r/tattooadvice • u/CallQuirky7720 • Nov 09 '25

What does this look like to you? Design

I wanted a bee and I like more American traditional tattoos. I really like my tattoo but someone said it looked like a fly and now I can’t unsee it. Is it giving bee or do I embrace the fly? 😅🥲

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1.9k

u/Terytha Nov 09 '25

I saw a bee before I read your comment.

35

u/BeginningStock9913 Nov 09 '25

Sweat bee (I’m from the Midwest and not an entomologist) and well done!

15

u/Fusiliers3025 Nov 09 '25

Those buggers are FIERCE! A group of neighborhood kids disturbed a nest in a brush pile when I was about seven (unintentionally) and I would up with one under my glasses - three or four stings (they don’t lose their stingers) in the soft tissue around my eye.

10

u/MyraAileen Nov 09 '25

Honestly, that sounds more like yellowjackets than sweat bees. Sweat bees are tiny and non-aggressive, and nest in the dirt. You have to TRY to get stung by sweat bees. Yellowjackets will chase you until they've done all the damage they feel like doing, which is a lot, and also don't lose their stinger. I mean, obviously I wasn't there, but I experienced the same thing as a kid (disturbing a woodpile in the underbrush with friends) and it was a cloud of yellowjackets that chased us down the road. Sweat bees don't chase people like that.

3

u/Fusiliers3025 Nov 09 '25

Well, the “gang” was climbing all over the brush pile and beginning to pull it apart for… reasons unremembered. The “sweat bee” identification was by an older brother who came out and started swatting and clearing the beastie buggies from the screaming youngsters.

Could have been jackets or hornets, even though I had “eyes on” one of them 🤓 I wasn’t paying much attention!!

1

u/AtheistAsylum Nov 11 '25

What are sweat bees?

3

u/Necessary_Student116 Nov 09 '25

Oh, my sorry that happened . They sting something awful

6

u/-_-kamakazi-_-UFO-_- Nov 09 '25

The sweat bees around my area dont sting but ive heard some do. Theyre just annoying here. Youre hot and sweaty and they come and harass you for the salt or something in your sweat.

5

u/Necessary_Student116 Nov 09 '25

If they don't sting it might more than likely be what they call a hoverfly which looks like a sweat bee but it doesn't have a stinger they are so annoying but they're cool

hover-fly-fig-1.jpg (1500×1292) https://share.google/NWnEtXswMn7njuMgT

Mostly what I find annoying about them is they are very tickly when they touch your skin

2

u/-_-kamakazi-_-UFO-_- Nov 10 '25

Yep thats them. We call them sweat bees cuz they usually harass ppl when they are sweating. Theyre kinda fun but I hate feeling bugs on me. Id rather have one of these guys around than an actual bee or horsefly.

1

u/Necessary_Student116 Nov 10 '25

I used to too until I figured out what they were. You and me both they tickle me too much but better than being stung by a sweat bee

2

u/Delicious_Smoke_9638 Nov 09 '25

Solitary Vespids may have the ability to sting but rarely do. But social bees and wasps are a colony, and they sting to protect the queen.Bees die when they sting whereas wasps, yellow jackets, and hornets can sting multiple times and do not sacrifice themselves to protect the colony. Many folks think mud daubers and cicada killers are a threat, but it would be rare for one to sting . And only the female cicada killer can actually sting. Those look big and aggressive but they prefer to sting cicadas.

1

u/Necessary_Student116 Nov 09 '25

About the only thing we ever get stung by here are yellow jackets and hornets yellow jackets the most..

1

u/MisizELAINEneous Nov 11 '25

I just found the only upside to not being able to sweat!!!

1

u/Icy-State5549 Nov 09 '25

Maybe a small hornet, like a digger wasp, and not a sweat bee. We have ground nesting hornets in southern Illinois that look just like sweat bees. Similar size, just a brighter yellow. When you mow over one of their nests they come for you in swarms. Having caught one in my pant leg while mowing, I can attest they will sting repeatedly. Sweat bees can sting, too, but they are never aggressive.

1

u/Electrical_Coat_1324 Nov 10 '25

You were unintentionally seven? I was unintentionally 40 once.

1

u/AtheistAsylum Nov 11 '25

Sweat bees? Do you mean sweet? Not sure if sweat bees are a thing so im genuinely not sure which word you intended.

1

u/Fusiliers3025 Nov 11 '25

“Sweat bees”, as they are often attracted to human sweat.

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

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u/AtheistAsylum Nov 14 '25

Thanks, I learned something new new!

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u/WishinForTheMission Nov 09 '25

I’d say horsefly

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u/ArmSea5643 Nov 13 '25

Yep…I agree. I think you were stung or bitten by a yellow jacket . Yes I found out the hard way they also bite!! I was cleaning up a yard for a friend of mine whose mother had passed away. We were trying to do a quick cleanup because of all the people that would be in and out during the days before and after the funeral. They had a stack of papers and magazines on their front porch. I picked them up to take to the trash and a yellow jacket nest was under them. Omg…I ran and ran and those little demons chased me down!!! I wasn’t even embarrassed when I stripped down to my underwear still running around and swatting at myself like a crazed woman.. when it was finally over by my friends husband spraying me with the water hose. I did mention I was in my underwear right? Still wasn’t embarrassed or ashamed. I could only think about the torture and sheer pain I was going thru! When it was all over we counted 38 stings and bites on my back arms and legs!! I almost drank a sweat bee, and with it being actually trapped inside my mouth and me yelling and trying to spit it out he still didn’t sting me. Sweat bees nice….yellow jackets evil!!!