OT: ENOUGH! or a war on caterpillars

[Kelby]

In the picture is a Saddleback caterpillar. They're covered in hollow spines that inject venom when you touch them. They like to hang out on the undersides of leaves where you can't see them, and seem to eat just about anything. I've been stung twice in the last 24 hours, once at work and once at home. Hurts quite a bit and for a while. At least the ones at my house seem to have all been parasitized by wasps. I usually have a live and let live policy for insects, but these guys are going down. I have seen them on raspberries, pears, pawpaws, burning bush, aronia, and blueberries.

[F. Bennett]

That looks like it would hurt. Good luck getting rid of them, Kelby.

[WillsC]

Kelby,

The white things on the back are the wasp larvae correct?

[Kelby]

You got it Wills. They aren't getting squashed since they already have a death sentence, muahaha. Here's one I found that wasn't parasitized.

[COGardener]

What do they turn into once they metamorphosize?

[Kelby]

A rather boring moth from what I've seen online, don't think I've seen one in person.

[COGardener]

Interesting.

It's a fascinating looking caterpillar. We don't have anything like that in my area.

[DBJohnson]

Haven't seen anything like that on mine...but horned tomato worms have been a plague this year.

[eboone]

I have seen a couple pretty bad allergic reactions to those, one needing serious ER care. I just get mild burning of the skin where touched

[don_sanders]

Ugly looking bug.

[Bijan]

Try applying fig sap the next time you get stung.

[Sarahkt]

Would BT toxin work on those? It's pretty caterpillar-specific, safe for humans.

[Kelby]

It should, but I have milkweed and monarch caterpillars here and there.