Most of the time we think of caterpillars as cute little things that turn into beautiful butterflies. Mr. B learned the hard way that these little guys are not always friendly!
I was cooking dinner when Mr. B said he was going to check the chicken coop for eggs. A couple of minutes later he comes running inside with a strange look on his face. I am sure you have seen that look before- the one where it looks like they saw a ghost? Yep, that was Mr. B- scared and trying to spit out words.
“Ummmm, mom! I think I got one of those bad caterpillars!”, as he holds out his arm for me to look at.
“Oh my gosh!”, I shout. (Looking back, why did I do that? That statement brought on immediate waterworks from Mr. B!)
His little arm had a line of 6 raised welts from the caterpillar. In just seconds after the sting the welts appeared. Hubby and I rushed Mr. B outside so he could show us the location of the monster caterpillar. After a few minutes we found him nestled in the dirt under one of our trees. I took pictures so we could identify him.
It looks like it is a Buck Moth Caterpillar which live on oak trees. The sting is painful like a bee sting. An ice pack helped relieve the pain and swelling for our little guy.
As your little ones are outside this Spring, remember to warn about caterpillars along with the usual dangers of snakes, spiders ad bees. Any caterpillar that is fuzzy with spikes should not be handled.
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[…] know what stung me. Then I saw a nice trail of red dots across my finger which reminded me of Mr. B’s experience with the Buck Moth Caterpillar last […]