Venom nitrile gloves... a PSA

I bought these black venom nitrile gloves which were said to be “sting proof”

I am happy to be able to report definitively that they are not. :slight_smile:

That is all…

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And you are surprised :sunglasses:

I found that two rubber kitchen gloves are bee proof. I would only wear them in an extreme situation. Or a fair of rubber gloves under the leather gloves we normally use.

How do you handle the heat?

Hi Rob, I don’t handle the heat very well. That’s why I would only use double gloves in an extreme situation. However, on the subject of “bees not getting a sting through”, double gloves do work.

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Handling the heat is not a trivial thing here at the moment… Temps in the mid to upper 90s with humidity to match… The mornings start out at 80 degrees. Basically its a matter of planning and executing as quickly and efficiently as possible and then getting into the air conditioning.

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Is that because they are pink? :smiling_imp:

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Even leather gloves are not sting proof.

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True, also the leather keeps the pheromone from the stinger really well. So once leather gloves have been stung you’re likely to alarm the hive again next time you use them.

I usually handle hives I know bare handed and without protective gear except for harvest and early/late winter when the girls tend to be grumpy, had a few stings but never to the hands surprisingly. When I do wear gear the acid proof gloves we use for treatment have proven themselves useful, the rubbery material holds the stingers off really well, they can be steam cleaned and are rather cheap to replace.

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I am sure that you are correct. I actually clean mine with Pink Miracle, which seems to work pretty well (just doesn’t get propolis off):
https://www.amazon.com/Cleaner-Pink-Miracle-Solution-Leather/dp/B00A7NDT3A

I wish I could go without gloves, but even with them and removing the stinger right away, I can get a reaction like this, which stays painful and itchy for days:

On my neck, the reaction lasts for a couple of weeks. :flushed:

Yes, anything that destoys proteins should get rid off the pheromone but I still prefer throwing the gloves in the dishwasher or simply ‘washing hands’ with them under hot water to scrubbing leather. Everyone has their thing.

I’ve only been stung to the face so far actually, no reaction has been much worse than a mosquito bite, but I admit I’m an oddball in that regard since I have naturally low inflammatory reaction. It’s not a treat otherwise but in this case it’s kinda great ^^

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I had to crack my hive open Monday morning. It was already 105 at 10am. I was drenched by the time I got back inside so I feel your pain with the heat. My leather gloves were sweat through.

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I usually smoke my gloves briefly before cracking the hive to hide ant residual pheromones

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My entire car smells of smoke ever since I’ve started to set up hives at different locations anyway since somehow a bit always manages to escape the box the smoker is in. I can probably use it as a smoker in a ditch :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:

I admit I haven’t tried smoking the gloves as well since I ditched the leather construction gloves I started off with very soon after starting, due to what the beeks in my club told me about leather and my dislike to how clumsy I felt with those broad fingers.
Just thought I’d mention the warning in case someone was wondering why their girls dislike their hands so much ^^

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Not meaning to be picky, but I think that the pheromones are mostly esters rather than proteins.

Alarm pheromone is actually 2-heptanone and a mixture of around 40 other organic volatiles. :blush:
Of course they are not pure organic chemical compounds, and protein will be mixed in with them.

Having said all of that with far too much detail :nerd_face:, solvents and detergents which will remove proteins will generally remove much of the ester too. :wink:

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Yes. I found that out too this weekend. It is the first time in a year and a half of using them that I was stung. Otherwise they work great. I would also point out that the gloves keep the venom sack on the outside so it was easy to grab and pull out the stinger.

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@Dawn_SD
I would never object being corrected with science, nitpick all you want :hugs: :wink:

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That is the theory. Yet I wear the same leather gloves for years with no washing except when they get too saturated in honey or propolis to be useful and I don’t see that happen.

Hi Dawn,
I’m just a bit curious as to how you got stung on that part of your finger? I’m assuming a type of crush sting. Did your finger jamb a bee between a frame?

Nope. It was gratuitous aggression on her part. She just landed on the back of my finger as I was lifting a frame up into the air over the hive, and stuck her hindparts into my glove. I saw her do it, but I thought it was just a scratch. Didn’t hurt that much until the next day. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

These bees have been aggressive for over a month. We were actually requeening at the time which probably got them all miffed, as we had to search every frame of 2 brood boxes for queen cells. I think they just didn’t like my invasion of their privacy. :smile:

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