Giant Hornet
Not afraid of bees? You should! Check out this Asian giant hornet (Vespa mandarinia) commonly referred to as the Sparrow Bee, a monster with a standing record as the worlds largest Hornet! It can be as long as your pinkie and have a total wingspan (wing to wing) the length of your hand!
Not allergic to bee Stings? Doesn’t matter with this killer! If the hornet injects enough venom in you, you could die regardless. People stung by this giant say that it’s like having a nail driven into your skin, that’s because the venom causes the arachidonic acid to be released from the phospholipid membrane disproportionately ( or in simpler terms, it eats away at your flesh).
You’ll feel this 1/4 inch stinger which is the size of the tip of your pen (think of a staple, but half the size) and because it doesn’t have an ridges, the stinger can be stab you multiple times – talk about a bee sting!*@
The hunt starts with this killer hornet locating a hive of honey bees; the scout then sneaks in as close as possible to its prey and sprays the area with a pheromone which serve as a road map for reinforcements. A few Giant Hornets can slaughter a hive of 30,000 honey bees within three hours leaving only severed heads and limbs – talk about a disadvantage!
The honey bees have to act fast and being at such a disadvantage, their only hope is to trick the hornet into entering the hive. They accomplish this by moving away from the hive and letting the hornet believe that the honey is unprotected. If the giant hornet takes the bait and enters the hive, hundreds of honey bees hiding inside ambush the intruder covering it with their bodies and gyrating their flight muscles to generates incredible heat. The temperature rises to 115 to 117 degrees Fahrenheit which is just tolerable for a honey bee but kills the giant hornet (it can only handle 113 degrees). The threat is neutralized with the death of the intruder which is unable to bring reinforcements.
Think because you’re human and don’t have honey that this doesn’t concern you? Think again – these giants attack humans as well and more then 40 people die each year from the attack.
Once the hornet has you in it’s sights, there is no use running; it can fly up to speeds of 25 mph and travel up to 60 miles in a day, so it’s little work for the wasp to catch you and begin the onslaught of stinger stabs. I should note here that the wasp does not fly around looking for humans but rather was disturbed and believes it is under attack.
Some of the people that die each year are caught trying to steal the hornets larva. Humans stealing larva? Yep, believe it or not, Many Japanese consider the larva a delicacy and eat them deep fried or as a kind of hornet sushi. If this giant hornet believes it is in danger, it will use an alarm pheromone to alert others that their nest is under attack – when that happens, you better start saying your prayers because the whole nest will mobilize and attack you in their defense! If one can kill, imagine what would happen with a nest!
What to avoid being stung by the Giant Hornet (or any other hornet for that matter)? Then avoid the following:
- Disturbing a nest (including vibrations and loud noises)
- Being within a few meters of a nest
- Disturbing or killing a hornet within a few meters of a nest
- Blocking the path of a hornet
- Breathing on the nest or hornet
- Rapid air movements
National Geographic TV series EXPLORER had an excellent show that graphically covered this and was an absolutely amazing video! The program was called Hornets From Hell.
You’ll see some sites claiming that the giant hornet sprays humans in the eyes with a flesh eating chemical – not true, but it does sting with such a chemical. They are commonly located in China, India and the mountains of Japan.
Written by Jim on March 6th, 2006 with
60 comments.
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i have them all over the front of my house. I have found the hive in the ground by my front door. How can i kill them. we cant go out thefront door during the day. there mustbe 50 of them there at 9:00 this morning flying all around all the shrubs and bushes. i have kids and dont know how to kill them. i sprayed them with hornet spray and it didnt faze them.
Holy cow! I have several burrows around borth porches and want to know what kills them too! I hear wasp spray is useless but something has to give! I have 2 toddlers that need to be able to play in their yard! So, please is there a home made poison that can kill these humming bird size hornets!!
Christian,
If you are finding “burrows”, you probably have cicada killers, not hornets. The males are harmless, though they do like to fly closely by anything near their new homes — no worries, they don’t have stingers. The females have stingers, and can be quite nasty if they bother to mess with you, but it is rare that they do. Cicada killers are more orange/black than yellow/black and live in what looks like large ant hills in your yard. As kids, we used to pour water down their holes, and swat ‘em with tennis racquets when they got airborne. Knock over their piles, and soak the holes with a hose to keep ‘em from coming back. You can also plug the holes with sticks and dirt, tamping it down with a shovel, and they won’t come back.
Hornets, on the other hand, are nest-builders, and they usually attach their homes to a structure that offers some protection. While large and ominous looking, they really don’t pose much of a threat to humans. That being said, you should in NO CIRCUMSTANCE kill a hornet near its nest. Their pheromones can signal other nearby hornets to go into attack mode, which, obviously, spells trouble for the attacker. If you have a hornets nest, you are best off calling a professional to have it removed. Once the nest is gone, future generations generally don’t return.
That is so scary. I have a question does one of those hornets kill a human or does a swarm kill them???
Mia from #4.
The article above states that a single hornet of that proportion can kill a human. 1 hornet = fatal for 1 human.
Something that size is just wrong, IMO… lovely.. but WRONG. LOL
I live in Iowa and every summer in my home town… there are (i think called) killer bee locust… they are huge and look like what you have here except are a locust just somethin u might look into
Unless you live in Asia, you have nothing to worry about because that’s the only area where the Asian giant hornet is found. FWIW, I lived in Japan for two years and never saw one.
Cicada killers are non-aggressive toward humans and stings are uncommon; they pretty much ignore us as they go about their business.
I here a lot of things, I have been stung while driving to work and i can tell you it was like a nail being driven in my shoulder. Identified as a Japanese hornet by matching the hornets from hell pictures and from people at work saying ” Yes that’s a Japanese hornet”. Why are they here in North Carolina? Why in front of my house. I saw one at walmart in an island between parking spaces under a maple tree that was 3″ long. I saw him sitting still at the opening of the hole in the ground he came out of.I have a photo of the one that stung me, and I captured him and gave him a bath in some brake cleaner at work, which killed him after i blasted him for 3 seconds.”Get you a can” cheap, evaporates fast, and comes with a long tube. I am trying to find out how to bait them, trap them and dispose of them myself. Any help? My three year old tries to get them despite me telling him to walk away don’t run . He says,”it’s ok! daddy i’m spiderman”
Even spiderman can be killed by these demon-like creatures.
I don’t like wasps and bees, I’m pretty allergic to them. (not enough for an epi-pen… >o )
Never going to china.
i live here in the untied states and i have been attcked by one of these killer bees just last night.. today i google search this insect and submitted pictures of my sting to the national geographic website. it stung me in my middle finger on my right hand. my finger itself was the size of a golf ball. and my hand has been swelled since then. im only 13 years old and my principal saw my hand today here at school and she was extremely shocked and told me to report to the nurse and she said to go to the doctor. i did and they reported this bee as the one responsible for my sting. EVERYBODY BEWARE!!!
interestingly, eating the larvae of hornets is considered one of costliest delicasy of the Nagas of nagaland in north eastern india.
My family and I moved to Japan in June. This morning the kids and I saw something interesting yet scary. I was surfing online when I came across articles about the giant japanese hornet and it scared me. The picture you have posted with your article doesn’t look like the insect we came across. Please advise as to what type it is. Thank you.
Best wishes,
gloria B.
that last photo i’ve seen one near wher i live at the beginning of summer
i’d like to know what it is too so i can be prepared
We have a lot of these here in Georgia and call them European hornets. Some started to make a home in our walls by our room and we had the externimator come out. He put on his complete body bee gear and stated that this was the only bug he did this with and that even with his gear the stinger could still penetrate his suit. Needless to say, we watched him work from inside the house through the window. These insects look like yellow jackets on steroids. When my son cut open a dead one, he discovered a stinger that was about 1/4 inch long. Bug sprays have a very slow effect on them, but they do eventually die from them, however, it seems to demand a lot of spray for little results. They are rightly named the hornet from hell.
I’ve seen these large hornets in central New Hampshire. Very similar to
the Japanese hornets from the NGC video “Hornets From Hell”. I caught 2 in my cellar (and still have the specimens.) I heard them before I saw them. They weren’t aggressive. I’ve seen another couple out doors always hearing them first. They’re definitely hornets and not the cicada killers. (I saw cicada killers when I was a child on Cape Cod in the 60’s. They built burrows in the sandy soil and had VERY thin waists.) The big hornets in NH had terra cotta colored eyes with brown & yellow stripes. I haven’t seen any since I saw these few in the late 1990’s. They must be relatively rare here as I’ve found only one other person who has seen them. Never saw a nest- nor do I need to.
Instead of insect spray, use spray adhesive. You can find it at most arts & crafts stores and works immediately, BUT if you are close to the nest you can trigger the defense and then you have problems. If you can find the nest first it’s best to stand far away with a jet stream on your hose and knock it out from a considerable distance. The water doesn’t carry your pheromone and therefore the hornets don’t have anything to retaliate against. One at a time though, the spray adhesive sticks to the wings and they ca no longer fly.
ew they are nasty!
I have looked on the internet for the hornet my husband and I saw about nine years ago and haven’t found it. I swear this is true. I noticed a hole in the ground about the size of a quarter. There was dirt piled around it and thought it was fire ants. I looked out the window a little later and noticed dirt flying out of the hole and thought it must be a tarantula. When my husband arrived home that evening I told him about it. We both investigated together and about that time a hornet’s head about the size of a marble popped out. It’s “shoulders” were a twice as big. Needless to say we ran for the door. Later my husband chopped up the hole with a shovel. He said it sounded like a model airplane when it flew.The hornet was yellow with brown markings. We thought we had gone through a time warp to Jurassic park. Does anyone have any idea what we saw? We live in central Oklahoma.
I’ve been studying animals for many years and I am fascinated with finding new animals. I have discovered that, as stated before, these asian hornets are just that, Asian. The “yellow jackets on steroids,” are what is know as a “Giant Hornet”;Vespa crabro
I live in California and the most exciting things we have are ground hornets or yellow jackets. You’ll be rolling around on the tractor with the iPod on minding your own business then these morons appear and start harassing you. That’s when you realize you just rolled over one of their nests. You mark it with a rock and GTFO then come back at night with a can of the ACE Hardware foaming killer and a wine bottle of gasoline. You empty the can of foam into the hole and cram the bottle in after really quick. The gas lets the foam flow through the nest and when the survivors try evacuating, they get caught in the bottle and killed by the flames.
The paper wasps are ever more fun. Wait till night and show up with one of those small propane torches and roast the nests. Just don’t catch your house on fire.
If you have a lazy Sunday to kill, throw a cut up watermelon out in the backyard and post up in a lawn chair with a beer and a Red Rider. They come and don’t even notice you blowing away their friends.
edit on my above post, the hornets are killed by fumes not flames. Don’t set a field on fire. California burns without your help.
I moved to north central GA 2 years ago. Last year, mid- summer, these giant European wasps started invading my deck at night. I watched them from indoors and left them alone until the evening last August that I stepped on one barefoot. The thing wrapped it’s legs tight around my toe and stung 3 or 4 times before I was able to scrape it off. The pain was unbelievable. Within minutes my entire leg was swollen with shooting agony from toe to waist. A friend drove me to the nearest ER . They’ve begun returning this last week. I snare them with the shop vac and leave them in the tank to die.
I was bitten by (i think) hornets 3 weeks ago. I was cutting grass and was suddenly attacked. I hurts badly. I was sick for 3 or 4 days and still have a huge painful red spots on my back and head.
I thought they had come out of the ground and assumed they were yellow jackets but they were big and black. I finally got the courage to go and see were they were coming from. They are in an old wooden bird house I have nailed to a tree. They are big and have yellow heads and stripes on their tailes.
I’m want to take a picture of them because I am still in pain and do not know what they are. WHAT SHOULD I DO? HOW DO I GET RID OF THEM? ARE THERE MORE?
I live outside of Montgomery, Alabama on 20 acres. I am afraid to walk and especially to mow grass.
PLEASE HELP.
My step-son killed this giant hornet July 26 -2009 at home in Baton Rouge, La. We didn’t know what it was–but seeing your description on i-net–it matched the one that was killed here.
I will soon tell our neighbors to be on the look-out for them.
Sooner than expected or wanted—-I killed another giant hornet this morning 7/3o/09. I’ve never seen this large hornet before.
Why within days two have been killed? Should we expect an
invasion of these critters? Joe P. Baton Rouge
One thing that works (when the store bought products have failed) for killing wasps hornets etc is brake cleaner, get it at your local auto parts store.
I’ll tell ya, I’ve seen a few giant hornets here in Virginia as well. This summer , I’ve noticed a huge hornet in the back yard , I haven’t figured out where it’s livin yet but it doesn’t look like the japanese hornet. I grew up here and i’ve seen this type of hornet many times. It’s got a redish body with a black tail with 3 single yellow stripes on it. As a kid i saw one flying with a locust in it’s grasp and stinging it as it flew! I caught one and killed it and sure enuff , the stinger looked like pencil lead.
my house has 2 bee hives in the front of my house what should i do please help me i have 6 childern
hey i have a hive of thes jap hornets and they get on my window every night tell i cant see out the window anymoor they are in my boy’s room how do i get rid of the please help me
I was stung by two a few hours ago. Was not sure what type of insect it was but was pretty sure it was some type of hornet. I’ve been looking all over for pictures to see exactly what kind it was. The Giant Hornet pictures I’ve looked at are the only thing close to what I saw. Was stung on the back of one ankle and on left shoulder blade, and still hurts as bad as it did when I was stung over two hours ago. Both sights have swollen up pretty good and baking soda hasn’t helped a bit. I’m in South Central Indiana and the hornets were at the bottom of my shed by the door. Looked like they were nesting inside the wall. I know for sure they weren’t yellow jackets or bees.
Upon doing yard work, I have noticed several of what appear to be very large hornets in my yard. I watched to see where they were coming from and noticed they were flying out large dirt piles they made under and beside my patio cement slab in the back yard. My children are afraid to go outside! I have to figure out how to get rid of them. Help please!
Also forgot to say that this mourning my son saw a regular bumblebee dying on the front porch and that one of those large hornet looking things was very near. Now I’m even more worried. I live in central Iowa where did these come from?
I am reading a number of American replies that appear to believe they have encountered the Japanese Giant Hornet species on the mainland. I sincerely doubt that has occurred. These hornets are very much only found in Asia. They do NOT burrow into the ground, they actually have rounded beehive like nests which usually are planted under roofs against the wall. Mostly in corners. Even moreso this species is very commonly found in the mountains of Honshu (the Japanese main island). Their sting is deadly even to people who are not allergic depending on the amount of Neurotoxin released.
However in spite of how deadly they would seem, they apparenly very rarely attack humans. Considering the very large and densely populated country that they seem to be most common in, Japan… they only manage to kill about 40 people per year there. I am certain the stings are far more common but they do not seem to be a major cause for alarm to the average citizen and it is likely we have more deaths from bee stings in the US where the citizens are allergic.
For those of you in the southernmost states, one of our heatwaves would kill them for sure… they cannot handle temperatures over 113 degrees farenheit. Our constant heatwaves in places like Texas where I am from would never allow such creatures to exist. In fact one of the main problems in Japan is that these hornets are actually a cuisine for some and one good reason the 40 or so deaths seem to occur each year is possibly due to cultivating them for food.
So don’t worry guys, I am planning to move there though so… I get to worry. *sigh* I certainly hope my home never gets infested with these. I am very afraid of simple American wasps.
I took a few pictures today of the hornets that stung me on Sunday. They are definitely nesting in the wall of my shed and there were many more today than there was on Sunday. After carefully checking the pictures I took with some on the web, I’m still not positive if it is an European Hornet or the Giant Asian Hornet. On one site it looks like the European, on another it looks like the Asian. Either way the intensity of the sting was amazingly strong and stayed that way for over 10 hours. I still have a big not and swelling on my ankle. Anyway, I’ll send the Pictures to you and check back later for feedback.
I live in Southern Illinois, and I have seen Giant Hornets and encountered one of them. I don’t know if they are Asian or not, but they are here. I encountered it while working on my house. I don’t know why it was hanging around or that there were others, but it sure gave me the Willy’s. I had just got done finishing my roof and left one side open under the overhangs, with the roofing hanging over the eaves. It stayed that way for a couple of years. Then one day I was outside and this loud humming noise I kept hearing, and it was loud. I thought it was a carpenter bee. I have those to. But it was coming at me in attack mode. I couldn’t see it. I tried for days to spot it, all I could see was a large yellow orange thing coming after me. It would fly all around me up and down my back and buzz like crazy. I finally figured out it had to be a hornet. It didn’t sting, but I am sure it would have. Man it gave me the Willy’s for sure. I come to the conclusion it must have a nest under the eaves where I didn’t put fascia on. I I went into the attic and sprayed wasp killer through the eaves from inside. I heard all kinds of humming noises. But it came to be wasps nests, no Hornet nests. The Hornet came after me again one day, but never returned after that. It may have died. Don’t know. I put fascia on the eaves. To this day I still cringe at the thought of a Hornet coming after me.
Folks I live in north central Pennsylvania, and I am a contractor both building and excavating, I often encounter hornets and wasps, We have a species that is very large here know as a fruit wasp , rarely seen, that actually harvest and cut up dropped apples, peaches and the like they are about 2.5″ to 3″ in length and will generally arrive in numbers to “clean up” a site.
I know of no one who has found any nests or has been stung, but they appear to have all the equipment to complete an attack or “defense”.
Their mandibles are impressive and saw through fruit with great speed and helicopter off with the load in tow.
We have all the rest giant hornets, bald face and yellow jackets, and the new European paper wasp, (available by the thousands here since 1993, but sissy’s even if pestered), and all react similarly to agitation, I generally will fight at night or when a cool evening is available, good hornet spray soaking the nest is very effective as well a go old gasoline and a rock over the hole. If they are in a dwelling or structure an aluminum screen trap is easy and devastating as they all need to feed and drink regularly, shut them down without a chemical bath and in a week they are done.
They all rely on movement, and color, the darker the more obvious, we have encountered them and have stopped moving and or layed down and they cannot find us. Works if your not already stung, they are a creature that if you know their habits and flaws you generally will be the victor.
Me again. The Southern Illinois Guy. I got a wasps after me now. Ha! Ha! I know, funny! Trying to get work done at my place is not easy with these flying stingers around. Actually finding the nests can be a bit difficult. I am currently spraying in the cooler mornings. Don’t know where this nest is at, but i figure the spray will eventually get them, or me. It’s also getting cooler now, so maybe these little son’s of a pests will chill out.
I myself have noticed more wasps and the larger type of bee that stings flying around where I live more than ever. There never use to be wasps and hornets of this magnitude in Southern Illinois. I mean if your out in the forest area, there everywhere. You can stand still and just see them flying. The larger bees are getting more abundant. Could be due to so called global warming. I have found standing still can be effective with the less aggressive wasps, but for the bigger predators, like Hornets, it don’t work to well.
Could you please let me know if the Giant Asian Hornet has multiple stings as my friend saw an insect that was the same size and colouring as the Giant Asian Hornet but had 3 stingers that when ‘flicked’sounded like they were made of bone(it was dead after being stood on)He also said that the two shorter stingers were about 5-6mm and the longest about 9-10mm.He said when flying towards you it had a very loud drone quite high pitched but unmissable.I would be grateful if you could let us know if,on the information we have given you you think it may be the Giant Asian Hornet.
When I lived in Japan I got hit head on in the face by one of these while riding my bike up Shimogawa river in Kyoto. I saw the hornets from hell before I went there and it scared the crap out of me so I booked it as hard as I could. I saw several of them while I lived there… scary critters. If you get stung just once you can survive alright, but the poison never leaves your bloodstream so if you get stung again you’ll die. I have a friend living over there now who was stung when he was a child and always steers clear of them for that reason.
Keep your distance everybody!
i have been noticing LARGE hornets recently on my patio. they are yellow and black and look like yellowjackets on steroids. i don’t have a pic. when i see one i run inside( i have been stung by them before, its like being hit with a baseball bat). the largest one i have seen is no exaggeration, probably 3 inches long. we also have these hateful red wasps that are building somewhere. i am in western kentucky. i don’t know whether to look for an underground nest, a nest in a tree trunk or a nest in the branches of a tree, but i sure do want to get rid of these monsters! i have seen hornets before but not this large~
We too have been seeing these giant hornets????. The come out at night. At first we only saw 1 or 2. Tonight our cat was sitting in the window watching somthing. It was dark outside. There was about 20 of these giant creatures. I turned out the light & they disappeared until I turned the light back on. I tried to get some pics through the window but only got my reflection. Should we be afraid of these creatures?
We live in PA.
O my gosh the hornets.. was seeing one or two at night. as soon as the porch light was put on. Got stung. holy cripes it hurt. Today I noticed at least 100 flying around my pine trees. 20 ft from my house. I don’t know what to do. I live in northeast Ohio..they even try to come under my screen door at night..
People in USA locations are confusing giant cicada killers with Japanese hornets. I don’t know about comparing 1 on 1 the stings, but I can assure the cicada killer is way underrated as to pain potential. So called “researchers” have taken stings AFTER its venom was unloaded into its prey. Venom glands take some time to replenish. In any case, the cicada killer is less aggressive than the common and very painful red wasp. I doubt that any Japanese hornet is close to equal in flying ability of the cicada killer as I have seen them carrying huge paralyzed loads in flight and could not singe one of these wasps with a very large torch & spray did not stop one when it stopped everything else.
Cicada killers are terrifying in appearance but far less likely to sting than any hornet species. Cicada killers, tarantula hawks and Japanese hornets are the world’s 3 largest wasps with the Japanese type easily the most dangerous but only because it’s liklier to be aggressive towards humans AND it is a social wasp with others who back it up. Common red wasps are more aggressive than lone hornets and probably more painful. I have seen burned out red wasp nests taken from deer blinds that had over 400 wasp cells.
I live in SE Pennsylvania and no doubt, the American giant hornet or whatever you want to call it is here too. I have had two very scary encounters with these things (doesn’t count the many times I just see them, which is scary enough).
One time was a small nest inside of an old trash can, and the thing was definitely mad, but I ran away and it could have chased me, and it didn’t. (God, I get chills just thinking about it.) The other time was just yesterday, when a low hanging branch form a Lilac tree brushed my head as I was walking by, and the hornet was right there. It was actually on my head for a second, and then fell off into the grass.
The thing was so big that it had trouble crawling back up the grass to fly away. The grass simply could not support its weight. I am sending pics of the one I zapped tonite with 50% iso alcohol and water solution, just to stun it before I flushed it away. Sorry, I have let them go free before, but I have a little girl and the thought of her getting stung by one of these horrifies me.
But make no mistake, is alcohol and water DOES NOT KILL these things. They’ll fly at you, and you have to keep dousing it. When it finally does succumb, it totally draws up it legs and you might think, for sure, it’s dead. So last summer I put a “dead” one in a drawer outside because I wanted others to see how freaking big these are. Sure enough, I was “safety checking” it about 6 hours later, and it was coming to!! He was moving around and waking up. After six hours of, I dunno, I guess intoxication! I hope that the iso alcohol, which smells so strong, masks the pheromone they give off when I spray them.
I don’t go looking for them – I only spray them when they get into my screen porch. I have to check tomorrow to make sure there isn’t a visible nest up in the eaves. If there is, I’m calling a pro.
Hi
Can you tell me if the Asian Giant Hornet has come to the UK – i saw what i can only describe as a giant wasp earlier today when it flew into my kitchen. It scared the life out of me as i have never seen anything soo big and se evil looking. Having looked at pictures on the internet it looked exactly like the sparrow bee you show on your site. Please let me know if they have now come to the uk as i feel i should warn my neighours who have small children that daily play in the garden. Thanks
Go on Youtube and look at the posting of the giant european hornets in the nest with the queen. The giant hornets of course are big, but the queen is HUGE!.
As they can use their stinger again and again, these hornets can make you sick if you are allergic to stings! Its always a good idea to get a bee sting injection if you are allergic.
We live in the UK and within a nature conservation and wooded area.We see them mainly individuals but sometimes half a dozen or so in a group. They are attracted to outside lighting, so we avoid using them. We kill about a dozen individuals every year (carefully) as they make their way into the kitchen attracted by light. They are noisy but their droning can be heard a few yards away giving me time to arm myself with a tenneis racket of rolled up newspaper. I am careful not to get noticed by then as they have been known to attack.
I live in France and these mamooth hornets have landed here a couple of years ago, brought by a ship from China. They seem to enjoy our place and have started to invade my country at a 25km/year pace.
The only remedy we have found is to shot gun the nests in the trees to help the birds get a lunch.
WOW all of these stories are very interesting. I myself have come across those Huge Yellow Jacket Looking Hornets. Thank The Lord above the ones i saw were already dead. No nest sightings for me yet, and hopefully there wont be any!!!!
Anyways i was sitting here reading all these post and i see a lot of people asking How to kill these hornets that have their nest in the ground. Well wouldnt BOILING HOT WATER do the trick? I thought maybe it would work since that killer Giant Asian Hornet can only handle 113 degrees. I know people do this for Red Ant piles but i just thought that it MIGHT do the trick instead of spending lots of money on chemicals or professionals if you don’t really need to.
Just a thought. If anyone has tried it or Does happen to try it First i want to say BE CAREFUL!!!!!!!!! I HAVE NEVER TRIED THIS so i DO NOT know IF IT WILL WORK OR NOT. I am not telling anyone to do this because it will work because i do not know this to be a fact. It was just an idea. BUT IF anyone does try it and it does prove to be a successful killing method please email me and let me know. I would LOVE TO KNOW!!! jadeania8 [at] yahoo.com (THANKS!!)
PLEASE stay safe everyone and God Bless you all!!!
I do landscaping in Oklahoma and was stung by a Pepsis wasp (tarantula hawk) one morning. I’ve been stung by lots of red wasp and bald hornets, as I work outdoors, but this thing hurt like nothing I’d ever experienced.
It inspired me to research the stings of wasps and such, and I noted with some interest that the Scmidt pain scale ignored the Asian hornet. I know that the hornet’s sting can be lethal, but I can’t imagine it being any more painful than that Pepsis wasp, unless there is a correlation between lethality and pain, which I cannot surmise a scientific explanation for. Anyway, there is a video on youtube where the cameraman gets stung by a JApanese giant hornet and is hopitalized. He says the pain is “very big”.
As far as these folks sighting of the Japanese hornet in the states, I’m convinced they are mistaken. The US has some plenty big hornets, and they look similar to those Asian monsters, but when a person describes the pain like a nail or describes swelling like a golf ball, it just doesn’t seem to be on par with even the Pepsis wasp, which felt exactly like someone was holding a cigarette lighter up to my leg for a long time, and further reinfoces my suspicion that they were stung by a cicada killer or a large US hornet. I’ve taken stings by both of those many times, and while they do hurt, they aren’t incapacitating. My boss won’t even give me the afternoon off for a hornet sting, but I went to the ER for that Pepsis wasp, so powerful was the pain.
There’s my story…sorry for blathering so long.
I live in Atlanta Ga. It is March and very chilly tonight. I was reading in my living room when I heard aloud bee sound above me. I looked up and could not believe what I saw. I am highly allergic and fought a tough battle last year. Who ever is saying Japanese Hornets are not in the US have not seen this thing. It is identical to those pictured on line.
I am scared of this event. I will take a picture of it and post as soon as I can. My husband cut it in 3 pieces. Was it a scout? Are there more? It few from upstairs to the light ,hit the wall and flew into kitchen. There my husband killed it.
#52 makes worthwhile points on You Tube the Schmidt Sting Pain Index is in many videos and yes it DOES completely ignore the giant cicada killer wasp; the tarantula hawk or Pepsis Formosa; the red/black cow or mule killer; the Japanese giant hornet; the Australian red bulldog ant (40MM) AND the awful puss caterpillar. The idea presented that a red harvester ant sting is as bad as a red wasp sting is truly worthy of ridicule. Red wasps (polistes Carolina) are the commonest severe sting species.
No, they are not on a par with a Tarantula Hawk nor with a red/black velvet ant (cow killer) as far as the cicada killer, I’ve seen reports the pain can persist up to one week; other reports insist the sting is mild. The contradiction is resolved by understanding that the mild stings were taken AFTER the wasp injected its prey species and the venom sac was NOT replenished. If I had to take a sting from a T hawk or a cicada killer, I’d take my chances with the killer.
My policy is, “If it flies, it dies”!!!
The giant hornets are here in VIRGINIA. I’ve been looking on many websites trying to identify this horrid thing and all the pictures of the giant hornet (asian) look just like what I’ve had in my house. So far this spring (2010), I’ve had 4 of them in my house. The first I found dead in my shoe (glad I looked before putting my foot in there). The other 3 I had to kill, flying around my windows.
These hornets are yellow and black with black dots on the abdomen. The body length is 1.50″ with a 2.5″ wing span. The stinger is 1/4″ long. They have real long legs that curl up when you poison them. Someone said they sound like model airplanes when flying. That’s a pretty good description. They’re quite loud.
I’ve found a great way to kill these things. I’m an automotive mechanic and I have plenty of “brake parts cleaner” around. You can get this at any auto parts store. Get the good stuff…the flammable kind. It kills these hornets INSTANTLY. The best part, is the stuff fully evaporates leaving no mess to clean up. It doesn’t take much to kill them either. Just be sure to ventilate the room since it’s probably not good for people to breathe in either.
If I keep finding these, I’m gonna have to call an exterminator to find out where the nest is. I’ve checked all around the house but haven’t seen any indications of where it might be hiding. These hornets look really dangerous.
Oh, and if anyone is questioning how these “asian giant hornets” got here on the east coast, just think about all the shipping done between the US and China. It’d be very easy for those things to hitch a ride across the ocean. Ross Perot may have been onto something….lead paint toys for our kids, poisonous drywall, loss of American jobs, and now giant hornets. Thanks, Walmart.
i live in Northwest Ga. there are two i see right off my back patio in my back yard. they are hovering at the base of a tree…This is also right next to my sons swing set and his trampoline….I don’t know what to do.
I wish I would have taken a photo of this thing. Grew up in Texas and know paper wasp and hornets. Been in Ga. for 20 yrs. I’ve been seeing these things flying around but not concerned. I went to my tool shed and as I opened looking for widows or recluse spiders, I felt something drop on my head and as I was swatting , my husband yelled “wasp”! It hit me on my right hand finger ring. After a 15 minute rampage of doom on that red wasp (hornet)and the nest, Had to to go with with the old fashion paste of ammonia and baking soda paste to draw the poison out and an Ice pack to slow the flow. Took some benadyl ,too. My husband wanted me to go have my ring cut off but I knew that some of those old country family remedies work. And 8 or so hours later, yes it still kind of hurts but the swelling is subsiding and I didn’t have to have my ring cut off!
Hey, I can take a photo of a squashed wasp and her nest. I’ll be looking for others because this happened mid day and I know that wasp don’t home until around dusk. Sting me once, I can deal. There won’t be a second time.
An ammonia and baking soda paste is the way to go. Unless you have a great grandpa that chewed tobacco. He had bee hives and hornets and wasps that lived all over his farm. If we got stung, he’d spit his chew on our stings and we were cured. Gross but it worked!