I killed a killer.

[jdbnsn]

When I woke up this morning, I strolled in to my living room to an unusual sight. I leave the windows open at night but there is a screen with no holes in. Despite this seemingly inpenatrable defense, there stood in my presence an African Killer Bee on my screen. It clung to the wirey launch pad with a twinkle in it's thousand eyes, I stood in quivering dismay. I have been stung dozens of times by bumble bees, honey bees, wasps, hornets, and even a scorpion, but never a Killer Bee. I have heard that it really hurts. I have no idea how it got in my apartment, and he wouldn't say. So there we stood, motionless, plotting, planning our escape routes respectively. I believe he gave me the finger, I replied in kind. Then he swooped off his base and buzzed me like a Japanese Zero, I shreiked like a child and dashed for the bedroom. When the hum of his 3/4" wings ceased, I inched my way back to the battlefield with the stealth of a rooster, eyes fixed on my enemy, my enemy's thousand eyes fixed upon me. Then slowly, carefully, quietly, and without making a sound I crept toward the window where he pearched ready to pounce. Closer and closer I moved, purposeful and determined, fearful but undeterred. I came within reach of the sliding glass window that offered a strategic solution. I extended my arm gracefully, he buzzed briefly and returned to his post. Then ever so gently, I placed my fingers on the sun-baked metal frame and in a mightly and violent maneuver I slammed the window home trapping the foul beast between glass and a mesh prison. Solitary confinement. The price of trespassing. He buzzed around bashing back and fourth in his cell while I screamed obsenities, gave him the double-barreled middle finger salute, and laughed! I then sat in my chair observing my prisoner bound in the chains of his own hubris, glaring back at me with disdain. I googled his kind to be certain of his identity, identity confirmed. I didn't even know they lived this far Northeast. As hours past and his spirit broke, he resigned to his fate. Being a worthy adversary, he actually began to invoke my pity. Had I the chance, I would have released him into the wild to fight another day but alas there was no way. He wandered into an escapeless fate, and I sealed it. He roasted in the window and died with honor, finally falling to the sill with a mightly "thump", he was roughly an inch long and built like a hummingbird. So let this be a warning to any other African Killer Bees, I got my stripes and I'll kill again. Stay the hell out of my apartment!

[.Maleficus.]

LOL! Great story! Must have been scary seeing a Killer Bee though!

[Spawn-Inc]

ha, nice! i had a similar experence but with a Cricket hunter wasp. i was letting my brothers cat sniff the air from the front door and all of a sudden one flew inside. i closed the door and put the cats in the room so not to attack the wasp and and get all pissed. i then traped it in the drapes and grabbed a glass jar and tossed it back outside. here is what it looks like. it was about 1" long with a really cool metallic blue on it.
http://www.geocities.com/colin_l_miller/hymenoptera/wasp_07.jpg

it also made a nest like this in my mail/milk box (not milk anymore)
http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/resources/tanya_dewey/waspnest.jpg/medium.jpg

it wasn't as long as those, only about 1" - 1.5" long and there was 2 chambers. one was open and the other sealed. i sealed up the mail box and then looked into the open chamber with a flash light and found nothing. i tried to burn the nest but no luck. i then hit the nest and it was hard, like dirt. after hitting the nest harder out popped 10 spiders, semi alive. there was about 4 different species too. very freaky at first. so i dumped some lighter fuild on them and lit her up. i taped up the mailbox completey and haven't had any more problems as of yet.


i wonder who would win in a fight? a cricket hunter wasp or killer bee?

[FrooP]

may you have a picture of it?

[jdbnsn]

Nope, I squished his remains and flushed him to the sound of Taps being played softly. Didn't even think about photographing at the time.

[xRyokenx]

Great story man! If I didn't have to spread more rep around, you'd have another +rep, lol.

[Computer-Geek]

Lol I have had similar experiences with bugs :D

[Eclecticos]

I shreiked like a child and dashed for the bedroom. :eek:

I laughed so hard I cried. :D
You painted a clear picture of the event. +Rep

I once ask my grandma what they did for fun when she was young. .
She told me they would tie strings around the necks of bees and run around.

[SgtM]

Great story! +rep

[Indybird]

No matter how close a bug is to me outside, it won't bother me too much and I'll remain calm. But when one gets in my house, like you said, it gets personal.

My favorite encounter with a bug was when this massive (4" long) centipede got into my room. It scared the living %^&$ out me at first but then I decided I had to get rid of it. The funny part is he was dumb as hell; he ran up the door hinge of my open door. You can guess what happened next (Slam!-Crunch!). The only problem was the clean-up :(.

Great story +rep!

-Indybird

[jdbnsn]

Lol! I know, something about them invading home territory pisses me off too. I don't mind some bugs, infact I can pick up most bugs with no repulsion. The ones that get to me are skinny legged spiders (Daddy-Long-Legs excluded) and roaches. In KC during the second year of med school, I had been studying non-stop for 3 days at midterms. I studied through the night out on the back porch to avoid waking my ex. That night while sitting in my chair during a rainstorm with a lap full of notes at around 4AM and barefoot, I looked down and 6" from my feet was a huge brown recluse. I think I lept 8 feet to the door without touching the ground.

[Ironcat]

First let me say that I LOVED your story... but you probably didn't kill a "killer" at all...

Killer bees are called killer bees because they swarm and attack in huge numbers and a thousand bee stings obviously inject more venom than 1 or 2 "normal" bees would.

1. Their venom is no more or less toxic (or painful) than a normal bee sting.
2. Googling wouldn't have helped you identify him, an "africanized" bee is simply the product of a normal european bee bred with an earlier generation of "africanzied" bee. They look like normal bees and you really need a professional entymologist to examine several identifying factors.
3. They haven't gotten up to you yet... the farthest north so far is a couple of areas of Nevada.
4. They are no bigger than a "normal" honeybee either, if your bee was an inch long and "built like a bird" you might have killed a carpenter bee... they get HUGE and they look horrible but only the female stings...

[jdbnsn]

I know, I read up on them this morning. But it made for a better story than an ordinary bee. (I actually think it was a grand-daddy hornet)

[Elenril]

I believe he gave me the finger, I replied in kind.

That made me LOL the most. Great story, +rep for storytelling skills and bravery.

[Bucko]

And congrats on the 8th rep box! You've overtaken me now!

[jdbnsn]

Ah sweet, lotsa green!

[jdbnsn]

You're not going to believe this, there appears to be a hornet's nest burrowed into my apartment because after sitting here for less than an hour another slightly smaller soldier dropped from my ceiling and attacked! I applied the same technique as yesterday and this punk now shares the fate of his brethren. I think this is going to be an issue...but I got my adrenaline rush for the day!

http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/jdbnsn/misc/hornet.jpg

[b4i7]

break out the weapons.... jons goin to war!

[luciusad2004]

I used to have a wasp infestation and i kept a can of that bug killing foam near me at all time. I used to plaster my walls in that stuff on the faintest sound of a wasp's buzzing wings. Needless to say, I'm terrified of all things with stings and try to keep as much distance between them and myself as possible. A month or so later one of my parents was looking in my room for the source of the infestation (i was killing 5-10 a day) and we noticed that the top pain of a window in the area were they were coming from was slightly ajar. After closing it up, the wasps never returned and i slept peacefully thereafter (my bed was right under were they were coming in)

On a side note, I'm glad to hear that there aren't actually any killer bees this far north yet. When i saw that he said Killer bees and noticed he was in Pennsylvania I got scared for a minute. Definitely one of my worst fears...

[Drew]

But it made for a better story than an ordinary bee.


Brilliant.

+rep for being determined to make a drama out of a crisis!

[Helix666]

Vital tools for dealing with insect infestation:

* Bug Spray
* Flamethrower
* Fire Extinguisher
* Assorted Small Arms
* Thermonucl...
Hang on, I think I'm having a Starship Troopers moment...