ONCE BITTEN......

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Hi all... It pay not to become too complacent whilst you are out there prospecting. It does pay to be observant though especially if you are digging around ants nests. I had the misfortune of having a monster bull ant crawl up my trouser leg and start stinging me on the thigh. I pinched the trousers in an attempt to crush the damn thing in the fold of the trouser material only to be stung on my fingers. Its stinger long enough to penetrate through the jeans. It's been 3 days now and I still have swollen inflamed fingers and red lumps on my leg. People die every year form these mongrels as a result to anaphylactic shock. In future I will be wearing thick socks pulled over my trousers.It's not just bull ants you have to watch out for, it's also jumping jacks.
 
graybeard77 said:
Hi all... It pay not to become too complacent whilst you are out there prospecting. It does pay to be observant though especially if you are digging around ants nests. I had the misfortune of having a monster bull ant crawl up my trouser leg and start stinging me on the thigh. I pinched the trousers in an attempt to crush the damn thing in the fold of the trouser material only to be stung on my fingers. Its stinger long enough to penetrate through the jeans. It's been 3 days now and I still have swollen inflamed fingers and red lumps on my leg. People die every year form these mongrels as a result to anaphylactic shock. In future I will be wearing thick socks pulled over my trousers.It's not just bull ants you have to watch out for, it's also jumping jacks.
:eek: bugga !
 
I read that Stingose and Calamine are good for surface relief... :Y:

won't help much if your afflicted though...and i also read their toxin can be cumulative in the body,.... :eek:
 
Sorry to hear that mate, they sure do have a kick to them, I'm always on the look out for them. The things can be nearly anywhere in Aus. I was detecting a beach in Manly at the start of summer, I swung my detector under a shrub and a bright red one inch long one jumped out of the bush and onto my CTX3030 screen.... Was lucky it didn't land on me as they'll usually start stinging immediately.
 
Antihistamine would you beleive works on a lot of bites and scratched eyes. You can even get it at the super market, get both types, drowsy type one helps you sleep past it.
 
I'd check, because the side effects sound just as bad as the bite lol...

..."Some of the main side effects of antihistamines include:
Dry mouth.
Drowsiness.
Dizziness.
Nausea and vomiting.
Restlessness or moodiness (in some children)
Trouble peeing or not being able to pee.
Blurred vision.
Confusion.

Some of those exist without the need of pills/shots...lol :lol: :lol:
 
Here in the WA goldfields we have small red ants just like the meat ants only about 2/3 the size. Just like the meat ants, they bite but don't sting. When disturbed they stream out of a single hole and head directly for the offender dozens at a time. I've been on a small patch pulling nuggets out all over the place but had to walk away. There's nothing you can do but vacate the area :/
 
G'Day

Graybeard, the ant that got you was probably a Jumping Jack or Jack Jumper ant. It is not bull ant as it has a stinger rather than a normal ant that will bite you and stray formic acid. The jumping jack is a very primative ant and unlike almost all ants has retained its sting since all ants decend from wasps. It can sting over and over again unlike a bee. Modern ants have lost the ability to sting. The poison is also not the same as that of a bee. If you are allergic to a bee sting you will always be allergic and will need adrenolin. With a jumping jack you can be stug one time and have little reaction and another could affect you to such an extent that you may die or swell up or not and there is no way to predict what will happen.

One got me near Mongarlowe and it stung like all get gone. That night while I was sitting down at home I got up to go to the little boys room and just fell over. I could not walk for the swelling for a few days. When I got back to work I could not wear a shoe. One of my colleagues at work (Agriculture Department) was an entomologist and told me the full facts. There is no cure and there is no preicting the reaction. They kill more people in Australia than spiders and snakes, particularly in Tasmania. They are often endemic to old, wet areas of south eastern Australia and one species in the Adelaide Hills region.

If I see them in an area where I am prospeting I will abondon the area. They also seem to eat any kind of insect repellent and are aggressive as hell. They will go for you even if you are not near their nest.

Araluen
 
I see plenty of these buggers(Bull ants) in the Whipstick and get a chuckle watching them crack the shits and do their version of the Maori Haka.
Until one flanks me and gets me on the thigh.

bull-ant-alert_big.jpg
 
LC76 said:
I see plenty of these buggers(Bull ants) in the Whipstick and get a chuckle watching them crack the shits and do their version of the Maori Haka.
Until one flanks me and gets me on the thigh.

https://australianmuseum.net.au/Uploads/Images/3681/bull-ant-alert_big.jpg

We used to get lots of these guys at Upper Brookfield where I grew up. They come in two sizes. The small ones, about 20mm we used to call Jumpers and the big ones up to about 30mm we called Bull Ants. The big guys seem to prefer to threaten you first rather than dive in for the kill.

We see them both here in WA as well but in most places we don't have as much undergrowth so we tend to see them coming. I recently detected around a couple of Bull Ant nests at Murrin Murrin and they were getting about near my feet threatening to attack but gave me time to drag a couple of nuggets out and go on my way :)
 
Thank you guys for all your comments of both sympathy and support. I'm just happy that some do-gooder did not jump in and make an egregious remark like we should respect them and should not step on their homes. I say that anything that bites, and spoils our day should be annihilated. :mad:
 
I once had a half dozen or so up a plaster cast on my hand/wrist/arm (Christmas Eve) whilst brushing them off my screaming son's leg. He'd gotten car-sick driving up to Hotham, and had strayed onto a big nest.
Luckily I had chop sticks in the car which killed them after some frantic work, but the cast was not loose fitting for the next few days :lol:
I've been bitten by hundreds of bull ants and hopper ants, but thankfully don't react badly. My lady friend on the other hand, swells greatly and stays itchy for weeks - poor lassie. Mosquitoes also don't like me for some reason - maybe the rum?
 
I strayed into the bush sorta lately and was found by some Midgee's that took a liking to myself (coupla my kids got a few bites as well), the things swarmed me, luckily a mate with a can was close at hand and heading the same way, n he saved the day by turning up fortuitously and the insects dissapeared after the spray was handed around and applied liberally to arms and legs !
But, at the height of my personal assault by these Midgee's (4mm long sand flys) they were drawing blood and the smell of the bloodwafting into the distance must have proved too much of an attraction for the reat of the mongrels down the creek n way beyond, cause they were black thick on my legs just before rescue arrived (thanks again mate).
Anyway, I was great for about 4 days, then they started itching, n I obliged by rubbing (not wanting to scratch an all n make things really bad), n rubbing n rubbing ( ohhhhh they needed rubbing sooo blooody baaaaad !)
Any way, they looked like this after that :eek:
1492852017_20170418_090016.jpg

n old granma down the shops said V I N E G A R, (after I spent $25. on cream n pills at the chemist), anyway vinegar took the sting and itch away immediately upon application. :Y:
 
all sympathy greybeard77 i got got at snake gully last year by the same ants big black bludgers about 25-30 mm and you are wrong swright they sting like a wasp my calf turned purple like a birth mark for about a month. the cure for the anaphilactic shock from jack jumpers is an epipen
 
Heatho said:
Farout Silver, hope you stop itching soon, looks nasty. :|
Ssallgood now Heatho, day 3 after vinegar, havn't needed any for 24 hrs now, and you only needed two liberal applications a day of it, and I mean liberal too, splashed it on real good, just another week or so and the marks will all dissapear. :Y: :D :Y:
 
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