hi, I was wondering what the most painful animal or plant encounter was , since recently I encountered and caught this crotaphytus in New Mexico and that was probably my most painful one yet, even though I have probably over my very short life caught at least 600 plus snakes and none compared to him, wondering what yalls is!
peace! Caleb!
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most painful was Pelagia noctiluca (jellyfish). I collided full speed with one, so I got the full treatment, but luckily, the jellyfish is not that big, and the venom is not thermally stable, so a very hot shower dealt with most of the burn.
The gnariliest looking was aesculapian snake (Zamenis longissimus), which managed to break my skin, so I bled quite a lot, althoough it did not hurt badly.
Because I am a botanist, honorary mentions of plants that bite back: Dictamnus albus: gives you painful blisters that last weeks, Urtica urens: hurts like a jellyfish, but goes aways in a couple of minutes, Paliurus spina-christi: this bush has two types of thorns - ones facing forward and out and hooked ones facing backwards. Our name for it means something like skinning bush; because if you get entangled with it, it skins you like a rabbit (well not literally, but getting out of it without deep wounds is difficult, and I have seen dead animals (sheep&deer) entangled in it)
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It was a plant, a bamboo. I slipped and fell on a bamboo log and a spine broke off and embedded itself in my shin bone. The spine was like 3/4" off the end of a dull pencil. It was extremely painful, and the worst part was getting it dug out of the bone at the village clinic without any anesthetic.
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Saltwater crocodile to the head is the worst one I can imagine.
Edit: I originally wrote “Nile crocodile“ but then I realized that I was thinking of the saltwater crocodile.
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Portuguese Man-Of-War. A few years ago, I visited the Louisiana coast for a day or so on the way to Florida. There were literally strewn across the beach left and right. Being young and stupid, I picked some up. OUCH! My hands stung and stung for hours! Needless to say, I learned my lesson, but it was fun to step on them (With shoes on); they went “Pop!"
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Do you catch them to get bitten?? I used to catch snakes too, but only small, nonvenomous ones in my hands, and when I have to deal with removing a larger snake from the vicinity of my area, I use a plant pot and rake or something like that (I had a neighbor call my mom frantically saying a huge snake was on her porch; turned out to be an adult plain-bellied water snake basking under her fern that I had to remove 
Edit: I have never gotten bitten by a snake yet, though I bet copperhead bites hurt a lot! I nearly step on a little guy yesterday, and he had his little mouth propped open and his head up to defend himself; really cute, but I gave him his space after taking a couple pics :)
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Not painful or dangerous, but Chigger bites have the most long lasting itchiest bite I’ve experienced in my 71 years. And it’s hardly ever just one at a time.
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Gaftopsail catfish are fairly common to catch and have a surprisingly painful sting.
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someone I know was herping in arizona and he got tagged by a klaub (banded rock rattlesnake) on the finger, and he said it wasn’t horrible, mostly because it didn’t spread, but where he got bit it swelled and hurt really bad, the photos I saw of it it his fingers where purple also😬
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Wow. And here I thought a yellowjacket in the shoe was bad.
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It’s like a bee sting but less Intense
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Over 100 yellow jacket stings, mostly around the head and neck.
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Damn…………
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Now that is just evil. I wonder why it has that thorn system. Straight thorns are supposed to deter animals from feeding right? But hooked suggests capturing.
Does it grow in a nutrient poor area, so the thorns capture animals and they fertilize it?
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I have been bitten by cats, dogs, and a captive azure-winged magpie at the Philadelphia Zoo. It felt like someone poked me in the back with a pencil. I was stung by a wasp and although I am not allergic, I did have a strange feeling after being stung, like the venom was having an effect on me.
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FYI:
https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/what-animals-have-injured-stung-bitten-you/20901 (172 replies)
https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/stung-by-a-bee-or-wasp/20645 (61 replies)
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no, it’s just to deter.
The hooked ones are really painful, and cause bigger wounds, so very good at making animals remember this bush is ouchy. Some animals (goats) learned to avoid or tolerate the straight spines.
The animals that get caught up in it are an accident, as the struggle to get free causes significant damage.
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I have helped with some Lake Erie Watersnake research. This involves catching them bare-handed on beaches, basking on rocks/grass, or just while swimming in Lake Erie (from a kayak). They have a reputation for being kinda aggressive, but they are non-venomous. They are quite bitey, but aside from the initial prick, the pain is minimal. It looks worse than it is though, as their saliva has an anti-coagulant, which prevents blood clots.
If you want to find a fun video about them, Mike Rowe’s Dirty Jobs did an episode on the Lake Erie Watersnake. He got bitten quite a bit. Coyote Petersen has also helped catch them for one of his videos.
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Of course he has.
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Had a few ant an wasp stings in Australia and they’re certainly not enjoyable but don’t tend to last. I dislike being stung by fish spines, they are very painful and have a “deep” long lasting ache. However in my nearly 60 years on the planet I can say without doubt that the worst pain I have ever experienced was from Gympie Gympie Dendrocnide moroides Gympie Stinging Tree. I merely brushed the top of two fingers and the pain was immediate and harrowing, like being sliced to the bone by burning-hot rusty serrated knives. The pain would come back again with any sudden temperature change for about a month and to a far lesser extent persisting for several months.
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