Comments on: Giant Hornet

By: Old Dave

Old Dave — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 21:15:49 +0000

I am nearly 67 years old and live on the farm I grew up on. I assure you these hornets are new to my area here in Indiana. They are aggressive. I got them in my house in 2009. It was the first time I had seen them. I assure you they are here and denying so does not alter the facts. They are new to my area and I am sure they are the Asian hornet. I took one of them to the county extension office and they had never seen anything like it. That ought to tell you they are not something we have had for years.

By: Bowen

Bowen — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 07:14:33 +0000

In Southern China, some national minority take them as delicacies, their larvae and young tests good. SO people over there try to raise it artificially. On the other hand this giant hornets has some beneficial effect for their killing vegetables and fruit pests, especially forest pests.

By: Marjorie

Marjorie — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 00:28:09 +0000

Please stop insulting those of us who have been stung or attacked by these bugs. I don’t care if you call it a Japanese Hornet, a European Hornet, or a Cicada Killer. These are big, they are mean, and they ARE aggressive. I am NOT paranoid. I am a born and raised country girl, and I do not shock easily. I garden and I fully appreciate those insects that make our world better.

That being said, I will continue to kill any of these bugs that come into my house. One sting is all you need to get off your high horse and grasp reality.

By: Charles

Charles — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 21:02:01 +0000

I’ve seen no entomologist documented reports of Japanese giant hornets in North America. We do have somewhat smaller hornet varieties and should be avoided especially when close (a quarter mile or less) from their nest. Cicada killers are being misidentified as giant hornets. Examining images of these 2 species on Google images leaves no doubt as to the appearance differences. The killer is far less likely to sting than just about any other wasp type in North America. If stung, it’s wisest to get hit just after it has attacked a cicada, when its venom levels are depleted! The most dangerous wasp on a one to one basis is the common red wasp, polistes Carolina. Extremely aggressive with a sting described as a “flaming torch of agony,” it should be seriously avoided, especially nests in the wild, which can contain upwards of 400 very dangerous individuals—as dangerous as a hornet nest.

By: greg K

greg K — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 23:33:11 +0000

I can guarantee you 100% we have these in VA. They were all over the apples under a tree in my yard. I was walking by and was stung on the pinky. I have been stung lots of times in the past by many other types of bees.

This was by far the most painful and instantly my pinky swelled to the size of my thumb. I have been icing it for a couple of hours and every time I remove the ice, it throbs like there is a knife stabbing me. I have seen them for years and this is the first time I have ever seen them be aggressive.

By: jason taylor

jason taylor — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 21:55:57 +0000

I live in GA and I have to say you cannot go a day without seeing one of these humongous insect I myself have been stung in the arm and it hurts so bad it starts to burn really badly then everything swells my whole arm was swollen in a matter of minutes basically if u see one of them don’t mess with it move away its like the worse pain in the world to be stung so stay away.

By: Ray Miller

Ray Miller — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 15:21:05 +0000

Hayesville, NC.

The first time in 15 years we have “giant hornets” swarming our lights on porch and at times are in the house. My nephew was stung while in the house and the pain was excruciating. The next day he saw them flying into our chimney. This morning we built our first fire in fireplace and the giant hornets flew down the chimney (some I am sure flew out of chimney) and invaded the house. I must have killed over 200. And at the same time the smoke from chimney was filling the house as the hornets nest must have been so large that the chimney would not draw properly.

These are definitely “giant hornets.” Some of the doggone hornets are as long as my thumb and as big around as my thumb!!

By: barb c

barb c — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 19:04:43 +0000

I think I know now that it was a Cicada killer crawling up my leg, I had just finished golfing and had my bag of clubs in front seat of my truck with me, i’m thinking it got in my bag and then got out, was just looking for a way out, glad i didn’t get stung, not allergic but stings just aren’t pleasant

By: barb c

barb c — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 18:57:04 +0000

I’m still not sure what it was that was crawling up my leg, it looked like a hornet but it was huge, I had never seen anything that looked like a hornet and was that big, i opened my truck door and just swept it off my leg to the ground, it didn’t seem aggressive but I def did not want to find out if it was a stinging insect. This was in Ohio, northeast Ohio that is, anyone know what it might have been, it was bigger than the pic on this site and a much fuller thorax and abdomen and i would say approx. 2-1/2 to 3 inches in length.

By: Michael W.

Michael W. — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 02:53:35 +0000

We have these things swarming our porch light right now… my daughter was stung the other night on her chin – 7 years old – screaming and shaking! Said it just flew into her neck and stung her. It was terrifying! My wife gave her homeopathics tablets and then used a medicinal bentonite (?) clay poultice under band-aids to pull out the poison — left it on all night.

I’ve been looking up wikipedia and other places and these are European Hornets not Japanese. I think this time (late September, near Asheville, NC) is the time when they 1) leave the nests and 2) mate. And 3) there’s a big frickin’ nest somewhere and they 4) hunt at night and 5) love lights. So maybe it’s a bunch of horny, aggressive, irritable hornets hoping to fuck and die before winter. (Except for the “inseminated” queens who hide out all winter somewhere and then start new nests in the Spring). You know how male bucks get during rut?

Well, these hornets seem drunk on the porch light, are trying to get into the house, and seem “stupid” they are flying around, bumping into things, bumping into the light, nestling down next to the light bulbs when they get indoors and then just resting – are they dying for the winter? Are they queens, drones, or worker bees whose life is coming to an end during fall? Or are they just coming out from their “giant” nest (where is it?!) to hunt for insects, like I read they do at night? I wonder. I wish they were more like bumblebees.