looking too, though they're very good vectors.

Regardless, good to see someone coming to share mosquito diversity!

 

[Ilich]

Toxorhynchites doesn't blood-feed, larvae feed on other mosquito larvae and adults are nectar-feeders. Uranotaenia is a nice looking US genus that only feeds on frogs (suspected that they key in on call rather than CO2 to find hosts). Sabethes cyaneus is a gorgeous species, but they take a bit of a hit with the whole vectoring yellow fever thing. Some of the Aedes are nice looking too, though they're very good vectors.

Regardless, good to see someone coming to share mosquito diversity!

I retract my statement and about mosquitoes, partly, and will say I only dislike the ones that suck MY blood.

 

[Garth Vader]

God I have so many blackberry vines in my yard right now it's not even funny. They're growing up underneath my deck as well. Yellow jackets are really mean! They try to sting me all the time and all I'm doing is minding my own business and trying to smoke a cigarette. Like I said a few days ago one tried to attack me from behind while I was just standing there. Last year three of them got into my bathroom. One while I was using the toilet, I ended up squishing it when I noticed it on the ground and two in the light fixtures, I noticed them at like 2am. Wasn't very fun.

Be careful then if you are trying to rip out any blackberry vines. They go a bit nuts where I live, and in my old house that took over the front yard. I had pulled some vines out of a yellow jacket colony- they were living in the ground under this rock wall and I was disturbing it. We actually had Orkin come out and poison them- I normally wouldn't do that, but I was pretty shaken by that experience and was scared to go in the garden after that!


My husband sometimes refers to "the time you were stung by bees" or "the time the wasp got you" and I'm always quick to say IT WAS ONE YELLOW JACKET! Besides, I like bees. They are important and usually pretty chill (here anyway, when I lived in Africa they were rather aggressive).

Edited to add-
Oh you are in Washington too, so you know exactly how the blackberries get cray cray. Where do you live? I'm out on the Kitsap peninsula with the deer, bears, blackberries, naval base, etc.

 

[Ilich]

Be careful then if you are trying to rip out any blackberry vines. They go a bit nuts where I live, and in my old house that took over the front yard. I had pulled some vines out of a yellow jacket colony- they were living in the ground under this rock wall and I was disturbing it. We actually had Orkin come out and poison them- I normally wouldn't do that, but I was pretty shaken by that experience and was scared to go in the garden after that!


My husband sometimes refers to "the time you were stung by bees" or "the time the wasp got you" and I'm always quick to say IT WAS ONE YELLOW JACKET! Besides, I like bees. They are important and usually pretty chill (here anyway, when I lived in Africa they were rather aggressive).

Edited to add-
Oh you are in Washington too, so you know exactly how the blackberries get cray cray. Where do you live? I'm out on the Kitsap peninsula with the deer, bears, blackberries, naval base, etc.

Yeah, my landlord is paying someone else to come by and take care of it, I counted like 20 blackberry vines in my front yard or something like that.

Not too far from you, I live in Bellingham. We got all the same stuff, except the naval base.

 

[Garth Vader]

Yeah, my landlord is paying someone else to come by and take care of it, I counted like 20 blackberry vines in my front yard or something like that.

Not too far from you, I live in Bellingham. We got all the same stuff, except the naval base.

Oh I love Bellingham- lovely town. Lucky you that the landlord will take care of those crazy blackberries!

 

[Ilich]

Oh I love Bellingham- lovely town. Lucky you that the landlord will take care of those crazy blackberries!

Yeah, it's pretty nice here, moved here from SoCal a little over a year ago. He's a buddy of my uncle's, local PD, good dude.

 

[The Snark]

The mosquito has serious competition.
From 2004 to 2016, the number of tick-borne disease cases grew from 22,527 to 48,610, according to a CDC report.
During that time period, the number of cases of mosquito-borne diseases jumped from 4,858 to 47,461.

It should be noted that climate change is unquestionably proven to be enabling the spread of disease bearing vectors. One deadly peril climate change deniers are contributing to.