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For the second time in two months I've been stung or bitten by something on the ground when doing yard work on my property out east on STX. None of the bites/stings felt much worse than a bee sting, in fact much less like an ant bite. First time on my hand wearing a thin garden glove when picking up a pile a brush I cut two days earlier. Second time on my foot while digging in the woods in flip flops. In both cases there were large swelling, slightly itchy. No pain, nor a feeling of heat. The swelling did not occur until hours after the bite, but was quite large 3-4 inches in diameter. In fact it was the swelling the caught my attention the first time.
Primary suspects are centipedes (though I rarely see them at my place), scorpions (more frequent around my house, in fact I unearthed a small one inch'er close to where I was standing when I got bit) or fire ants.
I hear Centipede bites hurt like hell (not sure if true), didn't seen any ants, so leaning towards scorpions.
Any clues?
Posted : June 1, 2015 10:44 pm
Any of the above plus spiders! Whenever I go out in the bush I'm careful to wear socks, sneakers and long pants plus spray my ankles and other bare parts of skin with a Deet-containing repellent! Some places I wear a hat if there are tall trees inhabited by iguanas ...
Posted : June 1, 2015 11:05 pm
I get that kind of reaction when stung by a fire ant. And if I get more than 4 or 5 stings, I also get joint pain and other physical ailments. The redness and swelling don't last much more than a day if I only get a couple. And it seems like the more bites I get over the years the worse my body seems to handle them. I'm really careful to wear jeans, socks, and sneakers when doing yard work.
Spider bites tend to give me all of the above but the area remains swollen for much longer. I've had a few recluse bites over the years. Most recent one was pretty bad and after it healed it re-flared about 9 months later. I didn't even know that was possible....but I guess it is and it was probably more painful the second time around.
Posted : June 2, 2015 8:53 am
