It's about an inch (2cm) long, was flying around our bedroom, and was tough as nails. I have one of these* (basically a tennis racket with a charge running through horizontal wires), and every time I hit it there was a loud crack, a blue flash, and it _still_ kept going for three hits.
If I'm likely to have a whole nest of immortal massive insects in my walls, I'd like as much information on what they might be as possible...
(Only one so far, so it's entirely possible it came in through a window a couple of days ago and snoozed until five minutes ago. I'm certainly hoping so!)
*The reviews are awesome. People clearly get the urge to kill after getting one.
Original post on Dreamwidth - there are
2012-09-13 10:28 pm (UTC)
2012-09-13 10:37 pm (UTC)
I am currently assuming "bee of some kind". Hopefully not "bee of some kind that has nested in our goddamn walls."
2012-09-13 10:41 pm (UTC)
I'm not sure what the weather is like over there - I've been told it's raining a bit, and if so it could be a case that the bee has been looking for shelter and has somehow got into the warmth and dry of your bedroom.
2012-09-13 10:43 pm (UTC)
2012-09-13 10:43 pm (UTC)
2012-09-13 10:47 pm (UTC)
Photo taken under bad lighting, with my phone, while not wanting to get any closer, because the fucker was still twitching even after I held the electrocutioner against it for three seconds, and I wasn't taking any chances. I finished it off properly after that, and felt horribly guilty about doing so. I hate killing things.
2012-09-13 10:51 pm (UTC)
2012-09-13 11:19 pm (UTC)
2012-09-13 11:07 pm (UTC)
2012-09-13 10:43 pm (UTC)
Originally we thought it was a blue bottle. We had about 3 of them two weeks ago, and had great trouble getting them outside again (which is where the electric racket came from). It was only when it was half dead that we realised it wasn't.
I think you're probably right, and I feel itchy all over looking at bees and larvae and teenege larvae!
2012-09-13 11:10 pm (UTC)
Hopefully it is just a case that the bee was looking for a warm/dry home for the evening.
2012-09-13 10:46 pm (UTC)
2012-09-13 10:47 pm (UTC)
2012-09-13 10:51 pm (UTC)
2012-09-13 10:54 pm (UTC)
The Hoverfly is wasp/bee like, from a distance. We used to have them nearby when I was a kid:
http://www.cosplay.com/showpost.php?p=4
2012-09-14 02:52 am (UTC)
For killing insects, my father uses gasoline he sprays from a can. No kidding. It works really well. I use my environmentally safe cleansers which weighs down the bug and/or chokes it and then I squash it. Ok, I admit, I really don't like bugs.
2012-09-14 09:55 pm (UTC)
2012-09-14 09:57 pm (UTC)
2012-09-14 10:00 pm (UTC)
http://www.nhm.ac.uk/natureplus/mes
I suspect it would have been half knocked out by the first hit though - the crack sound from the charge was rather startling!
2012-09-13 11:15 pm (UTC)
2012-09-14 01:06 am (UTC)
*Bad* Mr & Mrs D for killing it. :¬( Bees are our friends!
2012-09-14 06:36 am (UTC)
2012-09-14 10:26 am (UTC)
2012-09-14 10:27 am (UTC)
2012-09-14 10:38 am (UTC)
2012-09-14 10:26 am (UTC)
You post your photo, with where you saw it (obfuscating a bit is fine) and when, and post a tentative identification if you have one. Then a friendly bunch of experts and knowledgeable amateurs can either confirm your ID, or give a more accurate one, or tell you that it's impossible to tell which species it is from the photo but it's probably X, Y or Z.
It's really cool.
(Disclaimer: I am academic lead for the technical development of the site as part of my day job, so may not be entirely unbiased.)
2012-09-14 10:28 am (UTC)
http://www.nhm.ac.uk/natureplus/communi
I'll give your one a go too!
2012-09-14 10:45 am (UTC)
2012-09-14 10:01 pm (UTC)
2012-09-15 09:44 am (UTC)
2012-09-14 10:31 am (UTC)
If so, then it's a hover fly. If not, then I agree with others, probably a wild bee.
2012-09-14 12:07 pm (UTC)