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Post by joniverson on Oct 19, 2021 3:40:16 GMT -8
I captured a pair of European hornets recently. Unfortunately, although they appear to be attracted to a "Rose of Sharon" bush I have in my yard, with the cooler temperatures and high winds lately, they only land for a few seconds, if at all. So, I used my net and captured a pair. I have them in the refrigerator currently which greatly slows their actions (and hopefully metabolism) while I try and figure out a video solution.
The idea was to re-introduce them back into the environment as I recorded their natural actions (with some macro video too hopefully) on a branch coated with an attractant. Question is, what attractant? My standard butterfly traps use a sugar/ water/ apple cider solution, which also happens to attract these hornets, but only during early and mid-summer months. Right now, I don't see the hornets going to the traps at all, only around the rose bush as indicated. If they are going to stick around on a baited branch, I'm asking for a good bait? Honey?
Thanks in advance.
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Jon D
Junior Member
Posts: 22
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Post by Jon D on Oct 19, 2021 14:08:38 GMT -8
While I was awaiting a reply here, I tried some honey after placing the hornets in an observation chamber. Result: no good! They took to the honey right away except started walking through it and getting sticky all over themselves. Then, they have been unable to fully clean themselves either. I won't try honey again for food. Next time, I'll coat a small branch with 2:1 water sugar ratio or maybe even use the same ratio I do for butterflies.
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Post by exoticimports on Oct 23, 2021 13:16:43 GMT -8
Did you try a chunk of meat?
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Post by jhyatt on Oct 23, 2021 14:52:07 GMT -8
I've on several occasions found the darn things in my rotten banana/brown sugar-baited moth traps. jh
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Post by joniverson on Oct 23, 2021 15:12:00 GMT -8
I've been studying them since my initial post. Right now, they seem to be ignoring any bait I put out, whether it is sugar water, honey, or fermenting apple cider. The only "meat" I could try was a can of tuna fish in water, but they didn't come to that either.
I had better luck with catches when the visited the Rose of Sharon bush. I'm not sure if they're really eating anything or not with the bush. Seems more like they're landing perhaps to get sun and warmth. As the sun moves across the sky, they change areas to land but almost always picking a well lit section of the bush. If it clouds up, they don't come to the bush.
As I watched more closely, by afternoon there is no longer any sunlight reaching the bush, but they have found a new spot to land on being the neighbor's bamboo at the base of my yard. Again, they are just landing on the most sunlit sections and don't appear to be eating anything.
One thing I wonder about is if they leave some kind of markers. I notice that different ones will usually land on the same group of Rose of Sharon buds, and it was so predictable that I was able to snap some images. I knew it wasn't the same hornet because I had just netted the prior one a few minutes before.
Fascinating to watch for sure! For the ones brought into the observation container, I got rid of the honey and started using 2:1 water-sugar mix. It doesn't stick like the honey and a lot more manageable for them. Not all will nectar though, usually just one out of three. The others spend their time trying to find a way out.
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Post by exoticimports on Oct 23, 2021 15:36:15 GMT -8
Nothing will eat canned tuna.
Meat means cow or similar. Preferably a few days old. Hornets love beef.
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Post by kevinkk on Oct 23, 2021 18:47:57 GMT -8
Nothing will eat canned tuna. Meat means cow or similar. Preferably a few days old. Hornets love beef. Not a canned tuna fan? Anyway- beef would be my choice of bait, a hamburger or hotdog. Hornets are the classic picnic pest, ants pale in comparison, except in cartoons.
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Post by Adam Cotton on Oct 23, 2021 22:36:25 GMT -8
The large black and red hornet we have here in Thailand very much likes shrimp. I remember the first time I went to Phuket (1978) I was eating shrimp in a seaside open air restaurant and the wasps were flying down, cutting chunks out of shrimps and flying off with them.
Adam.
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Post by exoticimports on Oct 24, 2021 5:12:52 GMT -8
Nothing will eat canned tuna. Meat means cow or similar. Preferably a few days old. Hornets love beef. Not a canned tuna fan? Anyway- beef would be my choice of bait, a hamburger or hotdog. Hornets are the classic picnic pest, ants pale in comparison, except in cartoons. I love tinpis, as it’s known in Pidjin. Particularly the PNG mackerel in tomato sauce. I’ve lived on tinpis and navy biscuits. That said, I’ve tried tuna in traps, and even after days only got flies, and few at that. For hornets, I find they are most attracted to medium rare beef; as Adam noted, shrimp too- In my experience grilled is preferred over boiled. Hornets don’t seem to care much for Fish. Hornets also like sugar soda, which is problematic in our area in August and September Reflecting on another thread, nice salty oily tuna SHOULD be ideal for attracting Papilio; I’ll try it in spring, but based on experience I don’t think it will be successful
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Post by Paul K on Oct 24, 2021 7:25:59 GMT -8
Reflecting on another thread, nice salty oily tuna SHOULD be ideal for attracting Papilio; I’ll try it in spring, but based on experience I don’t think it will be successful I don’t think Papilio would come to salty fish. From my experience it is a good lure for Nymphalidae and some Lycaenidae.
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Post by joniverson on Oct 24, 2021 14:22:31 GMT -8
Since Covid, I've pretty much been a vegetarian, however I did have some hot dogs left over in the freezer. I brought out one of those today and microwaved it, then hung it outside. Now to wait and see what happens.
Also since Covid, I've pretty much stopped getting fruits including bananas and apples. It's a shame because the banana-sugar mash I used to make won out over everything else I've ever tried attracting leps, and the mixture did a good job attracting Euro and bald faced hornets- but only until early September. After that, the Euro's seem to ignore even this bait in my area.
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Post by exoticimports on Oct 24, 2021 15:06:08 GMT -8
You stopped eating meat and fruit???
I can see not eating some fruit in USA. I bought a mango last week and tossed it. Papaya sucks too. No dragon fruit and the durian is muck.
Now it’s winter and once the local tomatoes are gone, it’s crappy tasteless orange tomatoes for five months.
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Post by kevinkk on Oct 24, 2021 17:04:13 GMT -8
You stopped eating meat and fruit??? I can see not eating some fruit in USA. I bought a mango last week and tossed it. Papaya sucks too. No dragon fruit and the durian is muck. Now it’s winter and once the local tomatoes are gone, it’s crappy tasteless orange tomatoes for five months. I've still got cherry tomatoes in my greenhouse and a few "Oregon spring" which actually take all summer to ripen- I didn't know durian was sold in the USA.
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Post by joniverson on Oct 25, 2021 9:07:16 GMT -8
You stopped eating meat and fruit??? I can see not eating some fruit in USA. I bought a mango last week and tossed it. Papaya sucks too. No dragon fruit and the durian is muck. Now it’s winter and once the local tomatoes are gone, it’s crappy tasteless orange tomatoes for five months. Pretty much. Both Covid and prediabetes were factors, of course most meat won't much affect blood sugar.
Just before Covid struck, I bought and froze a gallon of fresh apple cider from a local farm market. I had hoped it would work for attracting leps the following season, but it was to no avail. If it ferments, apparently not enough on its own to attract them. I do have some degree of success with moths though if I use stale beer mixed with sugar, but the butterflies aren't much more attracted.
Today, I placed two grilled hot dogs at the end of some fishing line placed on two sections of my property. I suppose I'll have to wait a few days to see if it works. So far, no takers. I suppose it has to start going bad like the fruits do.
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