are there any psychoactive insects?

[the guy]

i know there are plenty of plants and fungi containing psychoactive compounds, and even a species of toad (i think), but are there any known insects which have psychoactive chemicals?

[Phi for All]

I remember reading about some Central and South American native tribes eating red harvester ants for their medicinal and hallucinogenic effects. I don't remember how many they had to consume for the effect. I do remember thinking how the ant's venom causes a very painful, hemolytic reaction when you get bitten, and I couldn't imagine it would be any better if ingested.

[the guy]

i just read somewhere that multiple wasp stings can cause mild hallucinogenic effects, but it didn't go into detail, can anyone confirm this?

[Phi for All]

i just read somewhere that multiple wasp stings can cause mild hallucinogenic effects, but it didn't go into detail, can anyone confirm this?

I guess it's like the Japanese fugu puffer fish, which has a lethal toxin that produces an hallucinogenic effect in small amounts. Everything that gets you high is basically a poison, it just depends on the balance between euphoria and death.

[the guy]

was it the ants venom that did it or something else in them?

[Phi for All]

was it the ants venom that did it or something else in them?

From toads to frogs to fish to insects, I've never heard of anything but the venom being the psychoactive ingredient. As I said, all psychoactives are basically toxins that alter your mood, whether it's tobacco, alcohol, cannabis, amphetamines, opioids, cocaine, etc. It's only the dosage that determines whether it's pleasurable or deadly or somewhere in between.

[the guy]

oh ok

[Ouroboros]

anything you ingest/breathe is technically psychoactive, as even the slightest change to your chemical balance will alter the way your brain functions.

 

off topic, but as far as I am aware, hallucinations can be induced by sleep deprivation and even just closing your eyes. 'Phosphenes' occur naturally due to magnetic feedback from the brain, and can be induced by applying pressure/over exposure to the retina. You also get them if you have low blood pressure (or stand up too fast).

[Rickdog]

I was searching in the web, about it, since it seemed as a very interesting issue, and the only thing I found in the spanish wiki, was about the Charilaidae family (related to grasshoppers), that live in Venezuela, that if you dry its wings and you consume them they can give you a very powerful hallucinogen effect.

 

[the guy]

wow, i wonder why the wings, since the chemicals ae suppost to be poisons and the wings are the bit that most predators would discard

[greenprogrammin]

Typically I think it is the secondary metabolites that are psychotropic. Most of the time they are alkaloids. I don't know if animals produce alkaloids.

 

then there is the fact that anything with a brain would have neurotransmitters. These are almost all psycho-ACTIVE. The problem is administration without degradation.

[jeu198]

On 1/25/2010 at 4:14 PM, the guy said:

i just read somewhere that multiple wasp stings can cause mild hallucinogenic effects, but it didn't go into detail, can anyone confirm this?

Yeah i can confirm this. When i was 14 i was stung by a wasp for the first time - and not just one, maybe 100 or more. I was in the army cadets and was on a cadets vs army recruit training exercise. We were lined up behind a ridge above a road ready to ambush the recruits (with blanks which is like having grit hurled at you). I was unfortunate to be sat on a wasps nest and was stung over and over but had to stay still & quiet so as not to give away our position. We shot and "killed" or captured the army recruits at which point I jumped up up wiping the little boogers out of my hair are shaking them from my pants I had one in my ear a sting on my lip on my nose under my arms or across my stomach and back as horrible I think my hands and face with the worst affected as these for a fully exposed but they seem to get everywhere! Thank God my tackle somehow survived unscathed. Anyway, for about an hour afterwards i felt surprisingly odd. I didn't I know it at the time but I felt was akin to a miles liberty cap mushroom trip, colours were enhanced and i wasn't sure if the snaking my fingers were doing was because they were swolen or if my eyes were playing tricks. My advice if you want this effect is to eat some shrooms. Much less painful. Instantly there used to be an anasthetic throat lozenge called Dequacaine that if you ate a whole packet in an hour or so so also so gave mushroom like effects but i haven't been able to find any recently....