Step away from the fuzzy caterpillar
October 4, 2016 4:11 PM   Subscribe

 
When i was 4 I stepped on a buck moth catapilliar. My foot became huge and I remember it to this day.
posted by AlexiaSky at 4:30 PM on October 4, 2016 [1 favorite]


Oh, yeah. Saddleback mofo got me one summer and I didn't even see it, hanging out on an azalea, til after I was writhing in pain.

So very, very wrong, those things.
posted by allthinky at 5:20 PM on October 4, 2016 [1 favorite]


So fuzzy... NOT FUZZY AT ALL.
posted by AlexiaSky at 8:42 PM on October 4, 2016 [2 favorites]


Wow. Those are crazy and beautiful and awesome. And I hope I remember the tape trick if I ever have a run-in with one of them!
posted by lemonade at 9:23 PM on October 4, 2016


As a kid, I caught way too many caterpillars. Our suburban home was close to two fields at the edge of town that hadn't been developed yet, and I think it led to just a crazy number of insects. At certain times of the year, we'd find fuzzy yellow ones hanging out on the brick facade. I'd always play with them and let them crawl all over my hands.

Except the one year that i found one that looked slightly different. And when I picked it up, my hands suddenly got intensely itchy.

To this day, I will not touch a caterpillar. Touché, you fuzzy bastards!
posted by [insert clever name here] at 7:28 AM on October 5, 2016 [3 favorites]


The comment from "Meena" in the second to last link makes me incredibly sad and frustrated:
I just happened upon the Puss Caterpillar for the first time in my backyard. It was so cute; I naturally petted it gently a couple of times. I mean them no harm and he/she knew that.

I moved the Puss to the tree using a magazine.

I then looked the caterpillar up. Apparently,those hairs can be painful.They are just protecting themselves if provoked.

I truly believe, if you have no ill intent, they will not hurt you.
All creatures deserve to live their lives out without our human intervention.
piercing, radiating pain with lesions and severe itching on the side of my face
posted by Spathe Cadet at 8:42 AM on October 5, 2016 [1 favorite]


A caterpillar thread?? This thread needs about 25% more Dave Wagner.
Dave brought a flannel moth caterpillar into class one day and passed it around on a twig and leaf. He wanted us to see it but you could see the sweat on his upper lip as he watched us gingerly passing this awful little monster around. He explained that just brushing against this little guy would cause blisters and worse. Enormous respect for these little juveniles.

Ooh, and this page has a very nice depiction of what happens if you land a buckmoth caterpillar on your arm.
posted by Made of Star Stuff at 3:01 PM on October 5, 2016 [1 favorite]


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