Just When You Think You've Seen Everything. The Stinging Caterpillar.

Now stinging caterpillar?. It's something I've never heard of but seeing is believing.
I'm not sure if this is the right forum but it seems to be the closest to animals or whatever creeps ,slithers, stomps, or walks whether four legs, two legs, or belly. One person says they're cool? Not to me. What do you do if you're outside alot?



David Fleshler

Four caterpillar species found in South Florida bristle with spines that can deliver a dose of poison to would-be attackers. You're likely to see more of them as the weather warms, eggs hatch and caterpillars try to survive the next few weeks to transform into butterflies and moths.

I can predict a ton of children will be stung this way in the summer. Im staying away from Florida till they are all dead.

About 40 years ago I developed a rash on my neck face hands and any other exposed parts. After several visits to my doctors we found out is was hairs from catterpillers. Cant remember what type they were but they're quite common in the uk.

Sorry misread, stupid lyxdexia

Those things are known around Texas as "asps"

I don't think that this is necessarily something new. It's just that time of year and the news people want to put out something of a warning to try to be helpful.

These caterpillars don't really have "stingers" in the way that we usually think of stingers. The tips of the hairs have a "venom" that causes a lot of pain when it gets into the skin - like for small fine sharp "hairs" of some cacti.

Just remember, if it looks like a missing hairpiece of one of those old plastic troll dolls, don't touch it!

These catepillars, arent just in Florida, I got stung by one of these spiny/hairy like catepillars last spring while camping, in Arkansas. imediately felt like i got burned, then red spots begun to pop up on my fingers where the spines had poked me, very very painful, I actually couldnt believe it was a catepillar tht had delivered that much pain to me, No one at camp believed me, so another friend touched the same one, , only to find out how mbad these basturds hurt.

I would never eat any caterpillar or even touch one. There are many poisonous varieties, I am surprised this is being presented as "new".

Originally posted by scottromansky
I can predict a ton of children will be stung this way in the summer. Im staying away from Florida till they are all dead.

why would anyone want to live in florida?....now you have to watch out for caterpillars?....the hurricanes, snakes, alligators, mosquitoes, oil in the seawater coming from the thousands of gulf oil wells, not to mention all of the other tropical bugs i don't about, is enough to keep me away

reply to post by 1loserel2


Man I got stung by one of these as a kid while climbing in a tree down south, and it hurt like heck!! At first it was like a wasp sting, but then it spread up my arm and started numbing it out. It took a few days to recover. Beware! My Grandma also used duct tape to remove the stingers before anything else.


spec

reply to post by 1loserel2
Global warming now has enabled Georgia Water Spiders to live in Pennsylvania cellars of older houses. During 200-2007 they feasted on my large black Oriental Roaches at night , sliding silently with their fist-size flat bodies into cracks in the woodwork straight into the festering , hissing colony of roaches. Near the kitchen sink, they lay in wait and jump 2 feet on top of stray roaches, wrapping them in their long hairless legs, and finally draining the roaches dry. I live in SE Pennsylvania and new black squirrels from the South have pushed out the common grey squirrel. I've fed cayotes pizza slices on my porch as the earth get hotter and hotter each year.

reply to post by Glassbender777


Me too, I got zapped between the fingers by one while pruning a Redbud.
Hurt worse than any hornet or wasp sting I've ever had.
There is a cure though - common plantain (Plantago) leaves chewed a little and put on it will take the sting away in minutes. Really amazing how well it works for all types of sting.

Why is this in Cryptozoology?

the dust tape tip is worth keeping thanks!!

no second line cause ATS is rapidly disintegrating in quality posts

Caterpillars aren't cryptids.

I remember being warned about Saddleback caterpillars when I was a kid.

en.wikipedia.org...

That's a vicious looking critter if ever I saw one!
Hopefully the UK is too cold to sustain such a demon

Good lord man I hope there aren't any in AZ! Are these caterpillars in PA too? I need to warn my mother as she's a gardener and right in the woods ha. I remember plagues of fuzzy caterpillars all over the place when I was a kid but they were friendly. Not counting the mass destruction of leaves that is.

Originally posted by VoidHawk
About 40 years ago I developed a rash on my neck face hands and any other exposed parts. After several visits to my doctors we found out is was hairs from catterpillers. Cant remember what type they were but they're quite common in the uk.

This happened to me too. When I was a kid, there were a bunch of fuzzy white caterpillars on the side of my house and in the trees in my back yard. I caught one of them and my arms and the sides of my neck broke out in an itchy, bumpy rash.

Wow that thing looks Gnarly.... Kill it!! Kill it with Fire!!!!