You can (very, very carefully!) pet the top of their thorax when they’re not flying, such as when preoccupied with feeding at a flower, although as TheTechnician27 outlined, it’s probably not good for them. Better is if you can find one that’s struggling to fly (semi-common this time of year, when things are still warming up) and then you can warm the little guy in your hands if they’re cold or chauffeur them from flower to flower if they’re hungry. Often this will help them regain the strength to keep flying, but sometimes they never do; I assume in these cases they’re dying, but at least I gave them some hospice care. It’s very strange to deposit a struggling bee on a flower, watch it feed, and then see it wiggle its little feet in the air like it’s calling the magic carpet back for another lift.
Comment on A handy reference guide for you
smiletolerantly@awful.systems 4 weeks ago
Wait I can PET BUMBLEBEES?!
fireweed@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
socsa@piefed.social 4 weeks ago
Definitely, I boop them all the time in the spring when they are swarming the flowers.
rockerface@lemmy.cafe 4 weeks ago
They’re floofy!
TheTechnician27@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
Bumblebees are pretty gentle, and whereas I used to be extremely scared of bees (and especially bumblebees because of their size), I find them adorable to observe up-close now that I’ve gotten over my fear.
However, the question I would ask regarding petting is: why? When I pet a household dog or a cat, it’s ideally because I think it comforts them, and at worst (if they’re mildly annoyed and I don’t realize), it’s never going to harm them.
For the bee, though, it’s probably strictly uncomfortable for them to have a being 50,000 times their size come up and start putting pressure on them. (Bees can distinguish noxious stimuli, but they do still respond somewhat to regular tactile stimulation; see p.3.)
Their wings and legs are fragile, and it’s not like they can’t be accidentally provoked into stinging you. If they’re just minding their own business, it’s really best to leave them alone, because at best you’re not comforting them, and at worst you’re physically harming them.
smiletolerantly@awful.systems 4 weeks ago
That’s a really well argued paragraph. But have you considered: why pet shaped if not for petting?
(Jokes aside though. Point taken. But there’s nothing you can say to kee p me from talking to them in baby talk from now on when I’m out gardening amongst them. Whose a big stripey boy? Yes you are, aren’t you? :))
Zwiebel@feddit.org 4 weeks ago
I let one crawl on my finger and it just chilled there for minutes :3
floquant@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 weeks ago
bumbles
HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
When I was in school they used to land on my glasses and then crawl between my glasses and my eyes. I changed deodorants and it stopped but like, have you ever wondered if you were cool enough to not get stung in the eye hole? I do not wonder that.
It was that old spice that tastes like lemonade what attracted the bees, if you wondered.
jackal@feddit.uk 4 weeks ago
Dude stop drinking deodorant
HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
What about wood bees? If I knock them out with smoke are they chill enough to pet? If I use good smoke?