Japanese hornet footage

[Raqua]

I have, on two occasions, kept a queen and a worker of Vespa ducalis, which is a similar species to the Japanese giant hornet and almost the same size. Wonderful pets. The worker, surprisingly, stayed alive with me for around 5 months! She was quite well trained too; since the enclosure was small and sparse, I let her out for daily flights every morning and at the end, she would fly back into the enclosure herself. Don't ask me how I trained her, I've no idea myself.

The queen stayed with me even longer, almost seven months. Actually it doesn't matter if they are mated or not, it is almost impossible for a queen of any large hornet species to build a nest in artificial surroundings.

The one in the photo was the worker.

How did you keept those ? I mean, could you post simple caresheet please. I'd be interested.

 

[Jesse607]

I have, on two occasions, kept a queen and a worker of Vespa ducalis, which is a similar species to the Japanese giant hornet and almost the same size. Wonderful pets. The worker, surprisingly, stayed alive with me for around 5 months! She was quite well trained too; since the enclosure was small and sparse, I let her out for daily flights every morning and at the end, she would fly back into the enclosure herself. Don't ask me how I trained her, I've no idea myself.

The queen stayed with me even longer, almost seven months. Actually it doesn't matter if they are mated or not, it is almost impossible for a queen of any large hornet species to build a nest in artificial surroundings.

The one in the photo was the worker.

Have I ever mentioned how envious/jeolous of you I am, because you live in a part of the world where hornet diversity is the greatest! Hornets are my favorite insects, but all we have is the introduced Vespa crabro. I would love to see a living specimen of Vespa mandarinia(sp?) some day (but not near her nest!).

 

[vespa_bicolor]

Have I ever mentioned how envious/jeolous of you I am, because you live in a part of the world where hornet diversity is the greatest! Hornets are my favorite insects, but all we have is the introduced Vespa crabro. I would love to see a living specimen of Vespa mandarinia(sp?) some day (but not near her nest!).

Yes indeed, I love the diversity of social wasps around here. There are five species of hornets I have personally seen, although unfortunately there doesn't seem to be Vespa mandarinia here. I've only seen one specimen of Vespa mandarinia, which my girlfriend caught over in Taiwan (not sure if they are as big as those in Japan?) and which unfortunately died before I could photograph it well. Truly magnificent creature.

 

[vespa_bicolor]

How did you keept those ? I mean, could you post simple caresheet please. I'd be interested.

Actually all I use is a large "critter keeper" type of plastic tank, the substrate being paper towel or sphagnum moss. Usually I mist the tank twice a day, since they need plenty of fluids or they dehydrate and die fast. I also feed them honey or syrup which I simply drip onto a designated corner of the substrate. They live for months in this way; however one frustrating thing about keeping wasps is that they die if they are not fed for even one day.

 

[Raqua]

Aren't they somehow stressed when they can't fly ??

 

[Dark Raptor]

I had also Vespa crabro colony. I've been keeping them in almost the same way as Vespa_bicolor, but I've built special feeding tray for them.

I started in a large jar and with one fertilized queen (early photo):

After few days I transfered her into larger terrarium. She built nice hive and produced some eggs. After few weeks I had new workers... but only for 1 - 2 months. High humidity and mould were enough to kill whole colony :wall:

Aren't they somehow stressed when they can't fly ??

I would say that sometimes they are really angry. They always try to fly somewhere...

The worst thing is that they produce large amounts of excrements and it is hard to clean their tank.

 

[Raqua]

How about having a mesh at the bottom so excrements will fall out ?

 

[vespa_bicolor]

I have experimented with that once, result wasn't too bad except that the mesh got sticky and hard to clean.

Dark Raptor, how did you manage to get her to actually start nest building in a captive environment? Great work there! I'm wondering what is the deciding factor, such as a support from which to start the nest, material provided etc.

 

[vespa_bicolor]

Aren't they somehow stressed when they can't fly ??

Mine didn't seem to be so far, or at least didn't show any signs of ill effects. The enclosure I keep most of them is very large (maybe 90 cm high and 60 cm wide). For the hornet I mentioned above, she seemed content with being let out to fly for around 15 to 20 minutes each day.

 

[Anthony]

Would it be possible to maintain them in an all mesh terrarium like chameleons and other lizards are kept in ? In some larger models they would have a little flying room.

 

[vespa_bicolor]

If only I had the space, I would try it. In fact, I always wanted to build a very large wire mesh enclosure, furnish with logs and other retreats and introduce a queen of one of the large ground nesting species such as Vespa tropica or Vespa ducalis.

For now, it's still just a dream

 

[Randolph XX()]

Hey Vespa
there are people farming Vespa affinis in Taiwan for both nests and hornets, and this is the only species can be farmed due to the smaller territory they need compare to other vespa sps

 

[vespa_bicolor]

Vespa affinis is another nice species. I heard that in Taiwan they are possibly the most common Vespa and the most urban ranging species?

Something interesting here. Currently staying for a couple of weeks in Singapore, I discovered an area where Vespa affinis frequently forage and hunt flies. I tied mealworms one by one to a fishing line, dangled and jerked them, upon which the hornet would immediately strike and carry the mealworm off to a nearby tree or grassy patch. It would simply bite the mealworm in half to disengage it from the line! Unfortunately I managed to capture only these two pics, which are far from perfect.

 

[Randolph XX()]

ya it is the most common sps
there was a nest in my balcony , but my dad called the firemen removed it several yrs ago
they are the tamest sps compare to local Vespa basalis , which had killed lotta people
however, they are more like mountain sps and pretty rare

 

[Dark Raptor]

Dark Raptor, how did you manage to get her to actually start nest building in a captive environment? Great work there! I'm wondering what is the deciding factor, such as a support from which to start the nest, material provided etc.

I don't know. I just gave her some dry pine (Pinus sylvestris) wood and paper. She builded few chambers and produced some eggs.

I've never repeated this again, because I don't keep any Hymenoptera species now (I'm concentraiting on beetles).

 

[vespa_bicolor]

Hmm... should give it a try. I just found a Vespa affinis queen yesterday.

 

[Raqua]

How can I tall that the specimen I caught is queen ???

 

[Dark Raptor]

How can I tall that the specimen I caught is queen ???

If you find living specimen during winter or in the early spring, you can be almost sure that it is queen.

Some pictures showing queens and workers you will find here (check markings on abdomen):

http://www.vespa-crabro.de/koenigin.htm
http://www.arkive.org/species/ARK/i...reshwater/Vespa_crabro/more_still_images.html
www.vespa-crabro.de/ hornets2.htm

And great article about rearing european hornets:
http://www.biologie.uni-halle.de/zool/mol_ecol/publications/HoffmannNeumannSchmolz.pdf

 

[vespa_bicolor]

Also, queens of hornets and common wasps are usually far larger than most workers.

 

[Malkavian]

You saw a giant Japanese hornet in NC? That sucks for NC.

Actually I think I did see one today on campus in Charlotte, NC. Didnt have my camera though. I do know for sure it wasn't a european hornet, colors were totally different. Also observed its abdomen pulsing or twitching while it was landed on something, does that mean anything?