# Hornet trapping



## Omnius (Mar 20, 2006)

Well later this March I will be going hornet trapping for newly emerged queens, so I figured I would post a pic of the trap(I have six) so someone who wants to try this can make their own. Disclaimer I took this pic in my bro's room as I have nothing to hang it from in my room. Also the pic is blurry but you should get the message.


















Unlike Polistes sp wasps hornets are a completely different ballgame and the novice should NOT attempt to keep them, with the sole exception of the "gentle giant" Vespa crabo.

BTW this is intended as a non lethal trap, not a kill trap.


----------



## ChilDawg (Apr 30, 2006)

Are you looking for yellow jackets, or what? How do you ensure you get a queen?


----------



## Omnius (Mar 20, 2006)

Yes hornets are also refered to as yellowjackets, the way you get a queen is to trap in early spring, on the first day you see bugs flying around outside. You need a fresh piece of meat for spring queens as they need a protien fix. If you wait till late april/early may you risk catching a queen that has started a nest, and she will not make another and plus you would finish off the nest she started eariler before capture. If you trap in summer/early fall you will get TONS of workers and reproductives for next year.

In short the time you trap determines whether you have a 90%+ chance of snagging a queen with no nest.


----------



## lament configuration (Jun 22, 2003)

damn! all this wasp and hornet trapping seems like a really cool hobby. cant wait for more updated pics in the future.


----------



## Mettle (Dec 29, 2003)

What do you do in terms of separating a queen out from all the other ones you catch?

And. Does this method also work for wasps? Or are you still better just looking for a little nest and snatching it?


----------



## Omnius (Mar 20, 2006)

Mettle said:


> What do you do in terms of separating a queen out from all the other ones you catch?
> 
> And. Does this method also work for wasps? Or are you still better just looking for a little nest and snatching it?


Yes it can work for wasps but finding newly emerged foundresses is stupidly easy, just walk around your house on a warm spring day and you will find them sunning on the walls and trying to fly LOL Mettle you are in an especially advantagous spot as the wasps will have been active less than the southern counterparts and VERY easy to find on a warm day.

As for hornets its all in the time you catch them, if I trap in mid march early april I am guarenteed queens as workers have not hatched yet.(Also nests may not yet be startred either) Once I catch some I plan on tranferring the capives to a large container and letting them loose in it, then catching it with a smaller container before tranfering it to its permenant enclosure.

For bait you use a frsh piece of red meat for hornet queens while wasps like honey, sugar water, and orange pop. Orange pop is not an acceptable main stay diet BTW.


----------



## mike123 (Jul 17, 2006)

what do you do with the hornets once you catch a queen?


----------



## Omnius (Mar 20, 2006)

I hope to get her to settle down enough to nest and not kill herslef trying to escape, as most hornets do. I really dont know much about hornet care since the longest I have had one was four days. They are REALLY suseptable to stress and die easy.


----------



## ...Jay... (Nov 2, 2006)

that looks like a home made minnow trap. same design, just add food and sink it to an ancor(rock).

if you get them going well, how many wasps/hornets can you breed in a year? Do you know about bees too? I've been thinking about finding another source 
for formitic (sp) acid. horned lizards need it to survive, so they need ants. I hear bee and wasp venom also has this acid, but in larger, more dence amounts.

The ruff plan so far, is to go with bees. dry them out and crush them into powder, then use them to dust flightless fruit flies as food.

I need a good chemical science type forum, so I can learn more about this acid. 
You can buy it in pure liquid form, but turning it into dilluted powder(with a decient shelf life) would be ideal.

anyone in the south wanna send me a pair of guinea pigs. cough cough, I mean horned lizards?

I'm sorry my post had little to do with the topic. I fail at this thread.


----------



## Omnius (Mar 20, 2006)

I know very little about bees, thoug captive breeding of wasps is not worth the time and effort for your needs,(At MOST your going to get 10 reproductive queens for next year, and a colony workers and all generally ranges from six to 15 for captive colonies, wild ones can get bigger but the biggest polistes wasp colony I have seen only had 60 plus wasps and that was an anomoly.) Also the amount of food that a small colony goes through is amazing, I would have to by several crix every three days or so as they pound through them. *I dont want to think about what a hornet colony would consume LOL* and a hornet colony needs access to the outdoors in order to supply you with enough. Honestly I have never heard that the venom of wasps/bees contains this acid, my guess would be that the other compounds in the venom may be toxic if ingested in quantity. I think your best bet would be to locate the ants that these lizards need and dig up the queens and raise your own, a very time consuming task but may be worth it, you will also need atleast six colonies going at once considering the horned lizards appitite.


----------



## ...Jay... (Nov 2, 2006)

thanx for the quick reply.

I've looked into ants, and dont even want to think about breeding the numbers they need(up to 3000 ants a day). So I guess I'll look into
finding some science guys, and seeing if I cant get a diluted powder form.

Its less about breeding the lizards, and more about coming out with a suppliment that can keep them healthy. Lots of money there. I want to sell the
suppliment, and let other people breed the lizards.

there is an australian lizard that has the same needs as a horned lizard, going for 2k apiece online. Why? Because nobody can keep them, unless
they order thousands of ants every week.

here is the australian counter part, to our horned lizard.

thorny devil. Needs ants to live, because of the formetic acid. Same deal.
http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/imag...br_sbc&js=0
try to buy one online, and it will be thousand at least. I saw them for 2k and they sold in a day. As some know, australia has closed there doors to importing/exporting their wildlife. So there are few of these guys out there. I would like to fix that, because they are Fing SWEET!


----------



## Omnius (Mar 20, 2006)

Jayson745 said:


> thanx for the quick reply.
> 
> I've looked into ants, and dont even want to think about breeding the numbers they need(up to 3000 ants a day). So I guess I'll look into
> finding some science guys, and seeing if I cant get a diluted powder form.
> ...


I know some people actually collect and sell wasp and hornet venom but its expensive and even a large colony does not yeild very much.(Not to mention all the wasps die in the process) Its also most likely out of your price range too. Sorry


----------



## ...Jay... (Nov 2, 2006)

The thing is, they dont need much. How much does an ant have? If your talking about straight wasp venom, a drop every other day would probably keep them happy(total guess). But it would be alot of trial and error figuring sh*t out. And most US states are closing down exports of horned lizards.

If I try this, it will take some trial and error, with common species, to get it right, and save endangered species. I'm cool with that.

got a figure? is it more than snake venom? can I buy it per drop? lmfao


----------



## Omnius (Mar 20, 2006)

Wasps dont even make a drop of venom at all, they have VERY little as they really rely on brute strength to overpower things, also their venom is high in a pain causing agent, thats why they hurt more than a normal bee sting. Its really not feasable for milking wasp venom for your supplement. Again raising the ants seems to be the best bet, and honestly I would try it as ants are fun too. Have you considered ants in the genus Formica? They form HUGE colonies and actually shoot Formic acid when provoked a large colony has 500 plus members, I think only two would be enough. Here are some pics, not mine

http://oregonstate.edu/~reitmajm/Arthropod...82%20scaled.jpg

http://oregonstate.edu/~reitmajm/Arthropod...86%20scaled.jpg

No figures on venom sorry its not something I am particularly interested in. Primary care and breeding are what I am after.


----------



## ...Jay... (Nov 2, 2006)

thanx for your help man. really.

I'll look up the ants you said tomorrow.

I'm still planning on going the other way though. So if anyone has a good chemical/scientific/scientist time forum, please let me know.

I want to turn the liquid into dilluted powder, and dust fruit flies.

and if anyone steals my idea and makes a bunch of money. Please, cut me a piece(finders fee).


----------



## Mettle (Dec 29, 2003)

I tried looking up some stuff on formic acid for you... Now, I don't remember squat from chemistry class in high school, but the pure stuff looks mad harsh. You'd definitely need to dilute this liquid to the N'th degree to avoid actually killing your animals.


----------

