Make a Pet Bee, even on a leash!

[Yappy]

http://www.ehow.com/how_5389162_pet-bee.html
Haven't tried this yet.

... Rob

ps: if this is not correct place to post this type of bee info, please advise.

[BeeHopper]

http://www.ehow.com/how_5389162_pet-bee.html
Haven't tried this yet.

... Rob

ps: if this is not correct place to post this type of bee info, please advise.

It's easier to superglue the tip of string or better yet, fishing line to the tail end or middle of abdomen underneath so that it does not interfere with the wings. I did this to a dragonfly some years back, Hilarious !!!  :-D

[Keith13]

I thing gregpardo drank way to much mead and has an over abundance of time on his hands.

Keith

[hardwood]

As teenagers my brother and I would catch these huge Japanese beetles that would flock to a certain tree in our yard. We'd tie a 3' piece of thread to the legs of two of them and let 'em go. They'd fly in lazy circles around the yard for hours...great fun!
Scott

[Scadsobees]

I used to do that with flies, and now we do that with thread to drones for the kids occasionally.

Make a little slip knot in thread, loop around the back leg and let go for some free-flying fun!  The kids really get a kick out of it. 

It does seem cruel, but I figure it saves the drones from either a slow cold death or death by getting their...um...thingies ripped off in a macabre mating ritual!!

[BjornBee]

I have to admit when I was much younger and perhaps a bit more STUPID, I did some crazy things. I once laughed at getting a friends dog drunk. And there was a time when we had a contest to see who who had the most creative way of killing a mouse, after being caught.

Nowadays, it seems a bit childish. Honestly, this is something I did in my school years long ago. The old, tie a string on some insect, for cheap laughs. But then I grew up. I care about my business, the image beekeepers portray to the public, etc.

I will not make comparisons, but many guys who torture animals, started somewhere and it escalates. Ripping wings off bees one year, frying ants and insects with a magnifying lense, shooting every bird in the back yard the next, setting the neighbors cat on fire, and so on.

We seek help from non-beekeepers in a host of ways. We want them to use chemicals wisely. We want them to provide places for us to keep bees on their property. We want people to know we are helping the environment, responsible folks doing the right things.......and yet we get kicks out of stuff like this. And putting it on a forum and laughing about it.

Absolutely amazing.

Sorry guys. Not funny any longer....... ;)  And even if it was, I wonder about the message we send to the public.

I know I'm the odd man out. But that is alright. I'm used to it.  8-)

[Scadsobees]

Wow...you are right about being the odd man out! It always made me feel sick to purposely kill things that bled, so I could never have done that to a mouse.  But I never had a problem with tying a string to the leg of a bug, or sometimes putting pins in them for a collection.

But sometimes when I was feeling especially vicious I'd put grasshoppers in spiderwebs too and watch them get poisoned and immobilized before getting their guts sucked out !!<gasp> :evil:

You don't put your dog on a leash? :roll:

 :-D :-D

[BjornBee]

Scads....No I don't! I don't have a dog...... :lau:

I'm not saying that I have not done some rather humorous, silly, and some could even call "sick" things. Young fools are exactly that....young fools.

I've put strings on bees, fed insects to spiders, and a host of things. I fried some insects after watching a twilight zone episode based on the same, years ago. I've also seen other people do these things as well as take pleasure in killing kittens, birds for nothing more than sport, and a host of other things. We actually had "pet walking flies" where you rip the wings off and keep them as crawling pets. Those were the days when a handy string in school could not be found.

As I grew older, I simply don't take the same pleasure in these childish acts. And although I may of taken pleasure in some of these things, I hardly think they are pleasurable now.

Will I be showing my kids how to do many of these things? No.

I will not debate where the line is drawn, in regards to whether a insect, or other animal has a different line drawn.

I may not even feel that upset about a string around a bee if you really pushed me. I do question the message it sends as a group, to the rest of the public, when beekeeper take pleasure of these things. I think it is the wrong message.

But hey, I laughed and did the string around a fly thing years ago. I also had buddies pull my finger and farted, looked up girls dresses, flung boogers in fun, and a host of other things. I just moved on and look at these things as perhaps something sitting around talking about really isn't that funny anymore.

I once thought it was cool to fry ants with magnifying lenses. And who is going to be upset over a few ants? They get on the counter, and I'll kill them with no problems. But am I going to take pleasure hunched over licking my lips while I giggle in the same delight as perhaps the image I had with you feeding insects to spiders? No, I don't think so.

Just the same, I will not be showing my 4 year old how to fry ants, or posting such images as how to "make a pet bee" on my website. I do think many people who escalate into far greater acts of evil with animals probably started with small things of amusement, then it grew from there.

It's not about the bee or fly getting harmed. It is about maturity, public image (which is not hard to think that some may look at this negatively), and just doing what feels is right.

I wonder how many people would be willing to add a chapter in a bee book, or a page on their website, with "How to make a pet bee and other silly things to do with bees". Not many I'm sure.

Some guy kills some bees (swarm) and posts it on youtube, and he is an idiot as beekeepers suggest. But as long as you don't kill the bee, making them flying amusement tricks is all fine. I think some may, although on different levels, see both of them wrong.

I hardly think this is a proud "moment" for beekeepers to portray to the public.

[Scadsobees]

Um...there may be different definitions of maturity we may be on.  I still sometimes watch cartoons with the kids, play with them, and get toys for myself of various type. 

I'd love a remote control helicopter, for now I'll have to settle for walking my a drone on a leash...they're pretty close, y'know.  When they get tired we usually just release them and let the female bees kill them :roll:.

I guess I find your comparisons a little far fetched.  Beekeepers already have a public image...a bunch of fuddy-duddy old men.  I don't think a little drone on a leash and getting kids interested will hurt that *too* much.  :-D

Most people wouldn't try it anyway because they don't know what a drone is.

I agree with you about ripping wings off and all that.   I'll still do that occasionally when feeding a bug to the fish, but I don't like to.

Rick

[Mason]

Hours and hours as a kid spent throwing flies into spider webs and ants into ant lion or (doodle bug) funnels.  It might be mean to the flies or ants but I'm sure the spiders and doodle bugs appreciate it.

[beecanbee]

Maybe a bit more productively for beeks....  I use a slip noose to attach a monofiliment plastic strip to hornets.... letting it hang down about 4 inches, and then release them to track them back to their nest.  It acts as a flag and is easy to see, particularly if it is sunny.

[gaucho10]

BjornBee,  I'm with you 100%.  I got better things to spend my time on doing.  When I was 6 y/o I was throwing kittens into the air and I killed them.  I did not know what I was doing until after I noticed that they died.  When I was 12 y/o I used to burn ants with a magnifying glass.  Now that I look back at that I feel sorry for what I did and think about how all those critters suffered needlessly.  Nowadays when I do "cutouts" I do end up killing some bees but that is just part of the job and it is not done "for fun" or "enjoyment".  I don't feel bad nor do I feel like a criminal for killing some of the bees but I try to do as little damage as possible.  I really don't have the time to be tying a string onto anything to watch it dangle along.

I live alongside a wetlands area and very often I come in contact with insects and mamals.  I just enjoy letting a dragon fly land on my shoulder or arm and just watch it as it rests.  I like to examine the texture and color of its body and then watch it fly off to hunt or mate.  The thought of catching and tying a string to it would never cross my mind.  BUT...I would not hesitate to pull a gun and pointing it at a (human) criminal if the situation arose (I'm retired with 26 years in law enforcement).  

[bigbearomaha]

I don't put my dog on a leash, and I don't take my dog places where the city or other rules require one.   I don't find  degradation of other living creatures funny.

As bjorn said, it all starts somewhere.  "ah who cares, it's just a bee"  to "ah who cares it's just a cat" to "ah who cares, it's just that dorky kid from down the block"  Don't say  I take it too far, because the newspapers are full of exactly those kinds of stories.

All life is sacred and all living creatures deserve respect. 
I second the "not funny" motion.

Big Bear

[Romahawk]

 As bjorn said, it all starts somewhere.  "ah who cares, it's just a bee"  to "ah who cares it's just a cat" to "ah who cares, it's just that dorky kid from down the block"  Don't say  I take it too far, because the newspapers are full of exactly those kinds of stories.

All life is sacred and all living creatures deserve respect. 

Big Bear

Couldn't agree more Big Bear.

[annette]

I used to fry ants with a magnifying glass, and scrape the lights off of lightning bugs. That was when I was a little girl.

I don't find this stuff funny anymore.

[David LaFerney]

I gotta agree with Bjorn on this.  If only for the self serving reason that it's bad PR.  Back when I was an obsessive compulsive deer hunter people (mostly young and dumb and full of stupid - guys) used to sling their buck across the hood of the station wagon or hang it out the back of the pickup and cruise around to show it off with it's tongue hanging out and blood everywhere.  The hunting press got on the bandwagon that this was inflammatory to average mommies and turned disinterested people into animal rights activists - which is probably true.  Nowadays in my area you will get flak from other hunters for doing that.  Same thing for open carry of handguns in public venues.  Why upset the natives?

Plus - you gotta admit that it's kind of mean even if it's only a bug.

[Cindi]

Sorry, ichy post.  I won't even let the kids around here pull off the wings of the dumb leatherjackets.  We all do dumb things, and things done as a child, I truly regret too.  Have that great day, health.  Cindi

[Mason]

I used to have a pet preying mantis.  He had a small cage where I would feed him but mostly he ran free in my bedroom.  I finally lost him when I took him on family vacation in our camper.  My mother still won't admit she got rid of him.

He was really cool and had lots of personality for a bug.  The way that he ate bugs was far more brutal than burning an ant with a magnifying glass.

Bad times for bugs but good times for my mantid.