Comments on: Giant Hornet

By: Shaktyai

Shaktyai — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 19:57:39 +0000

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.

By: michael yarranton

michael yarranton — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 11:33:09 +0000

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.

By: DLE

DLE — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 17:57:42 +0000

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.

By: DLE

DLE — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 16:27:37 +0000

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!.

By: julie hudson

julie hudson — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 12:43:12 +0000

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

By: Miko

Miko — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 06:32:34 +0000

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.

By: Charles

Charles — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 06:49:05 +0000

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.

By: Margie

Margie — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 16:21:47 +0000

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..

By: Linda

Linda — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 00:58:13 +0000

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.

By: vfrank

vfrank — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 16:40:14 +0000

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~