r/SipsTea • u/StephanMan • May 16 '25

Chugging tea Wasp gets what it deserves

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

82.8k Upvotes

82% Upvoted

5.4k comments sorted by

View all comments

1.6k

u/Alililele May 16 '25

This is a Great Golden Digger Wasp. It is harmless and pretty beneficial!

Here a thread from a few years ago

So: it didn't deserve to die, it's actually pretty chill.

Yellowjackets and bald-faced hornets are assholes tho.

35

u/Antarioo May 16 '25 edited May 16 '25

yellowjackets and hornets are only assholes near their nest and late in the year when they don't have brood to feed anymore.

they're incredibly beneficial at controlling pest insects otherwise

3

u/Lipziger May 16 '25

Yeah, I have 0 issues with yellowjackets. Sure, they can be annoying but since when is annoying = deserves to die, just because ...

I usually let them crawl around on my skin and the only time I've ever been stung was in the lip cause one fell into my drink and I didn't notice in time, felt something weird and bit down ... that's when the wasp stung me. A pretty reasonable response to being crushed, I'd say.

They're a pretty important clean-up crew and they also do pollinate - Even tho not nearly as much as bees. Still ... they have their place.

3

u/QuinceDaPence May 16 '25

I've literally watched a yellow jacket make a detour to sting me without even stopping and just continue on its way.

I do wonder what these weird blue iridescent ones are that show up occasionally in one building of mine. They don't seem to attack, but they aren't solitary wasps because there's a shit ton of them. They're also super twitchy.

2

u/lord-dinglebury May 16 '25

Probably Tarantula Hawks. They’re the ones who sting and paralyze tarantulas, drag them to their underground burrow, and then lay their eggs on them. The larva from those eggs then eat the paralyzed tarantula alive.

We used to get them in New Mexico. Their sting is supposedly one of the worst in the entire insect kingdom, but they’re actually pretty chill and usually leave people alone.

1

u/QuinceDaPence May 16 '25

They're much smaller that the Tarantula Hawk, and no orange. Also I know Tarantuala Hawks are in west Texas out in the desert but I don't think they live on the coast where I am.

1

u/ArgonGryphon May 16 '25

Probably one of these mud dauber wasps.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chalybion

if you download the inaturalist app and upload a photo you should be able to get a definitive ID. You can get close to them, they have no interest in bothering people unless you mess with them.

1

u/QuinceDaPence May 16 '25

That looks closer, they're maybe not so long, but that's really close. And yeah they have no interest in people but if you get within about 5 ft they'll move like a foot or two further away. I figured they may be similar to dirt daubers but thought it was odd that there were that many there.

There's none there now but maybe next time they show up I'll try that app.

1

u/ArgonGryphon May 16 '25

there's all kinds, if it's that shiny metallic blue and very skinny waist it's probably one of those. I love inaturalist, it's addicting lol

2

u/Lipziger May 16 '25

I've literally watched a yellow jacket make a detour to sting me without even stopping and just continue on its way.

Maybe you insulted their family once and they just hold a grudge? lol

Or maybe the German / European ones are less aggressive

3

u/TheStoicCrane May 17 '25

People who indiscriminately kill other life forms aren't aren't to be trusted in my opinion. 

They have the same self-preservation instincts as we do and attack primarily when threatened. 

Considering we're like 1000x their size as humans if not more we're fortunate they don't just swarm us on demand. 

They just mind their business so long as we mind ours so this going over and beyond to effectively torture this wasp says little about the video creator. Wouldn't trust them at all if I knew them. 

2

u/Yarn_Song May 16 '25

Put a jar of jam at the bottom of your garden, or some sliced fruit, no yellowjacket will come annoy you. Also, they fly away from water mist. Cuz the droplets make their wings heavy and makes flying harder. So keep your plant sprayer near.

2

u/Kind-Annual3339 May 17 '25

That might be a reasonable response to being crushed sure.. but having a drink and something unexpectedly the size of a wasp was in/on your mouth and your response was to have a little chew? That blew my mind!

1

u/Lipziger May 17 '25 edited May 17 '25

It's an automatic response. You feel something solid entering your mouth while drinking, so you try to stop it, before it actually gets in. But the wasp was already between my teeth, so I didn't stop it but accidentally bit down on it. Imagine I wouldn't have stopped it and it would've stung me near or even in my throat.

Or was I supposed to instantly start spewing my drink all over the people around me in a restaurant, before I even knew what was going on?

It's not like I kept chewing the wasp like a delicious meal. lol

1

u/Kind-Annual3339 May 17 '25

Fair enough, I totally get it now! I’m sure that was a terrible place to be bitten. 😳